Karrion Kross: Why My Injury Is One Of The Best Things To Ever Happen To Me

Karrion Kross has admitted his shoulder separation injury may have been one of the best things that ever happened to him, because of how it strengthened him. 

Kross separated his shoulder during his NXT TakeOver XXX match with Keith Lee, when he won his first NXT Championship. The 35-year-old would relinquish the Title before returning at the end of 2020. 

Kross confessed that he was nervous during his time off injured because it was plausible that WWE might change their plans for him, or the fans may not respond in the same way upon his return, but believes the mentality he developed at that time will serve to benefit him going forward. 

Speaking to PWInsider, he said: "Well, in my mind at the time it was pretty terrifying, because I feel like I'm a pretty grounded person and I understand how the general public looks at entertainment in general. We're dehumanized. For me going through that, I was very concerned that people, maybe even my employers, might check out. It's a business at the end of the day. And they really had no obligation professionally to allow me to have that run and do what I was doing. 

"So in my mind, I was like, 'I need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, worst-case situation.' That I may come back and I may not be the same, the way my body responds to hitting the canvas or the way I'm moving. I had no idea what it's going to be like. I may come back, everything could be rewritten, everything could be different and I just have to respect that.

"So I trained and prepared myself mentally, as I said, for anything to happen. And the absolute best outcome actually came out of it and I just needed to do the work, so to speak. I just, I did my absolute best and demonstrate emotional composure, professional composure, and focus on how I can improve every single day with the small victories.

"So at the end of it all, I think it was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life. Never mind professionally, I feel like a stronger person mentally, physically now than I did before. And that was my silver lining of the whole experience."