The remainder of SAnitY were moved to SmackDown in 2018.
As a part of the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-Up, SAnitY members Eric Young, Big Damo and Axel Tischer were moved from NXT to the SmackDown brand. They debuted on the main roster that summer.
Nikki Cross remained in NXT as a singles talent and she would not debut on the main roster until November 2018 when she answered an open challenge from Becky Lynch.
Former head writer of SmackDown, Brian ‘Road Dogg’ James, took to his Oh…You Didn’t Know podcast and explained why Cross did not arrive with her group that summer. He said it came down to financial reasons and having an extra person on the road, at house shows and if it was necessary. James said a lot of thought was put into the decision and when it comes to how SAnitY’s run on the main roster turned out, that is not their fault.
Look, I always think about stuff like this and this, you have to look at it from a business standpoint is how many people am I gonna bring up that I have to send on the road every live event? (Road Dogg said when asked why Cross did not debut with SAnitY on the main roster) Do I have to buy four tickets? Do I have to buy six? Do I just buy two that are working?… For the viewer, that feels funny. Like, ‘Oh, they came up and she didn’t.’ But so much thinking went into that before that decision was made. It was all weighed out in monies and dollars and cents because it’s a business and so you gotta think about that stuff before you just make those decisions. It was decided that she won’t come up now. She’ll come up later on her own in the women’s division so, I think she showed up later with them or something and that went for a minute and then he wanted to go in a different direction so, look, I love Big Damo, Eric Young, huge fan of EY. Friend as well. Just couldn’t be happier with all those guys. It just didn’t work out and that’s not their fault.
Cross would go on to become Raw Women’s Champion, a three-time Women’s Tag Team Champion, 2021 women’s Money in the Bank winner and she is an 11-time winner of the now-defunct 24/7 Championship.
In December 2022 after Eric Young was written off IMPACT Wrestling television, it was reported by PWInsider that he was heading back to WWE.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Oh…You Didn’t Know with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
