Change is inevitable and there has been a great deal of it in WWE since Triple H took over as Director of Content. One of the most recent creative tweaks to the game has been bringing Piper Niven back into the fold.

The 31-year-old Scottish powerhouse hadn’t been seen on TV in months, and the last time fans saw her, she was still competing under the pseudonym Eva Marie gave her when she made her main roster debut – Dudrobe.

Niven recently opened up about her absence from the company, saying she developed a serious case of COVID-19 that had doctors concerned about her heart condition. Fortunately, after several weeks of taking it very easy, Piper was allowed to go back to work and plans were made for her return.

Cageside Seats was pleased to catch Niven at the Royal Rumble Press Junket, about 36 hours before she was due to return to the ring.

“It was such a long time I’d been on it. I want to say the last time I was in a ring was mid-September and I was under strict instructions, like not doing anything. I wasn’t allowed to train, I wasn’t allowed to go to the gym, like anything It raises my heart rate because if there’s a problem it can damage it. So yeah, I had a lot of time just to sit and think about vacation.”

in the days before Royal RumbleAnd Niven said My San Antonio That when it comes to Doudrop, it took her a while to figure out who she’s supposed to be. Once she was beginning to get to know the character, the WWE creative team threw her a curveball and decided to have her drop soul toes and turn heel.

Niven’s health scare gave her a chance to dive into herself and figure out who she wanted to be on camera with Triple H now at the helm. In fact, it gave her more time than she ever had to sit and think.

“I’ve had a job or been involved in wrestling since I was really young and I’ve never been injured. Like, you know, I’ve probably had some sprains or injuries that only took a couple of weeks to heal. But I wasn’t stopped for any particular large amount of time and I didn’t realize That when performers and athletes get injured, you can go crazy.”

Maybe Piper didn’t go Complete Jack Torrancebut without work and much free time, Niven has turned into a boring girl.

“I was crazy, crazy. Real, crazy. And I ended up talking to some people and finding out some things about my life and I’m using that as a moment for character development. So I’m really hoping to share that other side of the story with you guys through wrestling.”

The first thing he went to was the name Doudrop. Alex McCarthy I reported last week that the name change had been greenlighted a full month before we saw Piper Niven on TV.

But who is this former NXT UK superstar?

From what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Niven is a total act, not some kind of womanizer. She had a great showing at the Royal Rumble, lasting 28 minutes before Raquel Rodriguez dumped her over the top rope.

And although she may not have made her way to the Elimination Chamber last night raw, I put Candice Larry and Mia Yim on notice after the bell. Grabbing her backstage and giving a stern warning to never get between her and the Raw Women’s Championship again.

It just highlights the depth of the women’s division when you have three talents like Niven, LeRae, and Yim who didn’t qualify for the #1 contender’s match. Not to mention the fact that Becky Lynch and Bayley are also sitting out the Elimination Chamber match, too busy with each other to stay in the title hunt. – at present.

It’s a big deal to have, and Niven welcomes a wide range of talent that she can compete with and tell stories with, both in and out of the ring.

“I think the more different dynamics you have, the more stories you can tell. Like, obviously it’s great to do David and Goliath or like whatever kind of stories you want to tell, but I really think it’s the differences in characters that help make stories Very enjoyable.”

Of course, it can be difficult to tell a good story when the audience’s attention is taken away from the ring. Even as you wrestle self-proclaimed GOAT (many fans wouldn’t argue with it) Becky Lynch, in the biggest match of your career.

That’s exactly what happened at Royal Rumble 2021 when Doudrop challenged Big Time Becks for the Raw Women’s Championship. As they got into the thick of the match, both competitors noticed that something in the crowd had caught the crowd’s attention.

The shot was fired after Ronda Rousey won the 30-match Royal Rumble match minutes before the WrestleMania tag set. An entire section behind the commentator’s desk had to be cleared, so that the banner could be lowered and the fire extinguished.

It was Lynch who figured out what was going on first and understandably, Niven told Cageside Benches that she thought she was hearing things when the guy relayed the message.

“So we’re at the match and Becky gets me in this lock as she walks away. Like a second, I can hear some voices happening and then I hear her say, ‘The sign is on.’ And I’m like, WHAT!?” Nevin said, laughing. “I’m still trying to get out of this bind and such, I hadn’t heard that possibly be true at all. And I’m like what did you say? And she said, ‘The sign is on!’ And I was like, Of course it is. Why isn’t the sign on?

So what does someone do in this situation? Well if you are the gladiators, the show must go on. Make sure it is safe to continue, but continue until told otherwise. The difficult part for Niven and Lynch was getting the public’s attention back on them.

We kind of had to, you know, give him a minute. Like, is this building going to be re-evacuated? We weren’t really sure and then we were like, oh no, well, it’s all safe. We’ll just work extra hard to get the fans back to him.”

Be sure to check out our entire conversation with Piper Niven in the video above. You can follow Rick Ochino on Twitter Twitter and subscribe to Bleav on the Pro Wrestling Podcast for his further work.