Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon shocked the world when they beat Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai to become the new NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions just an hour after Gonzalez and Kai had been crowned Champs, and they aren’t going to surrender those titles anytime soon. 2020 and 2021 have been banner years for Blackheart on the black and gold brand, and ahead of tonight’s NXT ComicBook.com had the chance to talk to Blackheart all about becoming Tag Team Champions, teaming up with Ember Moon, cosplay plans, what she wants in her first WWE action figure, and more, and you can check out the full interview in the video above.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Speaking of the big win first, it’s still a bit surreal for Blackheart. “I know, it’s wild. I still can’t believe it myself. The drive home after that show, I was like, ‘This is real, right? I’m not dreaming.” When asked if it had settled in yet at all, Blackheart said “No, it hasn’t settled at all. I still get emotional thinking about it. Especially because my dad was there to see it all happen.”
The whole locker room (well, most of it, looking at you Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell) was thrilled for Blackheart and Moon, as was Triple H, who all shared words with them once they got backstage.
“I mean, yeah. They definitely came up and congratulated both of us. Told us that we deserved it, which even then I was like, ‘Oh, really? Do you think?’ I don’t know. I felt like such a nerd,” Blackheart said. “We were greeted by the whole entire women’s roster, so that was a lot of fun. Skylar Story is one of my best friends. So we went straight backstage and I got to get congratulations hug from my bestie. So that was nice.”
Those who have watched Blackheart and Moon in the ring, during promos, or in backstage segments know that they seem to be having a genuinely good time, and part of that stems from NXT just allowing them to be themselves through and through.
“That’s exactly it. We are being genuinely ourselves, and that’s what’s so great. Because I think as soon as I got signed, a lot of people wanted to be like, oh yeah, they’re going to change you. You’re going to have to get rid of everything. You’re not going to be yourself. And I got to NXT, and I got to be me. Turned up even more, and they take all my dumb, weird ideas and they make them even better,” Blackheart said. “It’s just been so much fun.”
Blackheart and Moon are a perfect compliment to each other in the ring as far as their styles and personalities, and some of that comes from the fact that Blackheart was already a huge fan of Ember even before either ended up in WWE.
“Well, I’ve always been a huge fan of Ember Moon, even when she was on the Indies. I think she just is amazing,” Blackheart said. “She’s fast and energetic and just athletic as… She’s amazing. I look up to her so much and I noticed in War Games, we were doing a lot of tag moves together. Like even then, it was just so fun. And it just was so easy to work with her, but she just is so motivating. I’ve always been like a lone Wolf. And I always thought that I would never be like in a tag team, but she just motivates me. She’s so energetic. Us together is kind of dangerous, because we both are just wild and we make it even more wild together.”
Now, since Blackheart is now holding a Championship title, we feel it’s only proper to have her tank get a Championship upgrade, and she seems to agree.
“It should though. Should, right? I haven’t really thought about that, but now that you say it, I don’t know. I kind of want to give my tank a little belt too,” Blackheart said.
If you were wondering about the tank’s name, it most certainly has one. “It’s Pocket. It’s Pocket the Awful Tank.”
Speaking of Pocket, that brought us to the subject of Shotzi’s action figure hopes, as she hasn’t has her own WWE figure yet in the ever expanding Mattel toyline. That’s why we asked her when it happens, what gear does she want the figure to have, and will it come with a buildable version of Pocket.
“The newest gear that I’ve been wearing with Ember, I think I would want my figure to wear, but yes, it’s got to have the tank,” Blackheart said. “It’s got to have the helmet. So I’m thinking, if you’re going to do it, you got to go straight to Elite.”
Now, since you’re going to have an Elite figure, you need some other accessories to go with it, so why not have a little Robert Stone for the tank to run over, right? We think the idea is gold, and so did Blackheart.
“Yeah, a Little Robert Stone that everyone can just run over,” Blackheart joked. Since you’re only going to see like half of him you could save a little money Mattel and just make him attachable. “Yeah. They should just have it be an attachment to the tire,” Blackheart said.
Your move Mattel!
When Blackheart isn’t kicking ass in the ring she’s also a big fan of cosplay, and she’s already teamed up with iLLite FOTOS on some amazing photoshoots featuring the Joker and Freddy Krueger, and when we asked if more are in the works, it turns out there are, and she got Ember in the mix too.
“Oh, you know what, horror movies are my first love. I would love to do anything with movies, but probably not. But definitely doing more cosplay shoots. I think the next one that I’m doing, I’m doing with Ember, because I was like, ‘Girl, who need to do a photoshoot, come on.’ And she was so game, so it’s going to be just super bad-ass. You’ll see, we’ll get it done soon. But I also do want to do a whole horror series where I’m just beating up all of the slashers, like Jason and Michael. I did My Bloody Valentine and got to get them all. You got to get all the monsters.”
It’s almost like Horror Pokemon, but if there is one character she would love to play in live-action, it’s Freddy.
“Freddy. I want to do Nightmare On Elm Street. You know what, could be a chick Freddy, right? I just like how campy he is and all his one-liners,” Blackheart said.
Well that needs to happen ASAP, but in the meantime, you can check out Blackheart and Moon defending their titles on new episodes of NXT, which airs on Wednesday nights on the USA Network at 8 PM EST.
Who do you want to see Blackheart and Moon take on next? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things NXT with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
