Nikki Cross On Why She Hid Being A Wrestling Fan, Hugging Vince McMahon Backstage

Nikki Cross was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, where she took up wrestling at a young age. She had many trainers including her husband, Killian Dain, and Finn Balor before making her pro wrestling debut in 2008.

Cross talked more about her upbringing and what school was like for her as a kid when she joined Uncool with Alexa Bliss.

"I remember always having my nose in a book; I loved reading. Being a wrestling fan, you had to really hate that. So, it was just this part of my life I couldn't talk about, but I and my sister loved it. So, I was able to connect with her with that," Cross said before going into more detail about why she had to hide being a wrestling fan.

"Because you would get a slag in. You would get teased and a lot of people will just call you a weirdo."

Cross and Bliss first started working together in NXT before then becoming two-time Women's Tag Team Champions on the main roster. They ultimately split up and faced off against each other, but their chemistry in the ring has translated into a friendship outside of the ring.

Cross was asked by Bliss to discuss what led to them bonding outside of the ring.

"It was those long drives. You don't want to do those long drives by yourself," stated Cross. "I think it was coffee – both realizing we would go out the way for coffee. We both like '90s music."

Bliss then recalled a funny story when an overly excited Cross heartfully thanked Vince McMahon by running up to him and hugging him.

"Backstage, we were in gorilla, and normally after our matches, we go to Vince and we thank Vince for our matches. Vince is very nice. He's very welcoming, and normally, we would go shake his hand, thank him, and leave," said Bliss.

"He's standing up, he's talking to us about our match, he gets this little side hug bye, and as I go to leave, Nikki runs into Vince with her arms, straight up, and forces a hug on him. So I'm trying to leave, and as we go to leave, Nikki bypasses me with her arms straight in the air, and she's going, 'eughhhh!' She shimmies into Vince to give him a hug and it was the best thing ever.

"Vince rolled with it though. Vince says, 'Alright, come on in.' He laughed and hugged her, and it was so good. We always find ourselves in those little situations."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Uncool with Alexa Bliss with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Mehdy Labriny contributed to this article.