Kross claims that him and Windham Rotunda were going to clash at WrestleMania.
In late August 2023, at the age of 36 years old, Windham Rotunda a.k.a. Bray Wyatt passed away. Many wrestling companies, promotions, wrestlers and fans paid tribute to Rotunda. Stories about him continue to be shared by those who spent time with him.
Windham became a topic of conversation during Chris Van Vliet’s chat with Karrion Kross. Kross would reveal that he was supposed to work with Rotunda at WrestleMania 39. He said no one knew except for some writers and higher-ups in WWE. He added that ideas involving Alexa Bliss, Bo Dallas and Scarlett were thrown around.
So we fast forward. I haven’t talked to anybody but my wife about this. So fast forward, we (Kross & Windham Rotunda) were supposed to work last WrestleMania. Nobody knew that except for a collection of writers and some people in the office. Yeah (this was for WrestleMania 39). We were slated to do something. And we would talk for hours about how we wanted to get into it, what we wanted to deliver creatively for people, where we thought we both needed to be. We had, you know, ideas with Alexa (Bliss) and Bo (Dallas) and Scarlett. You know, and then everything happened the way it did. But he left a mark on anybody and everybody that he ever met. And it’s just very strange the way everything kind of just played out, like, beautiful and tragic. And he was always an inspiration to me and always showed me warmth. He showed everybody warmth, you know what I mean? But I just have so many, I have more stories than we have time to share. But we were cool and I’ll never forget him.
After Rotunda’s passing, multiple talents went to get tattoos in honor of his memory. Kross said it was spontaneous, but a no-brainer decision.
I was just approached in the middle of the day by a lot of the staff. They had let us know that there was a local artist in town. We’re all upset, you know, it’s still unsettling for a lot of us, what happened. So we just decided to collectively all do it. You know, it was something we all wanted to do together and that’s kind of how it came about. It was very spontaneous, but it was a no-brainer.
He further opened up about past interactions with Rotunda. He stated that the multi-time WWE Champion was always kind to him. Around 2018-2019, Rotunda reached out to Kross and said they need to ‘dance’ on-screen. After Kross debuted in NXT, Windham messaged him and said they’re gonna go at it at WrestleMania one day.
I didn’t want to get too much into it until we were here. It’s not a double-talk conversation. But so Windham (Rotunda) and I were talking on and off for like, a long time. When I was an extra in WWE, he would always talk with me backstage. It was never about wrestling, but about horror movies or tattoos or music. And then, I wouldn’t see him — we weren’t friends but he was very warm to me. And I think it was around 2018, 2019, he reached out to me and he was like, ‘We need to dance.’ And I was like, ‘Alright.’ I was blown away. Somebody that I look up to as a performer talking to me, like, indie Killer Kross who hasn’t made a name yet or drawn any money. As we got close to that time, I went to getting on board with NXT. We do the entrance, suplex Leon Ruff on his head a couple of times, choke him. And he reaches out again. He was like, ‘It’s gonna be me and you at WrestleMania one day.’ And I was like, my God… I just always thought him and I were gonna do this in a different capacity, you know?
Elsewhere in the conversation, Kross revealed that he submitted a book to WWE. He wants them to publish it and it’s currently under review. He thinks it could be published before the end of 2023.
So I submitted the book to WWE because I would like to have it published through them. Everything that I do, I would like to do through WWE, I want to be a lifer, you know what I mean? I would like to think that it could be published by the end of this year. The book is being reviewed or has been reviewed. There are just a couple other moving parts that need to be set in place for it to be published. But when I submitted the book, I had the formatting down. It was edited, there’s photos in it, and I gave them like a totally finished product. So it’s whenever they have all of their ducks in a row for some things that they’re trying to line up for all of us. On the publishing side, the book will be published, but I’m really excited for people to read it. Again, I’m a little bit scared. But I think that’s probably a good thing.
Kross is a member of the SmackDown roster alongside Scarlett. His most recent televised match was on the 8/11 SmackDown against A.J. Styles.
Scarlett is going to be returning to NXT to host night one of Halloween Havoc with Shotzi.
