Former Impact Wrestling star Killer Kross recently spoke to Wrestling INC about a variety of topics:
On the current wrestling landscape:
“I’m definitely grateful for it. That would be the easiest way to summarize it. A lot of it also feels surreal, but also at the same time, this is something I’ve been working for since the beginning of my career to be here with options. It’s funny, you try to get to this situation and there’s no playbook for it. You clock in every single day and do the absolute best job you can in finding the best version of yourself.
You have to take a leap of faith and hope things land where you would like them to. You have to take a gamble because in this business there’s 20-30,000 indie wrestlers in the US alone. Not all of them are serious, mind you, but that’s just nationally and not in the world. Then there’s just me and it’s the talk of the town right now. There’s a lot of mixed emotions but it’s all good.”
On his character:
“Killer Kross in its character presentation is very much dictated by the audience he is in front of. So, on one occasion, it could be the The People’s Executioner and, on another occasion, it could be The Tollman; and the toll is always paid in time off of people’s lives and careers. It really depends on the audience and the circumstances and situation. I allow that to dictate itself and I allow that to be very organic on the night for the situation or narrative.
Killer Kross’ not necessarily a linear presentation of character of sorts. It could be a lot of different things, but one thing is for sure and that it’s always gonna be very violent. “I think it’s very subjective as it really depends on what you want out of the business as an individual. It’s also a combination of what people are seeing when they see you. To give an example, a juvenile perspective of a pro wrestler might be, ‘This is who I see myself as and I’m gonna shove that down people’s throats until they agree with me.’ You’re not gonna have a very high success rate of finding your own personal fulfillment professionally or contributing to a show you’re involved with.
If you take a different approach as, ‘These are the things I’d like to do and I’m certain I can get them across sincerely and I think people will thoroughly enjoy them.’ You’re probably gonna find higher odds of success, enjoyment and fulfillment in that direction. It really has to do with the individual and for me it’s been a feeling out process. I’ve kinda went out there from the beginning of my career with some ideas and notions. I just allowed it to come alive through the audiences that saw me.”
On shoot-style wrestling:
“I think it’s great. I really didn’t ever think that this genre of wrestling was going to resurface. It was something I always fantasized about doing while growing up as a fan of UWFi in Japan. I think it was Bloodsport that would be respectfully solely responsible for bringing that back.
Everything that took place at the first event and then GCW and Josh Barnett bringing it back in a resurgence. I am happy to see people utilizing it but you’ve gotta be careful how you market and approach that. If you put too much of it out there then it doesn’t become special anymore. I think it’s great that they had that one-off and Davey [Boy Jr.] and [Simon] Gotch are the two most perfect people in the company to do a match like that. It’s great.”
On Simon Gotch:
“It didn’t surprise me because, believe it or not, I actually saw it in his footwork and the way he was grabbing stuff like a wrist and an arm. Even in WWE I noticed that and I told Matt Stryker a while ago that I bet that he can go. It was just the way he was taking an elbow and a wrist.
There’s certain little things when someone has a legitimate background, it’s in their tendencies and they can’t even hide it because they’ve repped it up so many times. I’m glad that other people are getting a chance to see it and I’m glad that I’m getting a chance to see it because he’s very good at what he does. He’s the perfect person to be doing this along with Harry; it’s awesome.”
