Karrion Kross Was Amazed by His Fan Reception in Saudi Arabia

– Speaking to Busted Open Radio, WWE Superstar Karrion Kross discussed his match with Sami Zayn at WWE Night of Champions Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and being amazed by his fan reception there. Below are some highlights (via Fightful):

Karrion Kross on his fan reception in Saudi Arabia: It felt amazing. A lot of times, when I’m about to walk out through the curtain, especially recently, I don’t know what is going to be coming at me. I have no idea. I know it’s going to be something. It’s going to be boos or cheers, but for the last couple of months, it’s been an overwhelming amount of support and cheers. I’m not comparing myself to Steve Austin, but I remember being a kid when the audience began to turn with Steve Austin, or even with Shawn Michaels, when he was a heel and the audience started cheering. It was very cool, like an anti-hero vibe. This has happened to me before. This happened to me on the independents. I was working as a heel and at the time on the indies, I was cursing off the audience and doing everything I could to keep them behind the babyface. Nothing was budging. Eventually, promoters turned me babyface.”

On his past experiences in Saudi Arabia: “When we were out in Saudi, every time I’ve gone, and I’ve been five times now, I’ve only wrestled once and that was against Drew in a steel cage, which was amazing. I took my first suplex off a steel cage, and rightfully so with him because he’s one of the strongest human beings I’ve ever met. I had no concerns whatsoever that we were going to get the rotation right. It felt amazing. Every time we’ve been there, anytime we’ve walked outside or been anywhere, people go crazy.”

On why the response felt amazing: “When we did the live press conference and the crowd came up for us. Then I knew when we were going to walk through the curtain and walk on the stage that they were going to be there for it. It felt really good. I’ve been dying to be in front of people. That many people, on a stage like that, I’ve been dying to do it. To have that sort of response was amazing. I knew I would be able to turn at least half the arena and make sure they were going to stay behind Sami when we were out there. Just the reception we got, it felt really good.”

At WWE Night of Champions Riyadh 2025, Sami Zayn defeated Kross in their singles bout. However, Kross later attacked Zayn backstage earlier this week on Monday Night Raw, so it appears that their issues are far from over.