Karrion Kross has already made an immediate impact in NXT, going after Tommaso Ciampa and handily defeating him at NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
High expectations were placed on Kross with multiple vignettes running for his debut and his insertion into the final act of the Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano feud. He caught the attention of everyone with his cinematic debut entrance alongside Scarlett and has wrecked everyone in his way.
"I definitely could, we both could," Kross told Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated when asked about feeling the energy during his first entrance. "We felt that we were on to something very special. I could feel it. I read that through my own personal feeling, I read it through Scarlett’s feeling, and I read it through the energy in the room. Looking at the reaction from people who’ve seen everything in wrestling, everything you could possibly imagine, when I saw their reaction, I knew what we were doing was going to translate in a very big way."
Kross said he's been part of the development of his character from the start, including his entrance.
Before coming to NXT, Kross was known as Killer Kross on the Independent scene and his time in IMPACT Wrestling.
When asked about using the name Killer in NXT, Kross responded by saying, "I think it’s fair to say anything is possible, so I wouldn’t discount it. On the other hand, I have not been stifled whatsoever creatively since I have arrived here. I feel like what we have done, from Killer to Karrion, is expand the character. This is something I personally always wanted to do. I’ve been sitting on concepts and ideas for an extended period of time, exercising the patience over the past few years not to do them. I’ve been waiting for the right platform. Now we’re here. Being part of the process, it’s everything. That allows [the character] to organically breathe when people are watching. That’s always been my main goal—make things feel as organic as possible.
When asked if his character needed to run through Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Kross said that was up for the fans to decide.
Fightful will have live coverage of NXT beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
