Karrion Kross Reveals If Vince McMahon’s Retirement Factored Into His WWE Return

Karrion Kross is back in the WWE, and he has wasted no time running roughshod on the WWE SmackDown roster. Kross made his surprise return on the August 5th edition of SmackDown, attacking Drew McIntyre as Roman Reigns watched on from inside the squared circle. Following the attack, Kross’s manager Scarlett flipped an hourglass on the ring apron, symbolically warning Reigns that his days are numbered as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. While Kross has yet to expand upon that cryptic warning, he has tied himself up in a feud with McIntyre, scoring a victory over the Scottish Warrior at WWE Extreme Rules.

This upper mid-card run is a breath of fresh air for Kross, who infamously had a directionless main roster run last summer. Leaving NXT without Scarlett, Kross would lose his Monday Night Raw debut match, switch to a gladiator gimmick, and be released just weeks later.

Speaking with The Sun, Kross emphasized that last summer’s presentation changes were not his concepts.

“It wasn’t my idea but that’s okay, we’re given other people’s ideas all the time – that’s part of the job – and we do our best to make it entertaining. While I wasn’t fond of it and it wasn’t my idea that didn’t really matter to me,” Kross said. “There was no animosity towards anyone at all. It was just something that in the end didn’t work when we did our best to try and make it work.”

Kross’s first WWE run came under the Vince McMahon regime, which has since concluded as the longtime WWE Chairman retired from his corporate duties earlier this year. When asked if McMahon’s retirement factored into his willingness to return, Kross revealed that it didn’t affect his decision.

“Not necessarily, I wasn’t overly fond of the concept they had pitched to me when I was coming up on the main roster the first time,” Kross said. “But it wasn’t anything personal. When you sign a contract with WWE this is what it is and I’m very much of the old school belief that whatever I’m given I’m gonna do my absolute best to get that over so it’s enjoyable towards the audience.”

The former NXT Champion added that he stayed in touch with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque during his year away, but only to chat about their livelihoods.

“So every once in a while we would check in on Hunter and see how he’s doing, just personal stuff – we never talked about work – and he would check in on us,” Kross said.

Those chats eventually turned into a business call, which resulted in Kross coming back to WWE.

“One day he was wondering if we were around for a call. And then I think it was the week that you guys saw me on TV. I jumped on a call with Hunter and he proposed the concept of coming back. He said, ‘Would you guys like to come home?’ And we were like, ‘Of course we would.’ And then you guys saw us two days later, we were on TV,” Kross continued. “We’ve always had a good relationship with everyone. We loved our experience there. That bridge was never ever burned or damaged or anything like that. It was just a series of unfortunate events that led to where we’re at and we came full circle.”

Kross and McIntyre battle inside a steel cage at WWE Crown Jewel this Saturday, October 5th.