Nikki A.S.H. recently spoke with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp to discuss her whirlwind ascent to the top of the Raw Women's Division.
On July 18, 2021, Nikki was victorious at Money in the Bank, besting Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Natalya, Tamina, and Zelina Vega to capture the prized briefcase and secure a guaranteed championship opportunity. The very next night on Raw, Nikki "cashed-in," defeating Charlotte Flair to win the Raw Women's Championship for the first time in her career.
Commenting on that 24-hour period, Nikki didn't have much time to process what was happening, saying she found out that she'd be winning "One after the other."
She continued on, describing the experience as such:
"If you ask me about those twenty-four hours, it was this whirlwind. It was, you won the Money in the Bank contract and you scurried up the ladder, ran up the ramp, celebrated on the ladder. I’m looking at the fans in Texas and I look down at the briefcase and I just start crying. Because I’m like, ‘Oh, man. Whoa.’ It was my first time in front of fans, so I started crying. Then the next night, realized it on Sunday night, I cashed in on the Monday night and it was a different feeling. The one, two, three happened and I raised the Championship and there was no tears. I was like, ‘Let’s go party! Let’s go into the WWE universe.’ When I said party, I meant party with the WWE universe. That was my first instinct, was go and celebrate in the crowd because I’m a woman of the people, a superhero of the people. So, that was my first thought was go celebrate in the crowd. For me it was a moment of triumph and of joy. There was no tears. It was just utter jubilation."
After being told that the news, Nikki says the first thing she did was go into an office and cry. She contemplated calling and telling her husband, former WWE Superstar Killian Dain but decided to surprise him and let him watch it live instead.
"So, we were told what was happening," Nikki began by saying. "I think the first thing I did was, I went into one of the offices and just cried. I was like, ‘Do I surprise my husband? Do I not surprise my husband?’ I surprised him. So, for me, we get told the news. It was like, ‘Okay here we go.’ It’s just like, ‘Buckle up.’"
Just 33 days after winning the title, Nikki would drop it to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam in a triple threat match that also involved Rhea Ripley. On the most recent episode of WWE Raw, Nikki teamed up with Rhea in a winning effort over former Women's Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.
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