Karrion Kross received an outpouring of support from fellow wrestlers and fans in the weeks leading up to his contract expiration, a sentiment he reflected on in his new documentary.
As noted, Kross released part two of The Killer documentary on Sunday, confirming that his WWE deal officially ended on Sunday. In the extended video, he discussed the messages and comments shared by fans and wrestling personalities both inside and outside WWE.
It’s important to note that some of this was taped prior to his WWE contract expiring – so keep that in mind while reading the quotes below:
On his contract status: “You know, August 10th, it’s up. That’s another situation that’s like on top of everything else going on that’s confusing and stressful, because I expressed interest to renegotiate in early January with WWE. Like I think it’s crazy. It’s preposterous that anyone would think that I wouldn’t want to be here or like go somewhere else. And it’s nothing against anywhere else, but like I’m fully committed. I’m here. There isn’t a world that exists where I don’t think I’ve ever made that so entirely clear.
“But maybe it’s just the general nature of people where they think in in all things, like if something’s not working out, they’ll go somewhere else. I’m really not like that. Like, I will bang my head against the pavement until you know, the sidewalk breaks and we get to the basement. It’s just the way — I don’t know. It’s just the way I am. And it’s frustrating because like — you know, you express your interest to stay and be here and and and do things. And I’m not going to beg. I’ve already made it clear.”
On the delay of negotiations around his contract: “Many months have gone by and never had a single conversation about it until recently. And I don’t even feel like the conversation I had recently was like an actual serious one. The conversation made me really angry, because I just didn’t feel like it was a real conversation. Someone had contacted me and we had briefly discussed it. It was a very short conversation, and the conversation was done. And there wasn’t really anything that was discussed of real substance.”
On why the discussion bothered him: “Actually, it didn’t make me angry and it didn’t make me upset. It just really profoundly disappointed me. Because I think about this business probably differently than the person I was speaking to, because of the nature of what I do. And when I look around at other people that do what I do, some of them have broken their necks. They sacrifice a lot under the guise of being appreciated and rewarded fairly. And some of them are no longer here as a result of the life that they lived, through the abuse that we subject ourselves in performing. And that’s on us. That’s not on anybody else. But like there’s a toll that we all pay to do this and we know that.”
On his future with WWE: “So, whatever’s going to happen is going to happen. What I would like to happen, I would love to stay with WWE. Um, and I’d love ideally to finish my career there. I really would. I don’t I don’t know what’s going to happen, though.”
On getting support from guys like Bobby Lashley, William Regal and Bully Ray: “To get that sort of validation from people who have been in the business and done just about everything. For them to — it’s one thing when they say it to you privately. But then when they publicly say it, there’s there’s a deliberate intention with that to help a brother. And I have everybody — everybody — asking me what’s going on. Which — it doesn’t bother me. I feel really supported. I definitely feel supported by the boys. A lot of the ladies talk to Scarlett about everything. We feel really supported.”
On the ups and downs of doing media: “But then it becomes like — it’s difficult to talk about. Could the conversations you’re having become detrimental? You don’t mean for them to be. And then, you know, you have reporters asking you about it. And I generally like to do media because we can cover ground that perhaps the television show just realistically can’t afford us to cover. Letting fans in — you know, we have the Unreal show now. There’s a huge culture of fans who like that type of stuff. I do like doing media, but what I don’t like doing about it is like, you know, you get these people that like rip certain things that you’re saying without the context and use them for sensationalized headlines, for clickbait and stuff like that. You know, now I know why a lot of the top stars don’t like doing media, because they just don’t want to be attached or associated with that. They don’t want to feel like they’re walking through some sort of weird f**king minefield where people won’t actually look up the articles or the interviews. They’ll just read the headline in their newsfeed and then it generates some sort of like negative or derogatory opinion when that’s not even really how you meant it or how you even really said it. I want to do more. And I’d like to do it under the premise of it being fair. And I don’t think that there’s anything outrageous about what the f**k I just said.”
“I remember in the beginning some people were saying, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t take it seriously. It’s not going to last’ or ‘Let’s see if it’s for real when you go out there tonight or if it’s still there when we’re in a different city or state.’ When it was still there and it got louder and louder every week, that went away and it was, ‘We’re not really ready to fully embrace that.’ I was being told by certain people, ‘Don’t acknowledge it,’ which felt really wrong because having a connection with the audience, especially one like this, this doesn’t just come around for everybody. It wasn’t something that was constructed or thought of. This happened organically through a series of events and I wouldn’t even say it’s from something that happened this year. This is something that is happening because of what has happened over the last three years. We’re getting to a tipping point and it can be stated that it started because I punched through something and everyone saw what was on the other side of that. I don’t feel like we are all collectively going in direction that the audience would like us to go in. That part doesn’t feel good. Things feel f**ked. It’s impossible to ignore it. I don’t want people to feel like they are being ignored, and a lot of them do, which is why it’s getting louder. I knew this was going to happen. If we didn’t lean into what the audience was asking for and what they wanted to see, they’re going to get louder. Pretending it’s not there or convincing ourselves that it’s going to go away, it’s not. This isn’t by a clever design, either. A lot of people thought or were telling me, ‘It’s going to go away.’ I knew it wasn’t.”
“I’m building a relationship and having a relationship with the audience, sometimes, with certain people, to me, it feels like they’re treating it as if I’m being rebellious or that it’s a problem that this has happened. This should not feel that way. It should not be treated like it’s a problem. It makes it feel like you outperformed or got ahead of something that they didn’t think you would get ahead of and they don’t like that you have gotten ahead of it. That’s the way it feels, and it’s not a good feeling. That’s based on conversations, things people have said. The merchandise, when it started to blow up, I had no idea until fans started pointing it out online. I go back to my points of contact and the company and ask them, ‘Is this true?’ They’re like, ‘We don’t know.’ How do you not know? I wanted to know if it was true. I did some digging and I came to find out it is true. Karrion Kross became a top seller through fan engagement. It’s amazing. People can say whatever they want about the online fans. I know the negativity is not welcomed and they’re not going to create and book around that, I understand that part, but support online is different because a lot of the fans online are people that are in other states who couldn’t make it to the current state of the show, but they’ll be there next week when you show up to their town. It was the online community that put that merch up there. Trivializing the online community in broad strokes, nobody is going to love you or like you. The more you try to make them love you and like you, they’ll hate you even more. I get not pandering to negativity, but support is a totally different energy we should be welcoming. That support translated from online to in the building over time.”
On getting support from wrestling fans: “I’ve never had people coming to me and talking to me quite like this, expressing how they feel about what’s going on. Because what’s been happening with me over the last few months on television and the presentation of the character, it’s never really played out like this. So, a lot of people express to me what that escapism does for them through entertainment. Just that that brief relief they can get where they can put their feet up on the couch after a long day and just step out of their concerns, their accountabilities, and their responsibilities and watch something that they enjoy. And like, to be an outlet for people like that that I’ve never met, until I meet them, and to know that I’m doing that for people. It’s hard to put into words. It feels really good though.”
On not ignoring the crowd: “You can’t ignore the crowd in this business. You can try. It’s not going to be good in the end. You don’t want to make your audience feel like they are not part of this. You can’t tell them they are part of this and they are the universe and are so heavily involved in every aspect and then tell them certain subsections don’t matter and we can’t do that. That pisses people off and turns people away.”
