WWE News: Did Nikki Cross really use offensive words at NXT Live event?
What’s the story?
In what could be a massive misunderstanding, a fan who was present at the NXT Live Event in Cocoa, Florida, claimed that Sanity member Nikki Cross used the homophobic slur “F***ot” during the event on Saturday. Other fans who were at the event say she said the word “maggot” but her Scottish accent may have made it sound like something else.
In case you didn’t know...
Nikki Cross, along with Eric Young, Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe, are known as Sanity on NXT. The group has become a big part of NXT tv in the past few months, with Nikki Cross also being part of the NXT Women’s title picture as well.
Cross was one of the four women, along with Women’s Champion Asuka, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, who competed for the title at the recent NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. Cross looks to be a big part of the NXT Women’s division in the coming months, a match between her and Asuka is being talked about as a potential match for the TakeOver event as part of WrestleMania weekend.
The heart of the matter
For someone in Cross’ position, potentially using a word like this is a massively stupid thing to do. The WWE is a worldwide company and works closely with companies like GLAAD, to think that someone in such an important position could say something like this is really hard to believe.
Cross’ Sanity teammate Killian Dain took to Twitter to defend his friend, indeed informing us that she did indeed say “maggot”.
She said maggots. Stop spreading lies Internet Wrestling community. She's an advocate for equality if you bother paying attention.
— Killian Dain (@KillianDain) February 19, 2017
Fellow NXT roster member Aleister Black also defended Cross via Twitter.
This is a joke right? She said "Maggots" stop trying to ruin people just to get attention.
— Aleister Black (@WWEAleister) February 19, 2017
What’s next?
If WWE can prove that Cross did say what some fans claim, then they would be within their rights to punish her accordingly. Until someone can provide either video or audio evidence that she did, then we can only believe what her fellow NXT stars say and that is that she said maggots, something that the Sanity group have been heard saying before.
SportsKeeda’s Take
This could very well be a case of fans not hearing clearly what Nikki Cross said. She does have a very strong Scottish accent, which is a potential reason why her words may have been misunderstood.
If every fan that was at the show was claiming the same thing then perhaps it is possible that the offending word was uttered by Cross, but some fans in attendance claim that they indeed heard her say maggot. It is strange that nobody has come forward with video evidence of the matter, with mobile phone footage being filmed at almost every entertainment event in the world, but quite a few fans in attendance have posted photographs of the match in question.