Karrion Kross spoke with Justin Barasso of Sports Illustrated after Sunday’s NXT “Takeover: In Your House”, where he defeated Tommaso Ciampa in just six minutes. Here are some highlights:
Was your NXT debut entrance the most meaningful moment so far in your career?
Karrion Kross: Yes, it definitely is. Introductions are some of the most defining moments of your career, that is definitely number one at this point for me.
We felt that we were on to something very special. I could feel it. I read that through my own personal feeling, I read it through Scarlett’s feeling, and I read it through the energy in the room.
Looking at the reaction from people who’ve seen everything in wrestling, everything you could possibly imagine, when I saw their reaction, I knew what we were doing was going to translate in a very big way.
You needed to present yourself as a monster against Tommaso Ciampa, an NXT cornerstone, and you destroyed him, Clubber Lang style, in just over six minutes. Is that exactly what your character needed?
That’s really a question for the fans. Virtually everything I do is predicated on what will be the best way to contribute to the program. If we elicited an emotional response out of the audience where they felt something, really felt something watching that, then for me, both personally and professionally, it’s a home run. So I leave that up to the fans. I felt very good about it, but I gauge everything on how people feel about what they are watching.
Was there ever a chance you would be Killer Kross in NXT?
I think it’s fair to say anything is possible, so I wouldn’t discount it. On the other hand, I have not been stifled whatsoever creatively since I have arrived here. I feel like what we have done, from Killer to Karrion, is expand the character. This is something I personally always wanted to do. I’ve been sitting on concepts and ideas for an extended period of time, exercising the patience over the past few years not to do them. I’ve been waiting for the right platform. Now we’re here.
What is the origin of the name Karrion?
I didn’t want to take something directly, I wanted to take different pieces. I exercised some mythology to the presentation in terms of Charon. He was a ferryman and would carry the souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead. There is another character named Cheiron, who was the son of Cronus, the god of time. My inspirations come from many different places, and I’ve rolled everything into one presentation.
What is your end goal in NXT? The title? A program with Finn Balor? Adam Cole? Keith Lee? And not to steal Lee’s line, but your options seem limitless.
I want it all, let’s be clear on that. I am someone who pays attention to the currents that are going on socially in terms of what people want. When I catch wind of the types of matches people want, those are the matches I want, too. I’m very much a pleaser in terms of giving people what they want. And not to steal someone else’s line, but I think that’s best for business.
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