After weeks of speculation, Karrion Kross and Scarlett have confirmed that they have been released/left WWE. Both took to social media last night to announce that they've started taking bookings, and they'll now be free agents after the standard 90-day non-compete.
Kross also took to YouTube to share some of his frustrations with how things played out, revealing that he first expressed interest in renegotiating his contract (which expired this week) as far back as January.
"I expressed interest to renegotiate in early January with WWE," he confirmed. "It’s like, preposterous that anyone would think that I wouldn’t want to be here. I’m fully committed, I’m here. So many, many months have gone by and I never had a single conversation about it until recently."
"I don’t even feel like the conversation I had recently was like an actual serious one," Kross continued. "The conversation was done, and there wasn’t really anything that was discussed, of real substance, and that...just really profoundly disappointed me."
Addressing his dissatisfaction with how he was handled creatively by WWE, the former NXT Champion explained, "It’s probably the hardest part of the gig when you know you can give more, and they tell you, 'Hey, don’t home run that. Hit that to the outfield and run to second and make sure you stop on second.'"
"You’re on the court playing basketball. They tell you to pass the ball, but you’ve got a three-point shot right there. We’re all on the same team. You shoot, you get the three points. They’re mad at you. Why are they mad at you?"
After what happened with Daniel Bryan in 2014, it's hardly surprising that Triple H isn't overly fond of fans rooting for a talent and attempting to force the company's hand in pushing them. As a result, despite repeatedly expressing gratitude to everyone who got behind the #WeWantKross movement, Kross is well aware that the fans rooting for him might have hurt his standing with management.
"Me building a relationship and having a relationship with the audience, sometimes by certain people, to me, it feels like they’re treating it as I’m being rebellious, or I’m like it’s treated almost like it’s a problem, that this has happened," he stated. "And that should not feel that way."
"It makes it feel like you know you, you outperformed or you, you got ahead of something that they didn’t think you were going to get ahead of, and they don’t like that you’ve gotten ahead of it is the way it feels, and that’s not a good feeling," Kross added.
There's always a chance this whole thing is a work, but WWE did that already with R-Truth. Ultimately, it wouldn't be too surprising if part of the reason the two sides couldn't reach a new deal is because the company was never going to push Kross in a way that he or the fans wanted.
What will be telling is whether fans hijack tonight's RAW with chants for Kross, or whether that support he's been receiving really is just social media campaigning that's not quite as big a deal as it's been out to be.