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Karrion Kross rejected the offer to face AEW's TNT Champion, Wardlow, according to reports from Fightful Select.
In their report regarding Kross' return to WWE on SmackDown, Fightful stated that the former NXT Champion was adamant that real-life partner and valet Scarlett Bordeaux remained a part of his character's presentation. It's said that Kross didn't want to resemble the character presented during his RAW run ahead of his 2021 release.
As a result of his desire to remain with Scarlett, the report states that Kross rejected a clash with Wardlow in AEW.
Kross has worked dates with promotions such as MLW and NJPW since his release from WWE. He was even announced for ROH Supercard of Honor. After Tony Khan's acquisition of the promotion, however, he was no longer booked for the event.
Kross re-debuted with WWE last week on SmackDown, emerging to brutalize Drew McIntyre as Roman Reigns watched. It has since emerged that he will be positioned as the number two heel on the brand.
His first run with WWE ended after he was drafted to RAW following his two NXT title reigns. He lost his RAW debut to Jeff Hardy while he was still NXT Champion.
Karrion Kross spoke on the rivalry between AEW and NXT not too long ago
The returning WWE Superstar previously sat down with SEScoops to discuss the perceived rivalry between AEW and NXT. The former NXT Champion agreed with the notion but asserted that he had never focused on the idea.
Kross divulged that he instead put his energy into producing his best work in the time he had been given:
“Probably [there is a feeling of competition]. I don’t think anyone would’ve come to me with that though. The reason being is I’m pretty even keel. My focus is always on producing the best of the time that’s given to me for the show. I was just most interested in being as entertaining as possible with the time that was given in the show. I would get with teams of people and I would just focus on that. (H/T: SEScoops)
Kross was defeated by Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship during the final days of NXT Black and Gold, as Joe was the titleholder heading into the NXT 2.0 reboot. Kross may have returned to WWE, but Joe currently holds the ROH World Television title under Tony Khan's dual AEW/ROH umbrella.
