WWE SmackDown Superstar Karrion Kross earned a ton of respect backstage after losing to Jeff Hardy last year.

In his RAW debut, Kross competed against Hardy on the July 19, 2021, episode, and his loss sparked backlash from fans.

Speaking this week on the Cheap Heat podcast, Kross said that his willingness to lose in his RAW debut earned him points backstage.

“I won’t drop names, but people that are many, many years in were saying like, ‘This guy gets it.’ It’s not a one-man show. It’s not about coming up here and making crazy demands. I got a lot of respect actually from my peers over doing that.”

Kross said that he had no problem being asked to lose to Hardy, adding he would have done it for anybody in the company at the time.

The two-time NXT Champion was released in November 2021, mere months into his RAW run, but was rehired in August of this year.