Killer Kross Addresses His WWE Matches With Keith Lee

During a Signed by Superstars special, free agent Killer Kross talked about working matches against newly signed AEW star Keith Lee during Kross' time in WWE as Karrion Kross. Killer Kross and Keith Lee wrestled both on WWE's NXT brand, where Kross defeated Lee to win the NXT Championship and later again on the main roster. Surprisingly, Killer Kross revealed he preferred their main roster matches.

"I enjoyed our matches far more on the main roster than NXT just because we had you guys, we had an audience," Kross said. "It was extremely difficult during the pandemic to be able to find an appropriate rhythm in the ring with someone without completely killing all the magic of what we do. The energy is simpatico with the person you're performing and you guys in the crowd.

"Without having you guys in the crowd, finding a speed and a specific gear where both people are on the same page, plus gorilla. They sometimes want you to change speeds, it was very difficult. I felt like our chemistry was exactly where it needed to be when we went up to the main roster and did the matches. I wish we could've done more."

Killer Kross also told a story about being indebted to Leon Ruff, who he worked in his first-ever match for WWE NXT. He discussed how professional Ruff was with him that day when he didn't need to be and revealed he later told Ruff he had a referral from Kross for the rest of his career.

"My very first match in WWE was Leon Ruff," Kross recalled. "It was my introduction to the WWE Universe. Scary times, it was in front of nobody, you know what I mean? It was just real weird. I met Leon, I met him the day of. You know, when you have to do a match like, where you come in and just get killed, it's not exactly what you're really interested in doing when you get involved with pro wrestling.

"Everyone always has great aspirations, everyone wants to be WrestleMania, world champion and all that. So when you come in there, it's great to be part of the show but of course, you'd like to do more. Leon comes in and however they delivered the information to him, he took it like a complete professional. He came to me, he trusted me to hit those suplexes.

"I know a lot of people, I would never throw them under the bus, they're very scared to take my suplexes. He embraced it like a f-cking pro. And you know, it went off really well and the introduction went really well. After the match, he probably thought I was insane. I smashed him a huge hug, I told him this, he probably didn't realize this, 'this was the most important match of my career.' It was literally my introduction to the world on a global stage and I gave him my phone number.

"I exchanged information with him, and I just profusely thanked him for trusting me to throw him around like that. He was so cool the whole day. Never dragged his feet about anything. And I told him at the time if he ever needed a referral because I didn't know what his employment situation was or his hiring situation.

"I said 'if you ever need a reference for here or anywhere else, you've got it for the rest of your life. You did me a huge solid that day.' And that's how you're supposed to take care of people in the business. When they give their body to you like that, and they don't even know you, you better be there for them."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Signed By Superstars and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription