Kross Communication, Part 01

Beginning an analysis of the disconnect between the digital landscape and the real world

Many reading this that follow professional wrestling with some regularity are probably very familiar with the story of Karrion Killer Kross in 2025. For those that aren’t, Wikipedia actually has a decent summary, so I’ll let it do the heavy lifting for a moment:

After the disbandment of The Final Testament, Kross would be involved in backstage segments where he would try and convince various superstars to embrace their dark side, some of whom include Sami Zayn and AJ Styles. After months of being involved in backstage segments, Kross had his first match since February on the April 14 episode of Raw, where he took on Styles in a losing effort.^[90] Kross would go on to appear in Styles’ match against Logan Paul at WrestleMania 41, preventing interference from a member of Paul’s entourage. Kross would attempt to persuade Styles to hit Paul with brass knuckles, to no avail, after which Styles proceeded to lose the match. Kross would appear later on the WrestleMania 41 recap show with Scarlett where he would cut a highly acclaimed promo, expressing frustration with Styles and WWE as a whole as well as not having a match on the card. At the end of the promo, he referenced himself as "Killer Kross" for the first time on WWE programming.^[91] Kross continued to taunt Sami Zayn in backstage segments on Raw, eventually leading to a match against Zayn at Night of Champions, which he lost. During his feud with Zayn, Kross began receiving massive support from fans on social media and at live shows with "We want Kross" being chanted during shows.^[92] On August 2 at SummerSlam, Kross was defeated by Zayn, ending their feud. This would also be Kross' final appearance in WWE.^[93] On August 10, Kross and Scarlett's WWE contracts both expired and were not renewed, ending their three-year second tenure with the company.^[94] After departing from WWE, Kesar revealed that he was only given 24 hours to sign his new contract offer, which didn't include Scarlett re-signing along with him and is ultimately why he chose to depart the company.^[95][96]

Second return to independent circuit (2025–present)

Kesar, as Karrion Kross, made his return to GCW on April 17, 2025 at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XIII, where he defeated J. R. Kratos.^[97] On August 23 at GCW Homecoming, Kesar, as Killer Kross, and Scarlett made their first post-WWE appearance, where they attacked Matt Cardona.^[98]

For the purposes of this specific analysis, we go back to April when Kross gave a performance on Sam Roberts & Megan Morant’s WrestleMania Recap show that did not sound like a performance at all:

There had already been discussion in the fandom that the Karrion Kross fans were seeing on social media wasn’t matching up with what was seen on television. The television character was similar to its social media counterpart, but the latter felt much more genuine. More like the real Karrion Kross. At least that was the perception.

As we would learn later, however, this may have been Mistake Number One. While fans and even some media outlets were singing Kross’s praises for his online authenticity, those in charge of the company he worked for at the time weren’t made aware that his post-WrestleMania performance was just that. As he recounted to Canadian sports journalist Ariel Helwani:

I let everybody know, let’s make sure this is somewhat protected from the audience, but let everyone know internally that this is a work because not every department is in lock step communication with one another. So, I told everybody that. Sure enough, not everybody knew that it was a work.

A lot of everything that you see goes through the creative process. It goes through a team. I was under the impression that I was doing something improvisational and it was okay. But like I said, sometimes the communication is not in lock step with each other. So no one told them that this was a work.

So, they’re under the impression, like a week goes by, that I flipped out. So like, one day I waited for Hunter outside a production meeting. Once it was actually brought to my attention that he was not okay with it, and I explained everything to him. No one told him anything. So, as far as I know, at that point, we were good, but everyone was under the impression, a lot of people thought I just lost my mind. I was just trying to do my job. My job that day was to make people believe, like any other day.

Yes, pro wrestling is scripted most times. It is a very physical performance art that relies heavily on characterization and storytelling. But it is also very much a business. Would you go off on an explosive diatribe about how much your boss and your workplace sucks, and not let your boss and higher-ups in on the fact that it was a joke when it really didn’t sound like one at the time?

Effectively, that’s what happened here. Kross angrily disparaged his workplace without telling his workplace that it was part of the performance.

There is a term in pro wrestling known as “going into business for yourself.” Basically, it translates into: Prioritizing yourself over what has been planned for you. At a cursory glance, there seems to be nothing wrong with that. Until you realize that pro wrestling requires working with someone else 95% of the time. Whether it’s on a story, a match, a talking segment, you name it. That collaboration is key to making the performance art succeed.

Kross, whether he meant to or not, most likely broke that trust with WWE by “going into business for himself” with that segment. I’m convinced that wasn’t his intent. He was performing up to what the show producers wanted in that moment. To hear Kross tell it, it was not his intent to put his interests ahead of what the company had planned for him creatively. But, by Kross’s own admission, it apparently didn’t come across that way when it happened.

Not making sure that was the case before going “off-script” is the first lesson to take away from the Karrion Killer Kross story. But it isn’t the only one.

To be continued…