Killer Kross Says The Door Has Always Been Open At AEW, Why He Hasn’t Gone There Yet

Despite heavy speculation that it might happen, Killer Kross hasn’t gone to AEW since his WWE exit and he recently explained why. Kross has been speculated by fans to join AEW since he left WWE in August 2025. To date, Kross has stayed active on the independent scene and in MLW, where he is the current MLW World Champion.

Kross appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show and was asked about if he’s had talks with Tony Khan. Kross declined to detail such talks but said that he believes the door is open and always has been. He talked about why he hasn’t gone there and why he’s more than okay if he stays on the independent scene. You can see highlights below:

On If He’s Had Talks With Tony Khan:

“This is what I will say… I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tony. And he knows that, and I prefer to keep those conversations private out of respect for Tony and myself.”

On If the Door Is Still Open There:

“I think it’s always been open. I think it’s always been open.”

On Why He Hasn’t Shown Up Yet:

“No, I didn’t [have a non-compete clause]. Well, I was booked out all the way into the new year from 2026. Like, I filled up my schedule immediately. And I’m very serious about my commitments. The only time I’m ever going to pull out of a commitment is like, if there’s something going on in my family or like something’s wrong with me. So, my schedule is what it is. And I’m not one of those guys that wants to just drop a title or go missing because a big opportunity comes up. I feel like that tells the local fans that paid to see you and cheered for you and put you in a position to carry a title like, ‘Hey, thanks for all your money and thanks for all the support. There’s more money over here, so I’m just going to dip and leave this belt on the ground.’ I don’t like doing that. I really, really don’t. So if everything aligns, I think anything is possible.”

On If He’s Okay If He Stays On The Indie Scene For a Few Years:

“I’m happy, dude. And quite frankly, super financially stable. When I was in WWE, I did my best to study the business model, I’ve always said that. I looked at how they treated the talents like — you know, a return on investment obviously. But like, how they would monetize individual lanes of revenue. And so, what I’ve been doing since I’ve been a free agent is, I’ve been making contact with a lot of independent vendors and building those lanes myself. So just cutting out the middleman, the super platform so to speak, that just broadcast you out to the world. And being like, ‘Here’s my platform, here’s what I have.’

“And so, I’m not reliant on just doing wrestling shows. And this is something that I’ve been trying to teach indie guys. And I know it’s very hard when you’re unknown. That might not work, it might not be available. But if you’ve been broadcasted to the world by some sort of super company, or even like a strong streaming service, or even some of the YouTube wrestling shows. Like DEFY, House of Glory, a lot of people in the United States know about those. You potentially could make contact with some of these vendors and get a deal going. You actually can. Or if you have representation, you know, you can do that, too.”

On His Criteria For Signing Somewhere:

“So if I go to any company, whether it be — anywhere. The story has to be there, you know what I mean? That’s the most important pitch before we even talk about money and availability.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Ariel Helwani Show with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.