Karrion Kross shares his thoughts on working for Triple H.
Kross signed with WWE in 2020 and quickly established himself as a dominant force in NXT. At the time, Triple H was leading the brand, and Kross became one of his top stars. He defeated Keith Lee to win the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: XXX, but he had to vacate the title due to an injury he suffered in the match. Kross later regained the title by beating Finn Balor at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver 2021.
He then moved up to the main roster in July 2021, but the company changed his presentation, and Scarlett, an important part of his act in NXT, wasn't used alongside him. After a widely criticized run on Raw, Kross was released on November 4, 2021. He later returned to the company on the August 5 episode of WWE SmackDown, just a few weeks after Vince McMahon retired and Triple H took over as the head of creative.
Speaking on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Kross discussed returning to WWE and working for Triple H. Kross described how he felt better once he came back, compared to his previous run on the main roster, as he felt more confident in his ability to turn down ideas that he didn't think would work. He also recalled the successful way he was previously used in NXT.
"I wasn’t apprehensive at all. 99% of your success in this industry comes down to your ability to compose yourself under stress and pressure. I knew, coming back, what I felt I should say. I felt better with myself in terms of feeling confident to shoot down an idea or a theme or a project that I knew wouldn’t work. On top of that, the NXT run that they gave me, it was a murder run. They literally had me clean out everybody and everything. Complete clean kills on everybody. I had no reason to believe that anything would become weird or not work out or something like that. This is the one thing they’re asking me to do that I’m not totally 100% on; how foolish would it look, the one time they asked me to do this thing, if I said no? All of that was in my head at the time," Kross said.
Kross continued by noting that he and Scarlett have always loved working for Triple H. He called the WWE Chief Content Officer the easiest boss he has ever had, as he's accessible so talent can discuss ideas with him. Kross also stated that Triple H expects excellence, and he has a high standard, which brings out the best version of everyone.
"Coming back, I didn’t have any of those things to be worried about. Out there, outside of WWE, financially, my wife and I were good and we were having fun and working on different projects. We’ve always loved working for Hunter. He’s like the easiest boss that I’ve ever had in terms of being accessible to discuss ideas with. On the flip side, he may not tell you this, but excellence is expected. He has a high standard for all of his talents to meet. He’s easy to talk to and everyone’s favorite boss, we all know that he expects us to bring it. That brings out the best version of all of us and is one of the main reasons people like to work with him. When we have a show, he’s out there at ringside with everybody and doing everything. We’re very lucky to have that," Kross said.
Kross recently commented on Vince McMahon's return to WWE. Check out his comments here.
Click here to see what Kross had to say about his on-screen character.
Kross previously looked back on his first run on the main roster, and you can check out his comments here.
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