Karrion Kross Feels Changing “Killer” to “Karrion” Opens Up Possibilities for his Persona

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Karrion Kross spoke about changing his name from Killer Kross and how he thinks it helped to expand his character. Here are highlights:

On if there was a chance he could have been Killer Kross in NXT: “I think it’s fair to say anything is possible, so I wouldn’t discount it. On the other hand, I have not been stifled whatsoever creatively since I have arrived here. I feel like what we have done, from Killer to Karrion, is expand the character. This is something I personally always wanted to do. I’ve been sitting on concepts and ideas for an extended period of time, exercising the patience over the past few years not to do them. I’ve been waiting for the right platform. Now we’re here.”

On why he chose ‘Karrion’: “I didn’t want to take something directly, I wanted to take different pieces. I exercised some mythology to the presentation in terms of Charon. He was a ferryman and would carry the souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead. There is another character named Cheiron, who was the son of Cronus, the god of time. My inspirations come from many different places, and I’ve rolled everything into one presentation.”

On his end goal in NXT: “I want it all, let’s be clear on that. I am someone who pays attention to the currents that are going on socially in terms of what people want. When I catch wind of the types of matches people want, those are the matches I want, too. I’m very much a pleaser in terms of giving people what they want. And not to steal someone else’s line, but I think that’s best for business.”