WWE's Karrion Kross Shoots on Backstage Heat with Bobby Lashley amid AEW Rumors

WWE Superstar Karrion Kross denied having any backstage issues with Bobby Lashley this week despite both of them blurring the lines between real life and storyline during the build toward their match at WrestleMania 40 back in April.

During an appearance Thursday on Insight with Chris Van Vliet (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Kross made his true feelings for Lashley known and divulged that everything they did during their rivalry was a work:

"I hate that I'm saying this. But zero heat, it was a work. He knows I feel this way about him. It's not the first time I'm saying it. And unless you would have asked me about this, I would have never said it. I love that dude to death. After the match—I wanted to tell him afterwards so he didn't think I was trying to butter him up before we went out. I told him after the match was done, expressed how much I love him, how much I've looked up to him, what an honor it was to work with him.

"I remember when WWE brought ECW back. People can say whatever they want about it. I thought his section of being ECW Champion was awesome. I loved it. I was a bit of an ECW snob growing up. I was like, oh, ECW originals! I didn't care. He's awesome. He looks like the f--king Hulk, and he's diving out of the ring and doing crazy stuff. He's putting people through tables and stuff. And then, for me personally, fast forward now I'm working Mania with him. I told him all that at the end of the match."

Just days before Lashley and The Street Profits faced Kross and AOP in a Philadelphia Street Fight at WrestleMania, Lashley appeared on WWE's The Bump (h/t Mukherjee) and made headlines by suggesting that he felt like he was being held back by feuding with The Final Testament:

"I get to fight. This whole year, I've been handcuffed lately. I'm looking at the main event. There's four guys in the main event. I've beaten three of them. Not throwing it out there, just saying. I feel like I've been handcuffed a little bit. But this is my opportunity to beat up Kross and his boys and then we're gonna look at bigger things afterwards."

Kross later responded to Lashley with a post on X, seemingly taking issue with Lashley's comments:

The Final Testament debuted as a group back in January and immediately went after Lashley and The Street Profits. The rivalry carried on through the rest of the winter and led to the six-man tag match at WrestleMania.

While it marked the first WrestleMania match of Kross' career, it was old hat for Lashley, who had some significant bouts on the Grandest Stage of Them All, including retaining the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 37.

Lashley, who is a two-time WWE champion, may have truly been hoping to move up the ranks after leading his team to a win at WrestleMania 40, but he had only one more televised match before fading into obscurity.

It was later reported that Lashley's WWE contract expired, and Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News) reported this month that he has officially signed a contract with AEW.

All signs point toward Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin reforming their WWE stable known as the Hurt Business in AEW under the new name the Hurt Syndicate.

As for Kross, he continues to have a weekly presence on Raw. He recently played a role in The Miz turning on R-Truth.

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