SmackDown star opens up about why he chose wrestling and WWE

Karrion Kross returned to WWE last year after being released in 2021. The 37-year-old re-debuted on the SmackDown brand alongside his real-life wife Scarlett Bordeaux. He has since had high-profile feuds with Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, and Shinsuke Nakamura and is currently involved in an ongoing program with AJ Styles.

Kross' career in wrestling spans nearly a decade. Before making his main roster debut in 2021, the powerhouse had runs in Lucha Underground, Triple A, and Impact Wrestling and was a two-time NXT Champion in WWE's black and gold brand.

Before turning to professional wrestling, the former NXT Champion had trained in a variety of Marital Arts. Speaking with Bobby Fish on the Undisputed Podcast, Kross opened up about why he chose wrestling and specifically WWE, revealing that he loved the theatrics of the sport.

"From a performance standpoint, in-ring, what I always really liked a lot, growing up in a family of amateur wrestlers and boxing, was pro wrestling that kind of married the theatrics with stuff that really looks like legitimate combat sports. I was always involved in the practices and stuff like that, and when I got to see all of my superheroes in WWF/WWE on TV doing stuff like that, and then later on in my life ECW and All Japan etc, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so cool.’"

Kross went on to explain how he wanted to utilize more realistic maneuvers in his performances.

"Because I knew some of this stuff wouldn’t work, and then you see the things that do work, and that always looked more devastating to me. So when I began training as a wrestler, I wanted to utilize some of that stuff because it spoke to me and I knew it would speak to other athletes and people with a legitimate background. That was just the way I wanted to perform." [H/T and transcribed by Fightful].

Karrion Kross says a recent WWE match was one of the best of all time

WWE's most recent premium live event, Money in the Bank, was headlined by the 'Bloodline Civil War' match, where The Usos took on Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa. Karrion Kross believes the main event of the London show was one of the best matches in history.

In an interview with Disco Inferno and Konnan on K100, Kross gave high praise to the tag-team match.

"That tag team match with The Bloodline, the Civil War, in my opinion that was one of the best matches I've ever seen in my life, and I'm not just putting it over because I'm in the company. I just mean I felt like I was watching a movie." [1:48 – 2:02]

You can watch the full interview in the video below.

Would you like to see Karrion Kross featured more prominently on SmackDown? Let us know in the comments below