Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux were two of the more surprising releases in WWE this year. Kross had been built up as a huge star in NXT but when he hit the main roster, things changed. Scarlett was removed from his act, he was repackaged and given a helmet with no explanation. Then they were both just released.
Kross and Scarlett were guests recently on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette. During the discussion, both Kross and Scarlett spoke about trading in creative freedom for financial stability when they signed with WWE. Kross says his intuition knew something was off after he first lost to Jeff Hardy on RAW, however. He noted that he was given no notice when their planned 10-minute match was cut short by 9.5 minutes.
“I do my entrance and get out there,” Kross said of his first match with Hardy. “The ref comes to me and goes, ‘Hey, your 10 minute match is down to 90 seconds.’ First time we’re working on television, we don’t really know each other in the ring, our rhythm, they come back from commercial and I’m trying not to laugh.”
Kross continued to say that he was worried about where things were going after that match.
“Part of this business is doing what you are told,” he continued. “My intuition was telling me that everything was off and felt wrong and I felt something bad coming four months before it happened, but everyone I talked to was like, ‘No, everyone loves you. There are no problems,’ but I felt it coming. I tried to, as professionally polite as I could, talk to people in the chain of command and be a good sport.”Â
Kross became further concerned when he was given an email regarding the repackaging of his character. He was given something of an updated “Demolition” style gimmick, complete with a helmet and all. Kross said he knew the look would not get over in 2021.
“I got an email with what it was supposed to look like,” Kross said of his repackaging. “Apparently, the music was supposed to change, the entrance was supposed to change, and it was supposed to be an enhanced version. When I saw the picture of it, I showed it to [Scarlett] and I just started laughing.”
Scarlett would continue to say that despite what happened, they knew what they were getting into with WWE. They were trading in creative freedom for financial stability.
“We were also ready, when we signed up for WWE, we were trading creative freedom to finally be able to have a steady income,” she said.
We tried to take that perspective no matter what. ‘It’s not our money, no matter what, we’re going to make the best of whatever it is,'” Scarlett continued.
H/T To Fightful for the above transcriptions.
