Nikki Storm discusses bringing Abby the Witch to life and honoring Bray Wyatt’s vision
Nikki Storm revealed her thought process to breathe life into Abby the Witch while paying homage to Bray Wyatt’s original vision for the character.
Storm explained the pressure of bringing Bray Wyatt’s creation to life by portraying Abby the Witch in Wyatt Sicks. The former WWE star told Chris Van Vliet on the Insight Podcast that she drew inspiration for the character’s backstory from her wrestling journey, a misfit during childhood which was a similar path channeled for her Nikki Cross persona in SAnitY.
“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.”
“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 added carrying around Abby the Witch’s mask as a source of comfort across varied WWE 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. 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.”
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.