Killer Kross recently spoke with Kevin Kellam for Wrestlezone and talked about the appeal of an event like Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport II, which takes place under the GCW banner this weekend in Atlantic City. Kross competed at the second overall Bloodsport event (and the first billed with Barnett’s name on the marquee) against Davey Boy Smith Jr, and we also recently learned he’ll be facing off with Nick Gage at this event.
“It’s really cool right now in pro wrestling in this particular era because now it’s broken down into different genres of professional wrestling. You have pro wrestling itself and you have sports entertainment, which a lot of people feel that there’s a very big difference between the two.” Kross said. “Then you’ve got comedy wrestling, you’ve got strong style, you’ve got Lucha libre, you’ve got a hybrid strong style-Lucha libre. Which a lot of people think New Japan is turning into, guys like Kenny Omega, Fenix, Pentagon. People like that are almost pioneers of this new style that’s coming into play. I’d even say that Seth Rollins works a little bit of a hybrid Lucha libre-strong style.
“Bloodsport is definitely a subculture of fans that are probably the most passionate that I’ve been in front of because they understand what we’re trying to do. It’s an intellectual demographic that’s looking for a pure art form in pro wrestling. They’re looking for legitimacy,” Kross said, “and a lot of them watch mixed martial arts or are martial artists. They’ve grown up watching UWFI, Pancrase, Hybrid, all that stuff. There’s another one, Santino Marella was dabbling in it, BattleArts.
We’re taking things from those different places and trying to collaborate with it under one roof. I think it stands out to people because it feels very real. I’m just going to be honest with you,” Kross noted, “it feels pretty goddamned real to be in there as well. It’s a very stiff style and it’s very legitimate. If you don’t have a legitimate background, you’re just not going to be able to do that.”
