Jeff Sexton
On Par With Foley and Jericho RE: Best Written Wrestling Memoirs. Admittedly, my favorite memory involving Kross as a wrestling fan, one I actually repeat occassionally, was actually something his opponent said to him a few years ago. He was in a feud in NXT as the NXT Champion with the former NXT Champiom, Adam Cole (now working for rival promotion AEW) when Cole said to Kross "This brand has done everything in their power to make *you* feel special. You got the cool music, you got the lights, you got the fog machine, you got the girl. You know what they do to make Adam Cole feel special? They ring the freakin' bell." This was during the COVID, "Thunderdome" era of WWE/ NXT, when Kross had a shaved head and was tearing through any and all competitors - a period he does in fact discuss over the course of this book.
I actually read the book on Wrestlemania 41 weekend in April 2025, specifically on Wrestlemania Sunday - when Kross wasn't on the card, but would ultimately have a "run-in" during the AJ Styles/ Logan Paul match... and then go on to cut what is likely the defining promo of his main roster career after the event, in a 3 minute video that has already gone viral this week with many calling for now WWE Hall of Famer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, Head of Creative for WWE, to give Kross a push the likes of which he hasn't really seen since that run he was on when Cole made the comment above.
I mean, I already had the memoir of a current WWE Superstar in my hand on Wrestlemania Weekend, I needed something to do before the show started up Sunday night, this book is sub-300 pages and thus a relatively quick read... so... yeah.
And y'all, it really was an excellent look into the life of Kevin Kesar, both long before the Kross character ever came into being - and even a fair amount of how Kesar created Kross - and at least some about his new career as Killer/ Karrion Kross. Indeed, most of the text is actually spent on his pre-WWE days - while there is *some* discussion of his WWE colleagues, the singular most common one discussed is his now-wife, known by her government name of Elizabeth but known to wrestling fans as the character Scarlett, a witch who both empowers and is powered by Kross' brutal warrior.
Those looking for a lot of behind the scenes name dropping are going to be sorely disappointed. Kesar keeps the book focused on himself, even when discussing Elizabeth/ Scarlett. Even when others are in the scene, such as when he is meeting Elizabeth those first few times before they really started dating, or when he finally gets the call from WWE, or even when he and Elizabeth get married on an Alaskan glacier after having both been recently "let go" from WWE (and before they were both ultimately brought back), throughout the tale we see much more of Kesar than anyone else... as s memoir should be, to an extent, but also not as perhaps some fans reading wrestling memoirs specificlaly would necessarily like as much.
Instead we get all of Kesar - at least as much as he is willing to discuss publicly, even/ especially in book form. We see his early days as a kid watching wrestling and knowing even then that he wanted to do that "someday". We see his beginnings in what turned out to be a very "unsanctioned" dive bar bare knuckle fight. We see his first career as a bouncer and later professional bodyguard, in Vegas and beyond - again, without any name dropping and with quite a bit of channeling Patrick Swayze in Road House, specifically as it relates to professionalism, treating people well, and "being nice".
And then... a scene that ultimately reads much as the church scene from the original Kingsmen movie played out. I don't want to go into too many details and spoil the scene, but this scene will very likely be one of the most memorable scenes in the entire book for readers, perhaps even above and beyond even his wedding (which, as he mentioned in the text, he did put pictures of on Instagram, and they truly were absolutely stunning) or anything he has done to date (as of the writing of the book) in WWE. This scene is *BEYOND* bonkers, and it really shows Kesar in all of his abilities outside of WWE.
Overall a very easily read and very approachable book about a guy that even guys that consider themselves dangerous likely would at minimum pay extra attention to if they saw him on the street, and yet the text shows that Kesar's mind is at least as skillful as anything he can make his large, muscular body do. A guy who is much more easily approached here, at the standoff distance of a book, than he ever is staring into a camera with that fire in his eyes. Kesar takes pains to make sure the reader understands that he knows 100% that Kross is a character, and that outside of WWE work, Kross prefers to be known as "Kevin" - even among friends he works with. Yet he also does a damn good job of showing that while Kross may be borderline (or even well beyond borderline) psychotic, Kevin is a very sane - yet also still quite dangerous, when he needs to be - man. One who is, despite his appearances (both intentional and not, at times), as much a philosopher as a fighter - and thus proves to be as adept at writing as he is at fighting... and breaking bats. (Check his Instagram for that last. ;) )
Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
On Par With Foley and Jericho RE: Best Written Wrestling Memoirs. Admittedly, my favorite memory involving Kross as a wrestling fan, one I actually repeat occassionally, was actually something his opponent said to him a few years ago. He was in a feud in NXT as the NXT Champion with the former NXT Champiom, Adam Cole (now working for rival promotion AEW) when Cole said to Kross "This brand has done everything in their power to make *you* feel special. You got the cool music, you got the lights, you got the fog machine, you got the girl. You know what they do to make Adam Cole feel special? They ring the freakin' bell." This was during the COVID, "Thunderdome" era of WWE/ NXT, when Kross had a shaved head and was tearing through any and all competitors - a period he does in fact discuss over the course of this book.
