Killer Kross Reveals What He Was Told Ahead Of WWE Main Roster Debut
Main roster plans abruptly changed for Killer Kross in WWE and the former NXT Champion saw the writing on the wall once creative veered. Kross joined the "Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling" podcast and talked about his move to "WWE Raw" after his well-received run in NXT. Kross, who went as Karrion Kross at the time, described the impression he was given when receiving the call to join the red brand.
"What I was told was this was going to be an upgraded version of what I was previously doing in NXT, upgraded," he said. "A bigger and better version of what I did. And they said they wanted to give me new music and they wanted to switch up my entrance a little bit. They wanted to incorporate more of my original logo which was the 'X.' It was a red 'X,' they wanted to start doing some sort of form of an 'X.' They talked about putting a giant 'X' in the building on fire and they talked about going in the direction of more like an evil gladiator? And then, we got this mock-up of this outfit and it looked cheap and horrendous and I said, 'Surely this is just a concept? This is not what they're actually trying to manufacture or engineer because this is a billion-dollar company and this looks like trash.' Sure enough, the day comes, we get the costume and I was like, 'Boy, I don't know about this.'"
Kross really didn't know about it when he saw there was no new music, no new entrance, and no big red "X" set aflame. Instead, Kross walked out in his new attire and an over-the-top helmet that spoke to his notion of "cheap and horrendous."
"They just rushed the character out there with no explanation with what's going on," he said. "A lot of people, they try to pinpoint what it was that was missing and what didn't work and whatnot. At the end of the day, and I say this with all due respect to my wife, the character could have worked on 'Raw' without her. She could have been her own separate star, on the same show or another show, women's champion, she could have put her own spin like, 'Make wrestling sexy again' with her Impact stuff."
Scarlett Bordeaux did establish her own unique identity while at Impact Wrestling particularly with her "Smoke Show" segments. Kross has utilized social media to promote his own self-created vignettes and knows that his wife is capable of that too.
"She's a very, very, creative person and she was acquiescent to a lot of my ideas to create some sort of parallel simpatico, but she has many layers too. We could have been separate stars on our own and the gladiator thing could have worked if it made sense for people watching, if there was an explanation why the character was wearing a helmet, wearing the suspenders, where she went, and what the character's motives are on the show? It could have worked, as silly as the outfit was and I didn't mind the outfit, I always go on record to say that. I felt comfortable in it but it just didn't make any sense. Like I say this, there was no continuity for what we were creating for people for over a year and a half and then you just do all these nonsensical experiments on the flagship show with this character. I mean it was very obvious to me that whoever was making these decisions was going to absolve themselves of the demise and then I would be f*cked. I knew that and I had voiced that to people that I trusted who were above me and they assured me because they believed it too, that was not going to happen, but it did."
The two stars were released from WWE on November 4, 2021 after being signed in 2019. Both Kross and Bordeaux are set to be in action at MLW Battle Riot IV in New York City on June 23. Kross is one of the featured players in the 40-man Battle Riot match and Bordeaux will be making her MLW in-ring debut against Clara Carreras.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription