WWE's Nikki A.S.H: The Almost Superhero Gimmick Was A "Hail Mary"

Nikki A.S.H's decision to pitch an almost superhero gimmick was a "hail mary" to save her WWE career, she has revealed.

The former Nikki Cross adopted the new persona earlier this year and she quickly achieved success, winning the Money In The Bank Ladder Match and successfully cashing in the briefcase to win the Raw Women's Championship.

Speaking on After The Bell about the new character, A.S.H revealed she thought her character had to change and the almost superhero gimmick was a "hail mary moment."

"Yeah, it really felt like alright this is it, this is the hail mary as you say. It's so weird nobody has asked me that. I think it was and it was that hail mary moment, there needed to be a change and that was really apparent to me. That was really apparent to me right around the Royal Rumble, we told this fun story on social media and on digital about me qualifying for the match and we made a story out of that. Right around the Royal Rumble it was so clear and so apparent that there needed to be a change and that was it. I spent hours and hours researching this idea and getting this pitch right and I commissioned this artist to draw up what Nikki A.S.H would be as a cartoon character," A.S.H said.

"You take it to the boss and it's like you're nervous but you're also confident and I believed in this idea so much that you're just like alright, let's do it. You have to put your nerves aside and push down the butterflies. At the end of the day, I believed in the pitch on a personal level, I believed in it from a business sense, this is good business, this is a good idea. I also believed that in the heart of it it's very pure and wholesome, something that I really wanted to portray, I wanted to portray something fun and joyful. It makes me happy and I want to try and make others and also for business I knew it was a great idea. It was just about swallowing the nerves and just going in and doing it. It did feel like a hail mary, that's a good way of describing it."

A.S.H will walk into SummerSlam on August 21 as Raw Women's Champion and she will defend the gold against Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat.

H/T to Wrestling Inc.