Karrion Kross lost his debut match on RAW this week to Jeff Hardy. Many fans were shocked by this decision to have the NXT Champion lose this early into his main roster run. There were a lot of baffled people backstage as well.
According to a report from Fightful Select, it “felt like a message being sent.” We previously reported that it was said that Vince McMahon “doesn’t give a damn about NXT.” Obviously, the proof is in the results you see on television.
It was reported that there was “significant frustration” backstage about how several Superstars have worked so hard to make Kross look like a beast, but then he lost to Jeff Hardy in under two minutes on Monday.
There was significant frustration from those we spoke to about how Finn Balor, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Santos Escobar, Oney Lorcan and others had worked hard to help make Kross as dominant as possible.
It was further reported that “the general mood” is that they’re not mad, just disappointed. They felt as if Karrion Kross was not able to represent the NXT brand well, and that might represent how the brand is viewed by higher-ups “as a whole.”
Karrion Kross was in good spirits backstage at WWE’s RAW event this week. He is starting a program with Jeff Hardy, at least that is how it seemed by the short promo he was able to cut after his loss to get some heat back.
Kross was put in a difficult position with this booking, but he pulled it off. Now we will have to see how his time on the WWE main roster shapes up.
What’s your take on this story? Sound off in the comments!