Karrion Kross On Potential Match With John Cena, Return From Injury, Winning NXT Title

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Karrion Kross discussed a his return from injury, a potential match with John Cena, and much more. Here are some of the highlights:

Karrion Kross on being sidelined due to injury: “The injury blindsided me. This isn’t something I wanted to be too public about because I didn’t want people to be too removed from what I was doing. Psychologically, I had to recover, even back in the ring. As a performer, I did something so comfortably for so long. Then that accident happened, and I had to get past those doubts in the back of my mind. The physical part, rebuilding and retraining my shoulder, that was one thing. There was a lot more, too. At first, I couldn’t get dressed. I couldn’t put on my socks. It felt like everything was affected.”

On Scarlett helping him with his recovery: “While WWE medical was treating me the night I got hurt, she was already researching a recovery course I could start immediately the night it happened. She drove me to pick up a very specific machine from the Performance Center that helped ice the injury, and she helped me in the initial stages of rehab later that very night….she asked me if I needed to go to the hospital and I said, ‘No, I need to go to Wendy’s and grab a Baconator.’ She’s the love of my life. A lot of people don’t know we’re a couple in real life, but we are. She helped me through this entire process, psychologically and physically. She helped me with everything. People love to be invincible on television, but no one really is. I was periodically concerned I wouldn’t come back in the same shape or how my body would respond to hitting the canvas. She was there for me every step of the way, telling me what I needed to hear and not what I wanted to hear.”

On winning the NXT Championship from Finn Balor: “Nothing has ever come easy to me. I’m so grateful for that. Challenges have given me opportunities to improve my character and strengthen my work ethic, so people now get to see a different side of me. Going into the match with Finn, I felt like I was going to be the best version of me. After what I went through, I was so at ease in terms of my speed, pace, and timing. And in terms of eliciting an emotional response in a match, we think very similarly—and it felt so good to hear a crowd.”

On a potential match with John Cena: “As for John Cena, I haven’t met him yet but a fan online had suggested that his last match be against me. I would certainly never suggest that, but I would very much like to work with him before he hangs it up. He’s a person who improved our industry through authenticity and hard work, which in return gave us all greater opportunities to pursue this as a dream job. He raised the bar for future generations and he’s someone we should all want to work with. I hope he comes back full-time at some point. When I was injured, I remembered people calling him Super Cena because of how fast he recovered from injuries. That was also a bit of inspiration to me as well—that if there was a way to do this, he figured it out, and I would, too.”