Karrion Kross Reveals Who Came Up With Idea For His Mask

WWE RAW star Karrion Kross was on a recent episode of Table Talk with WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley. Kross made his RAW debut this past summer, and he compared the environments of NXT and RAW.

"It's a completely different experience in the way that the show runs," Kross said. "CWC, Capital Wrestling Center, where we would shoot NXT, the day felt, in terms of how the show was laid out, very premeditated in terms of the direction we knew we were going to be going, and everything was spaced out in time allotted. It just felt more concrete, whereas with RAW, there's so many moving parts.

"There's a lot of things that are changing moment to moment. So being able to adapt and change on the fly, I don't want to necessarily say it was hard, it's more fun. I enjoy stuff like that. I don't mind pressure whatsoever. Sometimes when you're backstage certain things, like time stuff, either gets extended or cut and stuff like that. For me, it's been really fun.

"I don't necessarily know if I observe the transition from NXT to RAW as necessarily hard or easy, but it's just, in general, a really cool learning experience, and to see how many people in comparison to CWC to RAW, in terms of staff, are a part of it, there's just wires around the entire place. How many people come together every Monday to put that show together from the ground up is incredible, and it's very inspiring to see that many people put that show on. People don't realize it. They see only what we show them. So from everything backstage, everyone working together on this massive creation, it's pretty awesome. That's kind of how I observe it all, but it is a totally different experience."

Kross has not undergone a new look and has been featured on RAW and on Main Event. He talked about his experience working under Vince McMahon.

"At the top of any business, it gets very cutthroat, but it's just the nature of being at the top of any business," Kross stated. "All I can tell you is that's the only guy I've ever wanted to work for since I was a kid. It's the only job I've ever really wanted."

Kross' new look was a complete change with a new mask and full attire. The change was reportedly made for merchandise purposes. Kross revealed whose idea the new look with the mask was.

"I'm not entirely sure at this point because I had received a briefing about it. I think it was a creative team conversation," Kross recalled. "I guess it was a series of people attempting to expand on the original concept that was presented during NXT, so I guess it was a team of people, but the direction that I think they were attempting to go in was essentially a gladiator idea.

"I had introduced the lower body gear at NXT when I competed against Finn Balor to get the title back, and my original concept with that was this feels like what the colosseum days would be like. We're just in this circular area. There's people all around it. This is what the colosseum would be at that time, and with the character presentation of Karrion Kross, the development of that character, this wasn't just a regular match people were going to be getting into.

"This guy could could light you up with a shot that you're going to carry with you for the rest of your life. You're going into this match, whether you win or lose, you might not be coming out the same way, and I was really attempting to project that sort of energy into it. And I think what they wanted to do when we were coming up was play off of that, and so that's kind of where we're at right now."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Table Talk with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.