Karrion Kross has voiced concerns about wrestling’s direction, questioning whether advertising is taking too much time away from matches and storytelling.

Speaking with 11Alive, the former WWE star, also known as Killer Kross, was asked who could take the torch and lead professional wrestling into the future. Rather than name a wrestler, Kross explained why he found the question difficult to answer.

“It’s a complicated question if I’m answering honestly.”

“I can give you a headline response, and it would be completely inauthentic to what I actually believe.”

Kross said wrestling has traditionally reflected society, making it difficult to choose its next leading star without knowing where the industry is heading.

“The problem I’m seeing right now is, you know, wrestling has always been sort of like a reflection, sort of a social commentary of, like, what’s going on socially in the world.”

“It’s always been that way. Like, a lot of what we see in the programming is a reflection of what’s going on in society.”

“So, to say who right now could carry it into the future, I don’t know what the future is going to look like.”

His main concern is the amount of advertising within wrestling broadcasts. Comparing the experience to attending a theatre show, Kross said viewers should have the chance to immerse themselves in the action.

“So far, I actually don’t like the direction. Sorry, I don’t like the direction that wrestling is going in with cutting down so much time in the program away from the actual wrestling and the stories. Like, if you go to Broadway or you go to theater, you know, you wanna watch the show and you want to be immersed in it, and constantly, like, blasting you with advertisements and, like, even after a match, they’re dropping commercials and advertisements and stuff like that. I don’t like that.”

Kross acknowledged the financial reasons behind those decisions, but said understanding the business approach did not mean he enjoyed the result.

“I understand that there’s, like, revenue to be generated, but treating the airtime for wrestling like it’s real estate time for other stuff to generate revenue, I understand the business practice of it, but I don’t like it.”

For Kross, the answer ultimately depends on how much emphasis remains on wrestling itself.

“If it’s pure pro wrestling, the pure pro wrestlers will be able to do that.”