Former Karrion Kross Talks Turning Down WWE Money While Hanging Out With Top AEW Star

By Ella Jay

Oct. 30, 2025 7:44 pm EST

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Mere days before his existing WWE contract was set to expire in August, former NXT Champion Karrion Kross received an offer for a new one; after he further inquired about the analytic process used to calculate it, however, WWE rescinded the proposed deal, leaving Kross and his wife Scarlett on track to depart from the company. In a new documentary detailing his life after WWE, Kross (once again known as Killer Kross) spoke more about his decision to turn down money from WWE, the industry leader, while hanging out with former AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin in a moving car.

“I understand that not everybody’s able to walk away from a pile of money,” Kross said. “I understand. Like there’s some of the guys there have broken their f***ng necks and they’re fathers and they have to say yes when they do that to them, but I don’t.”

“Seriously, I think about that all the time,” Allin said in response. “I’m grateful I’m in the spot I’m in. Because literally I’m not a f***ing idiot. There’s no other company that will let me do what I do.”

According to Kross, he has long been more concerned with maintaining creative principles than making a high amount of money in the professional wrestling business. When wrestlers are more concerned about money, Allin attests that they often seem to be operating on auto-pilot in the ring, rather than being their authentic selves.

“I just feel like you can see it when a performer just checks out,” Allin said. “He’s doing it for the money. You can just see it, and it sucks. I feel like you got to just bring the real thing because all that stuff never lasts. It’s just like music or anything in this world. I feel like it’s got to be the real thing because if you look like an industry plant, it never lasts.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Killer Kross with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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