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Killer Kross spoke to Sportskeeda's Kevin Kellam and opened up about his upcoming match against AEW's Tony Nese.
The former WWE stars are scheduled to face each other in a first-round match at "The Wrestling Showcase" tournament in Schaumburg, Illinois, on September 3rd. Kross was excited about the opportunity as he felt professional wrestling needed more tournament-style competitions involving multiple wrestlers.
Kross was looking forward to stepping into the ring with Tony Nese, who has received regular TV time in All Elite Wrestling of late.
"Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to this. This, to me, has like, a G1, Pride Fight Championship Grand Prix feel to it," said Killer Kross. "There are not a lot of opportunities for professional wrestlers to get involved with presentations and competitions like these. They just don't have them, whether it's for time, whether it's for monetary reasons. If you are a fan of wrestling, if you are a professional wrestler, this is something you would want to be a part of, and I'm looking forward to it." [4:22 - 4:50]
The tournament will have eight highly-rated contestants, and it's not surprising that Killer Kross aims to be the last man standing.
The former NXT Champion is one of the hardest-working men in the business, and he felt he had the tools to emerge as the first-ever Wrestling Showcase Champion. He continued:
"You really got to dig into a situation like this. If you want to win and go straight to the top, it's a long night, and this is not something you just walk into; you have got to prepare for it. I live in a state of preparation. I'm always preparing for the best and worst-case scenarios at the same time. So I'm looking to win this thing." [4:51 - 5:10]
Killer Kross is focusing on his cardio ahead of his match against Tony Nese
The 36-year-old star understands the physical demands of participating in a wrestling tournament and has changed his workout routine over the past few weeks.
Killer Kross stated that he was concentrating on his cardio. He is also practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and catch wrestling instead of lifting more weights.
"That's right. I basically lift three times a week rather than five; I'm doing cardio seven times a week," Kross added. "I recently began training as a student of Daniel Gracie. So I'm rolling, doing catch wrestling and jiu-jitsu about five times a week. Just climatizing to a situation or scenario where you're never going to get tired, and you have more gas in the tank than usual is kind of the direction I'm going with this." [5:22 - 5:51]
Kross and Nese's match at The Wrestling Showcase will be streamed live from The Hyatt Regency on FITE, and you can find all the details here.
If using quotes from this article, please credit Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the YouTube video.
For more information:
Starrcast V - all appearance info can be found here.
Ric Flair's Last Match - Sunday, July 31st. Tickets can be bought here or the pay-per-view can be ordered on FITE.
The Wrestling Showcase - September 3, at 3:30pm in Schaumburg, IL on All Out weekend. Tickets can be purchased here.
