Nikki Cross Studied Ricky Steamboat During WWE Absence

After years of so-so booking, WWE have seemingly figured out what to do with Nikki Cross, with the returning Superstar recently going the distance with Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley during a Beat the Clock challenge.

Cross had been absent on WWE TV since February 2021, and has revealed to Digital Spy what she did with her time away from TV:

"So the last few months I've been training in-ring as much as I can," Nikki said. "I've been training four times a week, just doing everything I can to be the best competitor that I can be, working on different things and just introducing new moves to the move set. I've been studying as much tape as I can, watching a lot of matches. I've been watching a lot of Ricky Steamboat, a big favourite of mine.

"Or even watching older matches of my own just to say, 'Okay, what can I do better? What can I maybe change, what I can improve on?' Or to be like, 'Let me keep that, that's a great little move that that takes people off your feet’. It’s been such an amazing period of growth for me as a performer and as a competitor and as a person and just really just throwing myself in and being immersed in a wrestling ring again."