WWE’s Alexa Bliss on ‘Unleash Your Warrior’ Breast Cancer Campaign and Why Pink is Her Color

Josh LaCunha/ E! Entertainment

Beyond entertaining millions of WWE fans every week, Alexa Bliss finds one of the best parts of her job is the community outreach.’

This includes WWE’s partnership with Susan G. Komen in the fight against breast cancer. For the sixth consecutive year, the two organizations are encouraging people to “Be Strong, Act Bold, Always Believe.” WWE created a limited edition “Unleash Your Warrior” t-shirt. Available on WWEShop.com and live events, 100 percent of the net proceeds benefit Komen research grants focusing on metastatic breast cancer. The disease is responsible for the nation’s 40,000 annual breast cancer deaths. Fans can also donate $1, $5, or $10 upon checkout, with all proceeds benefiting Komen.

Bliss joined other superstars to acknowledge breast cancer survivors in the ring, complete with pink and white ropes, for the campaign kickoff on Raw. The honorees received their own specialty championship. The “Five Feet of Fury” superstar is grateful to be involved in creating awareness of such a worthy cause.

“This past week I’ve been able to hang out with six survivors,” he said. “They are all amazing, inspiring women who have the most positive outlook. Their energy is just so amazing and infectious. You just want to hug them. It has been so much fun to be around them and take pictures with them and let them know they truly are warriors. They are the strong ones. They literally inspire women all over.”

Bliss’ great grandmother died of breast cancer. By the same token, the women’s champion knew a girl in high school who was diagnosed at 16. She has seen both ends of the spectrum, which showed the disease was not age discriminatory.

The 26-year-old doesn’t just wear pink during October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a go-to color for much of her ring attire.

“I think pink represents strength,” Bliss said.

“It’s one of those colors that some people may perceive as girly, but I perceive it as strong and bold. I have pink hair, and I think it helps me stand out and be independent. It’s the perfect color to associate with any breast cancer survivor because they are all strong, bold and independent.”

WWE

Even though she currently portrays the villain on WWE television, audiences have resonated with her. She gets in the face of those who even tower over her with an unwavering confidence. One of them has been the imposing Nia Jax. Bliss recalls the two becoming instant friends when she had her tryout at NXT.

“We have the talent help out with the tryouts to make sure everything goes smoothly or if someone who is doing the try out needs help,” Bliss said. “I remember during the talent lunch break, Nia comes up to me as I’m doing cardio on the treadmill. She just comes up to me and starts talking to me like she has never met a stranger in her life. We instantly clicked and have been best friends ever since.”

They bond over the struggles of traveling and share similar humor, which is apparent if you follow them on social media. The two are also animal lovers. Jax helped pick out Bliss’ pet pig Larry-Steve. A new audience will get even more insight on the dynamic of this sisterhood when they join the cast of Total Divas for season seven.

“It is a completely different platform and audience, which is awesome,” Bliss said. “It’s such a great opportunity. I’m hoping it’s the next step for me and opens opportunities for people who don’t watch WWE to cross over and watch WWE and bring that audience into what we do and into our world.”

After signing on the for the E! reality series, the newcomer immediately texted veteran Nikki Bella.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said. “I asked her if she had any advice or tips. She told me to just have fun and go with the flow. She said, ‘No matter how outrageous, just have fun with it.’”

Bliss is proud of Bella watching her branch out of a comfort zone on Dancing with the Stars.

“She is killing it,” she said.

“To come back from the neck injury and do what she does on a daily basis. She is like the image of women empowerment. I’m so motivated by her. And she is seriously the sweetest person you will ever meet. I just want nothing but the best of her.”

The popular performer’s own star is on the rise and a popular personality on social media. Many of her facial expressions on WWE TV have been turned into viral Memes and GIFs. The subject is admittedly not mindful that a reaction she makes would end up on Twitter later.

“I don’t go out there thinking, ‘Hey, this face I’m doing may turn into an unflattering picture.’ I always look at Twitter and seem to get tagged in the most unflattering pictures though,” she said.

“You would think that I would learn maybe to have that in the back of my mind. I just don’t and keep getting tagged in unflattering memes. It is what it is.”

She takes it all in stride. Bliss even has stand out.

“There is actually one from a moment on camera of me and Nia tagging,” Bliss said.

“She goes, ‘You’re the champ.’ And I go, ‘I know I’m the champ.’ I do this obnoxious hair flip. Now mind you I didn’t know I was on camera, and didn’t know that it was caught and put on TV. I thought we were on commercial break. It’s still one of my favorites because it’s such a me and Nia thing to do.”

The emerging talent is having some fun working with Mickie James. Bliss has called her an “old lady” and even brought in some props to add fuel to the fire against the veteran adversary.

“We did a segment where I gave Mickie James some Depend products and a walker,” she said.

“My original pitch was to give her a Life Alert. It didn’t happen, but Nia ended up using a line about it in their match. That’s teamwork right there…WWE creative is amazing. When we have ideas, they always take them into consideration. Whether they use the ideas, I don’t know. I’m not going to lie. My ideas are usually not that great. So, creative takes an idea and makes it that much better. They are amazing to work with and so open to our ideas.”

Bliss has enjoyed working with James. They have a match at WWE: Tables, Ladders & Chairs where the challenge looks to become a seven-time women’s champion.

“Mickie is so amazing because she has so many ideas. She is a wealth of knowledge since she has been in the business for so long,” Bliss said.

“She is super sweet and open to ideas. I’m looking forward to continuing our program. She always says, ‘Well, I’m six one way and half dozen the other.’ We always go that she makes scrambled eggs. That’s not a thing she taught us. If it doesn’t work out today, it will tomorrow. Six one way and half dozen the other. It happens. Things can work out tomorrow. She is very casual that way, which keeps it a stress-free environment. That is so nice to have.”

Bliss believes it’s a good time to be a woman in WWE. There is a united dedication to have the best matches and raise the bar each night.

“You had the Mae Young Classic and Asuka coming to Raw, which will be awesome,” she said.

“I know after the Four Horsewomen, any women that comes up after has to be the evolution to the women’s revolution. I think Asuka is just the person to do that. We are all excited about being a part of everything happening.”

Learn more about WWE and the Susan G. Komen partnership at www.Komen.org/WWE

Watch Raw 8/7c Mondays and SmackDown Live 8/7c Tuesdays on USA Network

Total Divas premieres on November 1 at 9/8c on E!

 

1 Comment

  1. Alexa’s presence in WWE programming continues to grow at record speed, and in just over a year on the main roster, she has positioned herself as a vital player. I’ve never seen anyone accomplish so much in so little time and I couldn’t be more proud of her! She is truly amazing.

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