Nina Samuels Discusses Nina Samuels Show In NXT UK, Planned Feud With Doudrop

The Nina Samuels Show became a staple of NXT UK television throughout 2022 as Nina Samuels would interview various NXT UK superstars. 

The show rose to prominence on social channels before hitting television in a regular spot and Samuels worked with a variety of NXT UK talents before the brand went on hiatus and Samuels was released as a result. 

Speaking to Taylor Wilde on Wilde On, Samuels reflected on the show. 

“The first time it was ever discussed, I feel like it was 2019. Initially, it was going to be an in-ring segment and I think it was written in the script, briefly, then it got scrapped and there was never anything spoken about it for years. During lockdown, it was talked about as being a possible studio segment, and there were ideas for that, but Noam Dar had Supernova Sessions, so it would be a bit too similar. The first time I think it was talked about being a backstage segment was years ago when we had Radzi (Chinyanganya) as our backstage interviewer and he wasn’t going to be able to do a taping. There was an idea that I would possibly fill his role for the taping and we would plant the seeds at the taping before where we would start with me having a feud with Radzi and oust him. It just never came to fruition,” she said. 

Samuels continued by discussing her character at the time and the original intent of the Nina Samuels show. 

“I pitched the idea that I would go crazy and have a breakdown and edge to the character, which ended up by accident because I had the story with Xia (Brookside) where I ended up having to be a personal assistant and then I was off TV for three months. Not really intentionally, I was meant to go into a feud with Pipen Niven (Doudrop), but she was called up real quick. I was blocked out for the taping to have a whole storyline with her. Everyone else was occupied. So I was off that taping and another one. I was like, ‘Can we put something to this?’ The last thing that happened was me cleaning a toilet for Xia and then disappearing for ages. We could make something of that. The Nina Samuels Show was initially going to be a tool and that getting canceled made me go down the crazy path, but they liked it so much it never stopped,” she recalled. “I filmed my first one at a taping and was told it would be weekly after that. I got to the next taping and only two were written out. Two out of six. I was like, ‘I’m just going to film something on my phone for the episodes that I’m not featured on TV and post it.'”

Samuels credited the episode with Sam Gradwell as a reason for the success of the show as they filmed it the same day NXT UK was set to air and posted it just before the show aired. She said the video got over 12,000 views on Twitter in five hours. 

“From that point, people got what we were going for, so I filmed a few more and the next taping, I got there, I wasn’t on the taping at all and we had eight episodes. I was like, ‘Nina Samuels Show, here we go.’ It got to the point where WWE was like, ‘We want to make this more official,’ so they filmed them and posted them on NXT UK socials. I still had the creative freedom with it, pretty much, but I had to approve who it was going to be with. As soon as the script was there at the start of each taping, I’d go through it with Eddie Dennis, who was helping with creative, and we’d come up with ideas for who to get pre-match and post-match, I sent a list and if it got approved, cool. We didn’t have to get a script approved, which is a nice freedom that many don’t get in WWE,” she said.

Samuels said she enjoyed working with different talents in a more free-flowing format as they got to show their personalities a little more. 

Samuels is back on the Independent scene and has made appearances at PROGRESS Wrestling events. When discussing the future of the Nina Samuels Show, she said, “I keep thinking I’ll bring it back, but I’m not sure yet. I need to find the right inspiration. I want to do it properly. Unless hair, makeup, and outfit is full, there are no half-measures. I’m doing it properly or not at all. I just need to think about what the show looks like post-NXT UK and come up with some ideas.”

Samuels last competed at PROGRESS Wrestling Chapter 145 when she defeated Alexxis Falcon. 

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