Felix Upton on May 24, 2025
Karrion Kross is finally addressing one of the most polarizing moments in his WWE NXT career—the Adam Cole promo that many fans believe killed his mystique.
During an interview on 10 Count with Steve Fall, Kross broke down exactly what happened behind the scenes and why the segment still doesn’t sit right with him.
Kross confirmed that the brutal promo—where Cole dismissed him as just “an entrance, smoke and a girl”—was not Cole’s idea at all.
“No. And in his defense, because I’ve been asked this a lot — that was scripted and he was told to say that. So, it wasn’t him like having a meltdown or taking a dig. It wasn’t anything like that at all.”
Even though Kross wasn’t personally offended, he couldn’t understand why WWE would put together a segment that tore down a character they had invested so heavily in.
“Functionally, as an investment, the construction of that promo did not make any sense at all. And I did think it was… I thought it was weird that they wanted to go in that direction. They kind of shot it in the head, which I thought was just so unusual.”
According to Kross, Cole even approached him before filming to make sure everything was cool between them.
“Even Adam was asking me that day, he’s like, ‘Are you okay with me saying all this to you?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, of course, dude.’ Like, he’s always been very cool.”
The real problem, Kross said, wasn’t the promo itself—it was that he wasn’t allowed to respond in-character or salvage the damage in follow-up promos.
“There was like follow-up stuff the weeks prior, too. They kept writing the character into this place where they didn’t want me to rebuttal.”
“I always had some flexibility before to kind of improvise promos, but that day they didn’t want that.”
He understood WWE wanted to build Cole up, but questioned why it had to come at the expense of his own credibility.
“Some matches are constructed for one guy to get over, and sometimes some promos are constructed for one guy to get over. And at the time, I was told they felt like he needed that. But still—it just didn’t make sense.”
Kross ended by pointing out the logic gap in breaking down a persona they’d spent months presenting as dominant and mysterious.
“It’s their money to get people to believe and to invest in this type of thing. They kind of just scorched it with no payoff.”
The moment never got a proper resolution, and Kross believes it permanently altered how fans viewed his character. While he’s moved on, the promo remains one of the most debated character breakdowns in modern WWE history.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
Do you think WWE made a mistake letting that promo air without giving Kross a comeback? Should Cole have been built up differently? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
May 24, 2025 8:59 am
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