2 Late WCW Talents Inspired Current WWE Character
A current WWE superstar is thinking about some memorable wrestlers from WCW when coming up with ideas for his character.
It was in March 2001 when World Championship Wrestling was bought out by its biggest competitor, WWE. Even though WCW has been gone for over 23 years, many people associated with the company still have a big impact on the pro wrestling world today.
Karrion Kross leads the five-person Final Testament group where he’s joined by AOP’s Akam, Rezar, their manager Paul Ellering and Kross’s wife Scarlett. Together, they are one of the most hated factions on the WWE Raw brand.
In recent storylines, Kross has become the kind of heel who plays mind games with other wrestlers and tries to convince them that there is another way of doing things. Kross talking to The Miz repeatedly on the WWE Raw brand led to Miz’s recent heel turn on tag team partner R-Truth. Kross has also tried to convince Xavier Woods that he’d be better off on his own without Kofi Kingston of The New Day.
Karrion Kross Has WCW On His Mind When Performing In WWE
Two of the wrestling characters that Karrion Kross has used as inspiration are the late, great WCW legend Kevin Sullivan and former WCW & WWE superstar Sean O’Haire.
Sullivan was known for having a diabolical mind as a heel character while also having a lot of experience as a booker behind the scenes. O’Haire played a unique character in WWE who said things like “I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know” as a way to play mind games.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Kross spoke about character motivation.
“This rendition of the character that we’re doing right now, for me personally, is the most repulsive to bring to life, because it’s a bit of Sean O’Haire, who was one of my favorites, and also Kevin Sullivan as well, who doesn’t get the love and credit he deserves. A lot of what I’m doing with this character is like the opposite of a love letter.”
“It’s kind of a hate letter to all of the terrible things people just kind of say to each other, the way they behave.”
“Being a deceptive person is probably the most rotten thing you could possibly be in life, and if you’re looking to create a heel that can play off of anyone and do anything and functionally in a television format, someone who can reward the viewer for watching the show episodically and paying attention to the stories that they’ve told for 10, 20, 30 years, this is the perfect character as a heel because I can talk about Woods’ past, I can talk about Kofi’s past, and at the same time, I can also bring up vile things that maybe toxic fans have to say about, you know, this guy’s better than the other.”
Kevin Sullivan passed away in August at the age of 74 years old while Sean O’Haire died in 2014 when he was 43 years old.