Kross is glad that he went on the path he did in WWE.
In February of 2020, Killer Kross’ signing to WWE was announced on the ‘WWE Backstage’ show. On the 5/6/20 episode of NXT TV, Kross made his in-ring debut and became NXT Champion several months later.
Since becoming a free agent after wrapping up his time with WWE, Kross has wrestled for Future Stars of Wrestling, WrestlePro and MLW. He was the focus of a virtual signing hosted by Captain’s Corner and Kross looked back on the early days of his run in WWE. He said before he was assigned to NXT, he was told that the company was thinking of debuting him at the 2020 Royal Rumble event. Kross is glad that his path went the way it did and explained why.
Well, when I began talking to Hunter, it was just kind of up in the air as to where I would be going getting on board with the company. I wasn’t so much really concerned with whether I was going to be on the main [roster] or NXT. I just was very adamant about being on board and I wanted to get their opinion. I wanted to see how he felt where, you know, would be the most appropriate place to go once we’re in the door and then I was told by numerous people in the company — I wasn’t supposed to know but, I was told that they were thinking about debuting me at the Royal Rumble, yeah. [It would’ve been] 2020. You know, so it would’ve been straight to main roster and then, I don’t know. I wasn’t privy to the conversations but they changed directions and brought me to NXT and um, yeah, which honestly in retrospect, I know everyone’s like, ‘Ah, main roster, main roster.’ I mean, I don’t think that we would have been in the environment where my ideas and concepts would have been embraced the way they were on NXT versus on main roster because it’s just a different creative process. So I’m actually very happy that we did the NXT stuff. I don’t know. I probably would’ve made an astronomical amount [of] more money working main roster right off the bat, probably would have gotten a little more exposure but, to be quite frank with you, I mean, there’s a crew of people on main roster that will always be above everybody else and that is the way that it is booked and I don’t need to say who that is. If you watch the program, you can see it. Fans are not as stupid as they are treated. They can see what’s going on, there are guys that are the top echelon and there are people who only get so far and they are nothing more than fodder. I didn’t feel it was that way in NXT. I felt like at NXT, depending on how you were able to elicit an emotional response from the audience was gonna be the way you were going to create traction, momentum, it felt more organic and they would book things based on how the audience felt about you.
Kross’ first spotlighted storyline in NXT was with Tommaso Ciampa. He named Ciampa as one of the toughest people he’s ever shared the ring with and mentioned that Tommaso has a story to tell about his past neck issues that most are not aware of. Kross does not know if Ciampa can tell the full story because he’s with WWE.
He hopes that Ciampa gets a fair shake if he transitions to the main roster full-time and brought up that his theme music has already been changed.
Toughest [opponent I faced in NXT?]… Really hard to say. When you say ‘toughest’, I’m thinking about who took the worst beating. I mean the first person in all fairness [that] came to mind is probably Tommaso [Ciampa]. I don’t know if you guys remember but, I gave him that two-handed chokeslam into the apron, I picked him up by his f*cking neck and his head and I threw him backwards into the apron. I know a lot of people, they’d be going, ‘Roll me into the ring and let’s get the f*ck out of here’ after that. So, I beat the sh*t out of Tommaso and he did to me too but that’s the way we like to work with each other and not everyone likes to work like that and it’s not appropriate for every night but I’d say Tommaso Ciampa is probably the most — probably one of the toughest people in the business. He has a story that has not been told yet and I don’t even know if he’s gonna be allowed to tell it in WWE and maybe it’s not my place to tell any of it right now but I hope he tells his story because he’s gone through things that nobody knows about unless you’re really close to him. Like, he’s lucky to even be alive with his neck. Like, some people know part of the story, they don’t know the whole story. I don’t know if he’ll be able to tell it while he’s in WWE but he’s a good man, he’s a good father, he’s a good husband and he’s a great human being and excellent professional wrestler. It was a real pleasure to work with him and I’m glad that he’s still there and clearing his check and I hope that they take care of him on main roster and I hope he gets a fair shot. I hope they don’t cut his legs out from underneath him and try to absolve themselves of the direction they’re putting him on. They’ve already changed his music and done some weird sh*t but, you know, there’s only so much you can do when they begin to change your stuff. You can always show up to work with a smile on your face and be positive and motivated and all that but, if they’re preventing you in a passive aggressive way of connecting with the audience and they blame you for that, that’s… that sucks and that’s happened to a lot of people over the last 40 to 50 years, everywhere. But he’s a good man.
Ciampa explained the change in theme music and to read his post about it, head over to this link. Tonight at NXT Roadblock, Ciampa, Dolph Ziggler and NXT Champion Bron Breakker will be competing in a three-way for Bron’s title.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Captain’s Corner with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
