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EXCLUSIVE: PIPER NIVEN DISCUSSES FACING BAYLEY THIS SATURDAY IN SCOTLAND, WWE NXT EUROPE HOPES AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2024-06-10 13:29:00

PWInsider.com spoke with WWE's Piper Niven to discuss this Saturday's Clash at the Castle, which will see Niven return to her home country of Scotland to challenge WWE Women's Champion Bayley. 

On Bayley, Niven commented, "I have a huge amount of respect for Bayley.  I think she is Incredibly talented. I think she brings out the best  in her opponents and I really think that is that's something that should be respected not just as a fan but as a fellow performer and you really admire the people that work like that and another performer like that comes to mind, Shawn Michaels, so I really do have a lot of respect for her, but. With that in mind I'll try and keep that respect in mind when I'm drilling her head into the mat and taking her belt off her."

While her match with Bayley will be Niven's highest profile singles match in some time, she has been living the WWE lifestyle since signing with the company back in 2019.  When asked how she has grown from the experiences of living life as a WWE performer, Niven reflected, "Let me tell you, the two most expensive things you can do with your life are emigrate and get married...and I decided to do them both in the middle of a pandemic. Maybe not the smartest or easiest mood, but it's definitely in line with me as a person. I don't do anything by half. I think what my whole WWE journey so far has taught me is to enjoy the moment  and not be too caught up in semantics and if something doesn't quite work out the way that you planned, don't stress  because it usually means that something bigger and better is on the way."

After runs in Insane Championshp Wrestling and ITV's World of Sport revival series, Piper spent quite some time in NXT UK before coming to the United States.  When asked what her hopes would be for the next generation of talents if and when WWE pulls the trigger on the long-promised NXT Europe launch, Niven paused and then stated, "I would hope that they really modeled it a lot off of NXT UK because NXT UK was a gold mine.  There was so much talent in there and there was so many people working hard to be better every single day, and when you look at main roster and NXT now is absolutely prevalent and, present company, GUNTHER, Gallus, so many stars that came from there.  So they obviously had the formula right and I always thought that NXT UK was the best wrestling that unfortunately didn't get enough eyes on it.  I really hope that NXT Europe does become a thing and if it does or when it does, I would love to go and help out because a lot of the talent from NXT did come and help and show us the ropes and what was expected of us and how we perform on TV.  I would love to be a part of that and, pass the information that I can on and help the next generation."

Niven vs. Bayley will take place this Saturday 6/15 at 2 PM Eastern as part of WWE's Clash at the Castle 2024 from Glasgow, Scotland on Peacock and the WWE Network, as well as other outlets internationally.

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