Piper Niven reflects on Nikki Cross getting a chance to portray a more organic character on television and her brief time in NXT alongside Nikki.
Piper Niven returned at the WWE Royal Rumble 2023 event. Prior to her return, she was teaming up with Nikki Cross. At the time, she was known as Doudrop, and Cross was still portraying a superhero-wannabe character, Nikki A.S.H.
Speaking with Sean Ross Sapp ahead of her return at the Royal Rumble, Niven expressed that she is so happy seeing Nikki portray what she is calling a more "organic" character on television after dropping the superhero gimmick.
"I know Nikki quite personally, so getting to see her be the absolute little creep that she is, I’m like, ‘Yes, his is very organic, yes.’ No, I love it and I love this for her and I love where it’s going. I think watching her little skits has been very entertaining. So yeah, I’m very happy for it," she said.
Before debuting on the main roster in 2021, Piper had competed in WWE NXT UK. Because she was immediately called up alongside Eva Marie, Piper did not get much time to spend in WWE NXT stateside.
Niven tells Sean Ross Sapp that she wishes she had gotten to spend more time in the American version of NXT
"It was a lot of fun. Obviously, I didn’t get the chance to mix it up in NXT as much as I wanted, so it was really nice to get to go there and work with people and train with people there. It was a good experience," she said.
Niven and Cross did briefly compete in WWE NXT in 2022. At WWE NXT Worlds Collide, Niven and Cross challenged for the WWE NXT Women's Tag Team Championship in a losing effort to Kayden Carter and Katana Chance.
Niven would recall that time and her career as being hectic because she was competing on all three brands. However, she says that experience allowed her to see just how much of a professional she truly is.
"It was super hectic because I believe at that time, the women’s tag tournament was going on on the main roster," she said. "So me and Nikki, we were bouncing around all over the place. We were at RAW, we were at Smackdown, we were at NXT, we were back at RAW, we were back at NXT, and it was a lot. But I’m glad for it because it showed me that we’re professionals. We handled that."
Niven had previously explained to Denise Salcedo that she was sidelined at the end of 2022 after a bout with COVID. Fans can learn more about that here.
Piper has also discussed her excitement to incorporate some real-life experiences into her character moving forward. Fans can read more about that here.
