Tick Tock
Now, as much as the love and adoration I expressed for "The Demon Assassin" Rosemary in her section is utterly genuine, there's another wrestler who I'm just absolutely in love with. He's known by many names in the world of human professional wrestling: Kevin Kross, The Tollman, the Devil of Monterrey (I rather like that one), the Lucha Annihilator, the Anti-Machine, the White Rabbit ... but everyone who watches more than the WWE knows him as "Killer Kross," and he might be the most fascinating man in the business.
See, when I first saw Killer Kross in Impact Wrestling, he came off as a very generic villain. Just wanted to hurt people, blah blah blah (think Michael Elgin but with a better look), but then I saw Kross' work outside of Impact. Specifically, his debut match in Rival Pro Wrestling, and I got no problem saying my eyes opened *wide.* It's Killer Kross vs "Uptown" Andy Brown. Kross is playing his heel role the entire match, but then comes the bit after the match. When he gets down on his knees like a Samurai and bows to his opponent out of respect. My mind was absolutely blown, like "Holy shit, this guy is so much more than a face or a heel! He's a Ronin, traveling the world and plying his trade. Filling whatever role a company needs him to fill, and I LOVE IT!" Suddenly I just wanted to see everything he did. I devoured his youtube content (And I'm sorry, but there's no way his "Black Book Chronicles" aren't film script *gold*), his Impact segments got WAY more interesting ... and the "Natural Born Killers" dynamic between him and his partner Scarlett Bordeaux? WHY THE HELL WASN'T THAT ON TV?!
So a cosplay had to happen. I knew I had the stuff in my closet to be able to put something together .. and frankly I just had to know if I could do it. And if you don't know who Killer Kross is ... learn. Watch his stuff, consume his matches, check out his social media but above all, remember. Remember that no matter where the time is told, in the end, everybody pays the toll.
See, when I first saw Killer Kross in Impact Wrestling, he came off as a very generic villain. Just wanted to hurt people, blah blah blah (think Michael Elgin but with a better look), but then I saw Kross' work outside of Impact. Specifically, his debut match in Rival Pro Wrestling, and I got no problem saying my eyes opened *wide.* It's Killer Kross vs "Uptown" Andy Brown. Kross is playing his heel role the entire match, but then comes the bit after the match. When he gets down on his knees like a Samurai and bows to his opponent out of respect. My mind was absolutely blown, like "Holy shit, this guy is so much more than a face or a heel! He's a Ronin, traveling the world and plying his trade. Filling whatever role a company needs him to fill, and I LOVE IT!" Suddenly I just wanted to see everything he did. I devoured his youtube content (And I'm sorry, but there's no way his "Black Book Chronicles" aren't film script *gold*), his Impact segments got WAY more interesting ... and the "Natural Born Killers" dynamic between him and his partner Scarlett Bordeaux? WHY THE HELL WASN'T THAT ON TV?!
So a cosplay had to happen. I knew I had the stuff in my closet to be able to put something together .. and frankly I just had to know if I could do it. And if you don't know who Killer Kross is ... learn. Watch his stuff, consume his matches, check out his social media but above all, remember. Remember that no matter where the time is told, in the end, everybody pays the toll.
Model: Adi the Adipose
Costume: Karyn O'Connell Photographer: Mike Montgomery |
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