Professional wrestling blurs the line between reality and the script. Sometimes it can be sleazy, sometimes it’s compelling, and sometimes it falls completely flat. By nature, there’s usually a piece of the puzzle left missing, with the final fit often designed to draw money.
Depending on the circumstances, it’s either thrilling or infuriating. It can be frustrating, but that’s a part of the fun, isn’t it?
Karrion Kross, the real-life Kevin Keasar, put not only the fans, but also management on notice when he cut a scathing promo on one of the WWE panel shows, venting his frustrations about being left off of the Wrestlemania 41 card that was held in his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada in April. Instead, he worked a much smaller, albeit entertaining, Game Changer Wrestling Blood Sport show the day prior.
Within the four months since, the fans rallied behind Kross, investing in his message that he was being underutilized by the powers that be within TKO corporation. After all, if he was given a chance to truly showcase himself, it would theoretically be another way that the audience would get their money’s worth at a time when the publicly-traded global corporation touts record-setting profits, partially because of the astronomical ticket prices to live events.
Karrion Kross t-shirts began to sell, at least one metric that proved that there was something to his seemingly unplanned interview segment that put a spark to his career.
In many respects, the former Killer Kross wasn’t give a solid chance within the WWE landscape. Sure, he made a name for himself working in Mexico and later Impact Wrestling, which was at a time when the Impact brand offered as much exposure as the witness protection program. However, Killer Kross was always a big fish in a relatively small pond. Nobody was talking about the events in Mexico in 2017, as that was before the launch of All Elite Wrestling to bring more lucha stars to a bigger platform, as well as sending talent to CMLL on a semi-regular basis, and before the WWE purchase of AAA that has put the biggest spotlight on lucha on a more global scale since the WCW days.
Make no mistake about it, the fans that knew about Killer Kross had to put in the effort to find him in his earlier years, but it was almost a unanimous notion that he had the talent to work on the bigger stage of WWE. The reason that he didn’t get the previously mentioned fair chance in the WWE was that he was essentially a victim of circumstances in some ways. He inked a WWE deal in February 2020, just a month before the COVID pandemic shut down the entire world. He was released just a year later when the organization cut dozens of performers to be able to tell shareholders that there were adjusting to the lack of live event revenue during the conference calls.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett WWE Return
Just over three years ago, Kross and Scarlett were re-signed by the WWE in 2022, which was another time that the organization was in flux. as it was less than a month after the initial Vince McMahon allegations were reported by The Wall Street Journal and the emperor of sports entertainment was ousted from his own company. As we know, Vince strong-armed his way back into the promotion before the Janel Grant lawsuit was filed in January of last year and exiled McMahon from the organization again.
The point being, there was quite literally a shift in power and thus philosophy for what made it on screen for the product. A change in bookers always brings with it a change in who that booker wants to spotlight. Maybe Vince wanted to spotlight Kross more or less than he would’ve been featured otherwise if Triple H had the reigns when Kross returned. Austin Theory was deemed a pet project for Vince, pinning John Cena at Wrestlemania a few years ago, and once McMahon was given the boot, Theory was regulated to the B-side of a secondary tag team before an injury sidelined him.
With the shift in control a few different times during his fresh start in the company, Karrion Kross never truly had the chance to get his feet under him. He was paired with The Authors of Pain for a short-lived push and an equally short-lived feud with The Hurt Business last year. The Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering were eventually given their walking papers this past February, and The Hurt Syndicate are now on the AEW roster.
Where did that leave Karrion Kross?
Basically, it left him no where in particular. He didn’t wrestle on television for a few months earlier this year until he was on the losing end of a feud with AJ Styles, and was pinned by Sami Zayn in two pay-per-view matches in a row.
The fan support that Kross received this year was generated by him, not the company, and based on how he was booked before his contract expired over the weekend, it looked like the office wanted to make sure he was framed as secondary before he hit the free agent market.
With his WWE contract expired, that would technically make him available to any wrestling league, AEW included, as soon as this week. Keep in mind, he’s not subject to a no-compete clause since he wasn’t cut from the roster, his contract just simply wasn’t renewed. Along with his official return to the free agent market, Kevin Keasar released a documentary of sorts that chronicled his final months under WWE contract on his Youtube channel. The biggest takeaway from the video release that runs just over an hour is that it spotlights his fan support, and how he made time for the fans to express his appreciation.
Could this all be by design?
We saw how the office constructed the Seth Rollins ruse to create a very memorable moment with the cash-in at Summer Slam. How injured Rollins was or wasn’t before he cashed in to win the WWE championship is irreverent. The point being, the line was blurred and allowed for a level of intrigue before it was used to put Rollins over as the WWE champion. Maybe it was an injury scare and the writing team used it as a part of the script when Rollins wasn’t as hurt as initially thought at Saturday Night’s Main Event? Maybe the injury spot was planned and he was never injured at all?
We don’t know for sure, but that’s a part of the fun, isn’t it?
Given that the Seth Rollins cash-in went about as well as it could’ve, it’s not impossible that WWE management could lean into something similar for Karrion Kross with the concept of, “No, this is reality” when it’s actually all being used to work the audience. Remember that piece the puzzle that is usually missing before the remaining piece is used to draw money? Taking into account the way that Kross was booked to lose continuously before his contract expired, it might be a way to further the narrative that the office didn’t see the same value in him that the fans did. On the flip side, it’s just as possible that they weren’t going to put him over if he wasn’t going to be under contract to the company going forward, which makes sense since there’s no reason for them to promote someone for another company’s show.
On the surface, it seems like his organic fan support would be too easy to capitalize on for management to pass up, but how many times have we had to shake our heads when the office missed the boat on certain talent in the past?
Prediction
If I had to guess, and I could be totally wrong, I’d say that Karrion Kross will be back in the organization sooner rather than later. There appears to be too much of a push that he and Scarlett are done with WWE, almost as if they want to make it too obvious that they are out the door for there not to be something in the works. Both Kross and Scarlett confirmed their exits and are already claiming to be available for the independent circuit. It’s well-known that the WWE ID program put a collection of independent leagues in contact with the WWE so even if Killer Kross starts to pop up on independent shows, it’s possible that it could be used to add some credibility to the notion that the office didn’t renew his deal.
The power of social media isn’t nearly as strong as some might claim it to be, but the influence and the trickle-down effect are undeniable. Social media alone can’t do it, but it’s possible that it could be the spark that starts a groundswell of support for Kross that might lead to his name being chanted on WWE broadcasts. Those circumstances would definitely increase the impact of his return if this is all a work.
Furthermore, it’s a little too convenient that there just happened to be a camera there to capture his reaction when he finished the promo on the panel show, as he was leaving the set for a documentary that was set to be released after his WWE deal expired. The same camera was there to follow him through the arenas to film his interaction with fans, adding to the narrative that he’s a man of the people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely not saying that he was being phony with his time for the fans. In fact, the reason that he got over on his own is that the fans can tell that he’s genuine, so those interactions are authentic. It’s just a little too convenient that a third-party camera was allowed to film backstage at WWE events for a project outside of the WWE umbrella.
The other side of the coin is that the story is legitimate, and he’s done with the WWE. Unfortunately, without the WWE machine to provide a payoff to this scenario, I’m not sure if Kross can continue to build his momentum. The WWE footprint gets larger with the expansion of assets like AAA and distribution like the new ESPN deal in 2026, so getting a portion of the market to take notice of anything outside of the WWE scope will be more difficult. As I said when I wrote about Kross prior to this, he could technically go to All Elite Wrestling, and he would be lost in the shuffle within a matter of weeks. New Japan is an option, and he would undoubtedly get a top spot there because the group is extremely thin in terms of star power, so maybe that would be the best choice if he’s actually gone from WWE. Still, it goes without saying that he would be back to being a bigger fish in a smaller pond.
I’m skeptical about the whole situation, as it would be counter productive for management to let the contract expire of someone that was selling merchandise, but it might be as simple as they don’t see the upside of a possible Karrion Kross push so they don’t think it would be worth the investment of TV time and the promotional push for him.
Maybe the WWE doesn’t care that the fans rallied behind someone they didn’t have plans for? Maybe Kross is set to have the biggest push of his career as a result of this supposed contract expiration? It remains to be seen, but that’s a part of the fun, isn’t it?
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on X (Twitter) @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
