Killer Kross Was Told His NXT Success Would Make Vince McMahon ‘Uncomfortable’ Because He’d Have To Sign Him To A Main Roster Deal

Killer Kross says he was told that his NXT success would make Vince McMahon uncomfortable.

In 2025, Killer Kross and Scarlett departed WWE after their contracts expired. They were a popular act in NXT and on WWE’s main roster. Kross was booked strongly on NXT, where he won the NXT Championship as well, but his main roster run is often considered to be a missed opportunity.

Speaking with D-Von Dudley, Kross discussed WWE lowballing him after his NXT run.

“We had people that had been in the business for 30-40+ years pulled us aside and said, ‘Listen, we’re telling you this in confidence, your equity coming into main roster is probably gonna make Vince very uncomfortable because he has to re-sign you to a main roster deal. So be prepared for him to come up with some really bad ideas to knock you back a bit, to make you insecure and to hurt your confidence so he can sign you for something much lower. Because the way Hunter had us built at NXT, people online were fantasy booking an NXT champion against Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns. All three of us at the time had managers. Scarlett was my manager, Bobby had MVP, and Roman had Paul. 

I remember writers at NXT coming to us saying, ‘Look at this, you know how hard it’s been to get people to look at NXT like an equal to the main roster stuff?’ At the time I was so honored that we were able to pull that off together as an act. But I don’t think the boss liked it. I think that’s where a lot of the silliness came from. Sure enough, as soon as things got weird with the costume ideas and all that stuff, they offered me a new contract at my lowest point. 

I said, ‘Oh damn, they were right.’ I’ve never said that before, but so much time has gone by, I don’t even think it matters anymore. They obviously want to make the highest profit margin, and sometimes giving you the money that you could honestly draw. You could be a return on investment. They already have people on a high-figure bracket. They don’t want to allocate any more of that money to you, even if you can pull it. They don’t want to because they have their seven main characters they’re running with, and everyone else is a 50-50 feeder roster. Whether you’re over or not, they might not want you to be in the top seven people. That’s the way it felt at least.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Kross and Scarlett commented on their WWE runs. Fans can check their comments here.

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