Add as a preferred source on Google Killer Kross, formerly known as Karrion Kross, came to the defense of underutilized talents who left WWE in the company’s recent wave of releases.
Since April 24, more than 25 talents have departed the company, including Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Kairi Sane, Aleister Black, Zelina Vega, Santos Escobar, Motor City Machine Guns, and all members of the Wyatt Sicks. Some departures, however, may have been contract expirations rather than actual releases.
Speaking on D-Von Dudley’s show, Kross said he feels bad especially for the wrestlers who never got much TV time, despite having a lot of talent.
“My whole opinion on the releases is, I feel bad for everyone that got released who was in the particular position of not being utilized. Casual fans don’t understand that your hands are not really on the wheel in the way you’d think. Like, the way you’re written, the way you’re presented, the perception of equity is based on how you’re presented, it’s not about what you can actually do.
“If you don’t have the very specific opportunities to maestro the audience, the audience can sometimes think that these performers don’t have it. They all do. People don’t realize the vetting process that takes place to be hired by WWE. Everyone who’s in WWE is really, really good. There are no people in the company that shouldn’t be there, or are there because of any other reason than the fact that they survived a plethora of stuff that nobody saw before the cameras turned on.”
“They’re all really good, so when people get released and they go out there into the market and there’s a negative perception on them, casual fans do not understand, it’s really actually not their fault.”
“They think like if they turned the camera on and they gave you seven minutes with a commercial break in the middle, that you were supposed to have a WrestleMania level match and you’re just supposed to be over, it doesn’t work that way.” h/t Wrestletalk
It’s worth remembering that Kross also went through a rough exit from the company. His contract along with Scarlett’s expired in August 2025, after months of uncertainty over a possible renewal.
Also, according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, the recent decisions were made mainly by Triple H, Nick Khan, and WWE’s talent relations department, with the goal of making room for new names coming up from NXT.