It was back in early May that rumors started circulating that the Impact star had requested his release due to being unsatisfied with his financial situation in the company. Kross did briefly discuss the speculation surrounding him and Impact management, noting that their were many “inaccuries” in the reported story; however, he never went into full details until now.
Appearing on The Wrestling Perspective on
Fightful.com, Kross finally gave his side of the story about why he requested his release from the company:
"[The release request] was 100% true," admitted Kross.
"None of the information came from me. [When I saw the report], I threw a Killer Kross-esque tantrum in public, for real. I was still in the process of trying to find common ground with [IMPACT]. I was chatting with Scott [D'Amore] and other people in the company. No one outside of my immediate family had that much detail regarding the information that [was put online]. And my employers. I was thinking someone I was speaking to in confidence was gossiping to the wrong person. I don't think it was malicious, but I was [frick]ing furious."
Kross states that he’s “very happy” with the promotion and that he has “nothing disparaging” to say about the company; however, there are some things that he’s attempting to find common ground with. Kross does confirm that he was looking to get a guaranteed money deal from Impact, but the deal was turned down and countered with an offer worth below his asking price.
"I had an idea of what I would like to be and where my value was [when signing with IMPACT]. They had another idea. I decided to humbly pay my dues and showcase what I believed and what I was certain that I knew I would be worth," said Kross. "When we got to that point, we had different opinions of what that was. I will humbly say that I barely existed in the pro wrestling world prior to IMPACT. I never asked for anything that I didn't think that I didn't deserve and never asked for anything that I didn't think I couldn't contribute back. I was led to believe that it was not available. If you get to a job and are told that something you're looking for is not available and then you find out six months later that it's not true, that it is available and other people have it, that's upsetting."
Kross continued,
"When were we trying to figure out where we were landing on things, it just wasn't working. What was being offered was not going to work. I wasn't angry or upset about that. I understand that. What was counter offered to me wasn't something where I could stabilize my personal situation."
"If you don't have guarantees and you're not clearing enough, hypothetically, to pay for health insurance, there's a lot of pitfalls in pro wrestling. Nowadays, there's a certain level of compliance...a certain level of 'this is an opportunity, and you should take it because it's all you got right now' that's promoted. And people aren't thinking about what could happen if it goes wrong. I could do the Indy stuff, but I think that's a short-term solution and it could go up in flames"