Karrion Kross Comments On Formerly Private Relationship With WWE HOFer Paul Heyman

On-screen, Karrion Kross is often associated with his wife/manager Scarlett, and previously, The Final Testament. Behind-the-scenes, he also works closely with WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman, who many view as one of the greatest minds in the professional wrestling business. Admittedly, Kross has kept his relationship with Heyman rather private. Following Heyman's recent public display of praise for him, however, Kross opened about it on "The Ariel Helwani Show."

"I've had a relationship with Paul Heyman for a very long time that I've never talked about publicly," Kross said. "I consider him a veteran. I consider him a great source for advice and information. I do consider him a friend and I've never name dropped him once. I know who he is to this business. I've never ever wanted him to feel like if I go talk to this guy, he's going to go on media, and start telling everybody how I put him over to use that as like a chip to cash with people. 

"I've literally never reiterated a single conversation I have ever had with Paul in my life on media ever. It's different when somebody compliments you privately. It's a whole another level when they do that publicly. That'll be one of those things I'll never forget for the rest of my life, too. I'm really honored that he said that."

In recent months, Kross has experienced a surging popularity amongst wrestling fans, so much that Heyman compared it to the famous rises of Daniel Bryan and WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. According to Kross, Heyman has also offered encouraging words to him under the opposite circumstance, specifically when he remained off WWE television for multiple months.

While sitting backstage around 18 months ago, Kross recalls Heyman asking him about his potential to successfully entertain the audience, even if it came after even more months of inactivity. Kross then indicated that he could, to which Heyman agreed.

"[Heyman] said, 'Good. Don't ever let the time you're spending off TV rattle you because you know what you're doing,'" Kross said. "I can verbatim repeat that because that was a conversation that has lived in my head to now. It solidified my confidence in what I was doing. I had never ever had it before. Once you know what you're doing, you're certain you know what you're doing, and you've demonstrated that you know what you're doing, there's your relationship that you can have with your people. You just can't doubt it. You can't let things get between those ideas. Maybe that was a year and a half ago. Fast forward to now, here we are. He was right."

Kross' latest match took place on night one of WWE SummerSlam, where he lost to former WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn. Days later, the WWE contracts of Kross and Scarlett expired, with only the former receiving an offer for a new one beforehand. Before potentially accepting his offer, Kross said he wanted more information from WWE about the analytics behind it. WWE, however, apparently did not provide him with such and rescinded their contract offer 24 hours later, now making both Kross and Scarlett free agents.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.