Brian Damage
This Week in Wrestling: Week 32 in 2025
Kross-Road
It has been widely reported that Karrion Kross and his valet/partner Scarlett have left WWE and are now considered free agents available to sign anywhere. To be perfectly honest, this was a bit of a surprise, considering how “over” Kross was becoming with WWE fans. Despite being used sparingly in the ring and only occasionally in backstage segments, Karrion Kross legitimately and organically grew a fanbase for himself and Scarlett.
In many ways, it would appear that Triple H and company were not pleased that Kross became popular on his own. It reminds me of the entire Zack Ryder saga where Matt ‘Zack Ryder’ Cardona got himself over as a character using Youtube and social media to do it. Vince McMahon was basically forced to give a push to Cardona based on the demand of the fans. Ultimately, McMahon killed off Ryder’s wave of popularity by booking him in some ridiculous storylines.
Getting back to Karrion Kross, he seems like he went down that same path…only with Triple H at the helm. Remember, Triple H was a student of booking from Vince Jr. Now I personally wasn’t a big fan of Kross as a character, but I recognize that when a gimmick gets hot, you should capitalize on it the best way possible. Kross got a makeshift feud with Sami Zayn that led to a couple of televised matches and losses. Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that Triple H went down that road with Kross, because when McMahon released him and Scarlett a few years ago, it was Triple H that brought him back…meaning that Hunter believed in him. I guess not.
Scarlett aka Scarlett Bordeaux aka ‘The Smoke Show’ was never fully utilized in her time in both NXT and the main roster. She has charisma and barely said a word or did anything meaningful in WWE. Reportedly, WWE offered Kross a new contract, but did not want to re-sign Scarlett. It seemed as if WWE knew that Kross would reject that and the company could publicly say that they tried to bring him back.
Now the question remains, where do Kross and Scarlett go from here? The most obvious choice would seem to be AEW. The thing is, there has been a bunch of rumors and talk that Scarlett was inappropriately propositioned by Don Callis while both were employed by Impact/TNA Wrestling. I covered that story a few years ago. So if that was all true, why would Kross subject his wife to that again by joining AEW where Callis is featured prominently? So where else could Kross and Scarlett go? TNA? Perhaps, but they have been there and done that and also have a strong partnership with WWE. Kross was once a star in Mexico and two of the bigger promotions are CMLL (partnership with AEW) and AAA (partnership with WWE). New Japan (again AEW) Pro Wrestling NOAH (semi partnership with WWE) There is MLW (Major League Wrestling) and Billy Corgan’s NWA…but that would seem like a step down at this point.
Kross and Scarlett may do the whole Matt Cardona model and create their own brand working various indie shows across the U.S. and overseas. Whatever they decide, I wish them the very best and hope nothing but success in their future endeavors.
Photo Gallery
In many ways, this is true.
Rikishi with his youngest son…Samson
Sad.
Stephanie Vaquer
Saraya
Kayla Becker formerly Kayla Braxton in WWE
Dr. Britt Baker DDS
Lola Vice
Jakara Jackson
Nattie
Summer Rae
Video Gallery
Iceman King Parsons was a very underrated wrestler from the 1980’s. The man had “it” and was a star in World Class, but never got that bigger exposure from the WWF or the NWA/WCW. Anyway, here’s a 1985 furniture commercial featuring Parsons…
David Fullam
Iceman say “Momma said, sometimes it bees that way, have mercy.”