I actually read the book on Wrestlemania 41 weekend in April 2025, specifically on Wrestlemania Sunday - when Kross wasn't on the card, but would ultimately have a "run-in" during the AJ Styles/ Logan Paul match... and then go on to cut what is likely the defining promo of his main roster career after the event, in a 3 minute video that has already gone viral this week with many calling for now WWE Hall of Famer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, Head of Creative for WWE, to give Kross a push the likes of which he hasn't really seen since that run he was on when Cole made the comment above.
I mean, I already had the memoir of a current WWE Superstar in my hand on Wrestlemania Weekend, I needed something to do before the show started up Sunday night, this book is sub-300 pages and thus a relatively quick read... so... yeah.
And y'all, it really was an excellent look into the life of Kevin Kesar, both long before the Kross character ever came into being - and even a fair amount of how Kesar created Kross - and at least some about his new career as Killer/ Karrion Kross. Indeed, most of the text is actually spent on his pre-WWE days - while there is *some* discussion of his WWE colleagues, the singular most common one discussed is his now-wife, known by her government name of Elizabeth but known to wrestling fans as the character Scarlett, a witch who both empowers and is powered by Kross' brutal warrior.
Those looking for a lot of behind the scenes name dropping are going to be sorely disappointed. Kesar keeps the book focused on himself, even when discussing Elizabeth/ Scarlett. Even when others are in the scene, such as when he is meeting Elizabeth those first few times before they really started dating, or when he finally gets the call from WWE, or even when he and Elizabeth get married on an Alaskan glacier after having both been recently "let go" from WWE (and before they were both ultimately brought back), throughout the tale we see much more of Kesar than anyone else... as s memoir should be, to an extent, but also not as perhaps some fans reading wrestling memoirs specificlaly would necessarily like as much.
Instead we get all of Kesar - at least as much as he is willing to discuss publicly, even/ especially in book form. We see his early days as a kid watching wrestling and knowing even then that he wanted to do that "someday". We see his beginnings in what turned out to be a very "unsanctioned" dive bar bare knuckle fight. We see his first career as a bouncer and later professional bodyguard, in Vegas and beyond - again, without any name dropping and with quite a bit of channeling Patrick Swayze in Road House, specifically as it relates to professionalism, treating people well, and "being nice".
And then... a scene that ultimately reads much as the church scene from the original Kingsmen movie played out. I don't want to go into too many details and spoil the scene, but this scene will very likely be one of the most memorable scenes in the entire book for readers, perhaps even above and beyond even his wedding (which, as he mentioned in the text, he did put pictures of on Instagram, and they truly were absolutely stunning) or anything he has done to date (as of the writing of the book) in WWE. This scene is *BEYOND* bonkers, and it really shows Kesar in all of his abilities outside of WWE.
Overall a very easily read and very approachable book about a guy that even guys that consider themselves dangerous likely would at minimum pay extra attention to if they saw him on the street, and yet the text shows that Kesar's mind is at least as skillful as anything he can make his large, muscular body do. A guy who is much more easily approached here, at the standoff distance of a book, than he ever is staring into a camera with that fire in his eyes. Kesar takes pains to make sure the reader understands that he knows 100% that Kross is a character, and that outside of WWE work, Kross prefers to be known as "Kevin" - even among friends he works with. Yet he also does a damn good job of showing that while Kross may be borderline (or even well beyond borderline) psychotic, Kevin is a very sane - yet also still quite dangerous, when he needs to be - man. One who is, despite his appearances (both intentional and not, at times), as much a philosopher as a fighter - and thus proves to be as adept at writing as he is at fighting... and breaking bats. (Check his Instagram for that last. ;) )
Very much recommended.
Originally posted at bookanon.com.
