Killer Kross Thinks He Was ‘Too Compliant’ With Changes To Character In WWE

In an interview with Busted Open Radio (via Fightful), Killer Kross spoke about what went wrong with the ‘Karrion Kross’ character in WWE and took some of the blame on himself. He said that he was too willing to go along with the changes and should have fought harder to stay as he was in NXT. Here are highlights:

On feedback he got from Vince McMahon: “He told me he was very happy with everything I was doing. In terms of bringing a character to life, aside from the outfit, I wasn’t given much direction, so I just continued doing what I was doing in NXT in terms of presentation, which unfortunately felt like it was amputated because Scarlett was still singing the music, she wasn’t there, and there were still remnants of what we did in NXT with no explanation as to why the character was wearing a helmet and suspenders.”

On what went wrong: “I’ll take the onus and say, right off the bat, I went wrong with this, in retrospect, maybe perhaps being too over compliant. I wasn’t crazy about the outfit. I felt comfortable wearing it. I knew it looked a little silly, but from my point of view, I wanted to embrace these ideas given to me because people had previously embraced the ideas I had given to them. It was a collaboration, always. I just wanted to demonstrate that. I probably should have said no and I should have tried to sell them on what we created and done in NXT because I believe we should have stayed the course. The fans were invested. The moment we walked out there with the presentation we did in NXT, people online were saying they wanted to see it at WrestleMania. I really should have attempted to assert myself with that idea. Respectfully, where I think they went wrong with us, was not providing the audience with a little bit more continuity and explanation as to what was going on because people checked out emotionally from what they were watching because they didn’t have any explanation as to what was going on. In the written world of fiction, we can come up with any reason, as long as it’s logical and respectful to their intelligence, as to why things are off or different. Week to week, they never got that and they checked out and got into analytical mode rather than enjoying the story and taking in what we were putting ourselves through. They just sat there going, ‘what is going on?’ That’s the worst thing you could want in wrestling. When they are no longer attached emotionally, you’re dead in the water.”

On advice he got from others: “There was a lot of people, I won’t throw them under the bus, but there were a lot of people who had been with the company for a long time telling me not to sell anything. I said, ‘no problem,’ business is business and we’ll get through it. Whatever they need to see out of me and whatever I need to demonstrate, I’ll do it and we’re good to go.”