Karrion Kross On “Weirdest Thing” He Did To Protect His WWE Debut

Former WWE star Karrion Kross recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet, and during the interview, he recounted exactly what happened when he first got in touch with Executive VP of Global Talent Strategy & Development for WWE, Triple H. As noted, Kross had an independent match with Jon Moxley and afterward, received heaps of encouragement and Triple H’s phone number from the AEW star.

“I waited for the appropriate time to contact him, and like I said, I was on the subway at the time,” said Kross. “I spoke to him, it was a super pleasant conversation, I did have a correspondence over the years periodically with WWE on and off for background work or tryouts or stuff like that. But I really felt like, like that was the conversation that really cemented a lot of different things and just having the ability to get to know him and understand exactly what he was looking for.

“I felt like I, I had a feeling that this man, based on what he was producing, was looking for people who were 110% in and then some. And I was like, ‘I’m not going to wait to be told, I’m going to bring everything I’ve got, I’m going to be fully committed to this and embrace the process.”

The former WWE NXT Champion also shared some comical details about when he first arrived in the black and gold brand. To make sure nobody spoiled his debut, Karrion Kross arrived at the Developmental Center in a luchador mask and business suit.

“It was really funny, I told you I was trying to protect that I got signed there, and I was very concerned about people accidentally stooging this off,” Kross explained. “So the first time I got to NXT, I put on a luchador mask when I walked in. {laughs} So I’m in a three-piece suit with a luchador mask. I used to travel with a luchador mask when I went to Mexico because sometimes fans or like, media would be at the airport and if there is a car outside, you can only mess around so much with people. You need to get outside and get in the car.

“So I would put the mask on sometimes when I was going around in the airport and stuff like that. I show up to NXT in the mask, and I’m waking up and I was like, ‘I wonder if he’s going to recognize me, this might be really weird. I’m gonna have to get like, this close to him and be like ‘hey, it’s me,’

“I think he just knew because it was probably the weirdest thing in there, just it was somebody, I looked and he just started laughing. I started laughing, I walked up to him to shake his hand, and I said, ‘sorry, I just really want to protect this as much as I can and I don’t want anyone stooging it off,’ and he goes, ‘I appreciate your commitment’.”