Nikki Storm has opened up about her WWE departure and the difficulty of saying goodbye to her Abby the Witch character.
Storm spent roughly a decade with WWE and portrayed several different characters during her run with the company, including Nikki Cross, Nikki A.S.H. and Abby the Witch as part of the Wyatt Sicks.
During an appearance on the latest installment of the INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast (see video below), Storm admitted that her release was unexpected and said she has always become emotionally attached to the characters she has portrayed throughout her career.
“It was unexpected. It was unexpected for every character I’ve played. Whether it be Sanity, whether it be Nikki A S H, even Nikki Storm when I said goodbye to her in 2016 before I joined WWE and Abby the Witch, I always feel attached to the characters, so it’s always difficult to say goodbye,” Storm said.
“With WWE, I was there for 10 years. I got to travel the world. I got to make amazing friends, make these incredible friendships with people like Sarah Schreiber, with people like Giulia, and I get to take them forever. With WWE, I was there for 10 years, so it’s always hard to say goodbye to such a substantial, significant chapter in your life.”
Despite the emotional nature of her exit, Storm said she is looking forward to the next stage of her career and the return of the Nikki Storm persona.
“That being said, I’m so excited for my next chapter, and I’m so excited for what’s next for myself, and I can’t wait to go out to the world and go out to the galaxy,” she said.
“It was unexpected, and it’s always hard to say goodbye to a character in people that you become so bonded with. Myself and Dexter and Joe Gacy, Bo Dallas and Erick Rowan, we’ve shared something that I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to relate to: the five of us sharing this experience.”
Storm added, “So it’s always hard to say goodbye, but I think I don’t ever want to be stuck in the past. It was a great 10 years, but I’m also excited for the next 10 years.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Storm discussed the responsibility she felt portraying Abby the Witch, a character originally created by Bray Wyatt.
Storm said she wanted to honor Wyatt’s vision while still finding a way to make the character her own.
“So Abby the Witch, she was Bray Wyatt’s creation. There was the character of Abby was already kind of an image in the WWE audience’s mind. So for me, this was Bray’s brainchild,” said Storm. “So how do I take that, and how do I pay my respects to that, pay homage to that, but also make it my own, and do something that I wanted Bray to be proud of? I wanted his family to be proud of it.”
Storm explained that she drew from her own childhood and elements of her Nikki Cross character in SAnitY when developing Abby’s backstory.
“And with Abby, the backstory I came up with was that little girl in Glasgow, Scotland, that didn’t always fit in. She was always wanting to fit in, and then I took a little bit of what I had explored with the SAnitY, Nikki Cross character and kind of tried to merge them, and that was what I wanted with Abby the Witch.”
“It was to pay respects to Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Sicks, but also put my twist on it because I feel like that’s what we would have wanted for me to become Abby, to be Abby. I’m so protective of Abby, and I would always carry the mask.”
Storm said the Abby the Witch mask eventually became a source of comfort for her while traveling to WWE television and live events.
“It ended up becoming almost like a comfort to me. I would pretend almost like it was my Chihuahua who I was stroking, but it would be the Abby, the mask,” Storm said. “I would always be holding her, whether I was valeting the live events or at the television, and she became so much more than a prop to me.”
“This was the goal that could get me through anything. I just always want to pay the utmost respect to any character that I’m given.”
