It's been a huge year for Alexa Bliss, as the wrestler found herself called up from NXT to the WWE main roster, on SmackDown Live, and then went on to become the SmackDown Women's Champion (twice!) in just a few months time.
Along the way, Bliss has made a name of herself as one of SmackDown's most notorious heels, always ready for a sneer to the crowd or a biting comment or cheap shot at her opponent. Bliss also has stood out thanks to her ring gear, which often is inspired by comic book and movie characters, from a Harley Quinn-esque look, to her Halloween guise in Freddy Krueger-type gear.
Going into a match at this weekend's WrestleMania 33 -- her first time performing at the WWE's biggest annual event -- where she'll defend her belt against five other opponents, I spoke to Bliss at an early morning WWE press event about her recent success, and how an appearance on an episode of WWE's My Daughter is a WWE Superstar alongside her parents has connected her to fans even further.
IGN: This is an amped up week, and there's so much going on, including events like this. It's your first WrestleMania match Sunday. Are you too busy to feel it at the moment, or are you also thinking, “This actually happening on Sunday!”?
Alexa Bliss: Today and tomorrow are kind of my busy days, and I feel like Sunday morning is really when it's gonna hit. You know, it's gonna be that moment where I'm like, “Oh my goodness, I'm actually at WrestleMania! I always get the nerves the day of, and I try to [wait until then] I think, because I don't want to, I guess, psych myself out, if I think about it way in advance. So I'm very excited right now, but I know once I'm backstage and I'm gearing to go out on WrestleMania, the nerves are gonna hit. Then once I get on the stage, they usually go away. And I'm hoping at WrestleMania they go away and the excitement takes over. But I'm so excited. It's gonna be such an amazing, amazing time. And the fact that I'm coming into my first WrestleMania as two-time SmackDown Women's Champion, something that's never been done before, I just… It couldn't have worked out better.
IGN: Entrances are a big deal at WrestleMania. Have you put plenty of thought into yours?
Bliss: Yes. I'm very excited to because I've been doing a lot of cosplaying, and I have a little bit of something that I'm doing for WrestleMania, another character that I'm trying to, you know, put my spin on and portray. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun, and hopefully it's noticed.
IGN: I love how you incorporate the cosplay into your ring gear. I'm a giant Freddy Krueger fan, so that one was a particular favorite. How did that all come about?
Bliss: So that was actually when I was paired with Blake and Murphy at NXT - it all started with the Iron Man gear that we did, the Iron Man-inspired gear. Murphy's idea was, hey, let's do Iron Man. And then when we came out with Iron Man gear, it was so much fun, and I was like, “Okay, what else can we do!?” We all kept throwing out ideas, and we did Freddy Krueger as a group. We had some other stuff in the works, like Suicide Squad-ish, but then when we were all separated when I was drafted. I was talking to Murphy and he was like, “Well, why don't you still do the Harley Quinn look that you wanted to do?” And I said, “Oh, I don't know. I don't know if I can do that…” He told me, “No, you should totally do it,” and he helped me with the pose. He actually helped me with this pose that I now use for the title, and I used with the tutu, and it's been a lot of fun.
Alexa Bliss poses with her WWE SmackDown Women's Championship belt a la Harley Quinn and her hammer.
Then I brought back the Freddy Krueger gear on Halloween and I was like, “I'm gonna run with it!” Iron Man might come back at some point, and I’ve done Supergirl at Elimination Chamber. What else have I done? I have a couple that I haven't used yet. I have like three or four that I haven't used yet, that I'm just waiting for certain accessory pieces to kind of tie it all in together.
IGN: You recently had that WWE special with your parents, and it got such a big response and people really seemed to connect with it. Was that gratifying to see, because you're putting yourself out there with your real life so much?
Bliss: Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun to do that project. And from what people see of me on TV, they probably think I'm just, like, this horrible person. [Laughs] But it's actually kind of cool to pull back the curtains a little bit and see the backstory… I didn't realize how cool my parents are, but then when I watched it, looking at it as an outsider, I was like, “Man, my parents are pretty cool!” They helped me a lot, and I think it was a great piece and they did an excellent job on it. My mom is terribly camera shy, and the fact that she was able to do what she did, it was great.
IGN: She cut a decent promo!
Bliss: Yeah, she did! I was actually shocked. I threw her off on it too, 'cause I told her the promo is gonna be why I'm gonna become SmackDown Women's Champion, and then they started rolling the camera, I was like, “So, Mom, how am I gonna beat Becky Lynch at TLC?” And she was like, “That wasn't the question!” So she had to start over again.
Alexa Bliss is a proud daughter, as her mom, Angela Kaufman, cuts a promo against Becky Lynch on My Daughter is a WWE Superstars.
IGN: When you got turned into the heel persona, was it an easy transition for you, or was there a learning curve?
Bliss: Oh my gosh, it was such a learning curve. I used to have anxiety about it. I would try these promos in NXT about being mean, and all this stuff, and it gave me anxiety because it wasn't who I am. But I knew when I joined Blake and Murphy that they were turning me into a different kind of character and that I had to run with it. I said “If I don't run with it, I'm not gonna have anything. I'm just gonna be somebody's sidekick.” And, you know, being with Blake and Murphy really helped me develop the character that I've become today, and they helped me with that in so many ways. Being ringside with them, it was great to be able to find character mannerisms that I like to do without having to focus on a match and performing in a match, because I was their valet at the time. So it was really easy once I joined Blake and Murphy. Before then, super difficult.
WrestleMania 33 airs live on the WWE Network on Sunday, April 2nd.
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheEricGoldman, IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at http://ift.tt/LQFqjj.
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