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Nikki Cross has already made her mark in the Women's Evolution as one half of the first-ever two-time Women's Tag Team Champions, but she has her sights set on so much more. This Sunday at the Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Nikki Cross will look to win her first singles title when she takes on SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley.
The Role Model, as she likes to call herself, is one of the four women many consider to be the cornerstones of the Women's Evolution. Of course, I'm talking about WWE's Four Horsewomen - Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and the aforementioned Bayley.
This week WWE is celebrating "Evolution Week," marking the fifth anniversary of the day that Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks were called up to the main roster. WWE itself considers this to be the "start" of the Women's Evolution.
It's impossible to ignore the talent and accomplishments of these four women. Combined they have won 29 Championships, competed in many first-time and monumental matches, and shattered several glass ceilings. That said, there have been many other women who have done tremendous work to build up this division as well. Not to mention the women who came before them who pushed for years to get the kind of opportunities superstars have today.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Nikki Cross this week, and she says each woman who came before her helped build the foundation that the Women's Division sits on top of today:
"Every generation of female superstars, they've laid the foundation. You know, so for instance when I first started watching WWE, it was Lita and Trish. And then you had Mickie James, Victoria…uh, there were so many, so many women that, that laid the foundation. And in every generation after that, um, you know we had Natalya and Eve Torres, A.J. Lee, like everyone was trying to lay this. Everyone just kept taking the steps forward and building and building and building. And then you're, you know, five years ago you had Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha going up to RAW and SmackDown. So there's been so many women, uh, you know, Naomi and Paige. There's a lot of amazing women."
There's no doubt that Nikki Cross has tremendous respect and gratitude for the women who came before her. Now she's looking toward the future, and not just what lays ahead for her - which could be a World Championship.
Nikki Cross is ready to build on the foundation that was shaped before her
After eight years on the independent circuit, Nikki Cross signed with WWE in 2016, right around the beginning of the major swing in how the Women's Division was featured on television. Cross, who spent her first two years with the company in NXT, remembers watching Evolution at home and feeling this burning desire to be there.
Nikki Cross made her debut on the "main roster" a week after Evolution and has had quite a bit of success since then, especially following her unlikely partnership with Alexa Bliss. Together they've tasted Tag Team gold on more than one occasion. Now, Nikki Cross is looking to make her mark as a singles competitor and continue building upon that foundation for the women that will supersede her.
"Now, you know, four years later (after her debut) in 2020, um, I'm now a two-time Women's Tag Team Champion and going for the SmackDown Women's Championship on Sunday against Bayley. So now, you know, I get to be right in the middle of it, and it's just a fantastic feeling. And it's a very proud feeling. And you want to carry on, you know, you want to carry on the work it's been done before you. Pay respect to the women of the past. Pay respect to the women of the present, and then we're trying to pave the way for the future generations. So it's just this, it's just this wonderful journey. Um, and I feel very privileged to be a part of it."
Nikki Cross told me she knows exactly what she brings to the table as a performer and she is ready for her first singles gold. One can only imagine how glorious that celebration will be if and when she does become SmackDown Women's Champion.
Maybe we will find out this Sunday as Nikki Cross and Bayley battle for the SmackDown Women's Championship at the Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The event starts at 7 pm EST on the WWE Network.
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