WWE Superstar Karrion Kross is set to release his new memoir, Life is Fighting, on August 5. In a recent interview on the Battleground podcast, he opened up about the deeply personal struggles he shares in the book and what he hopes readers will take away from his journey. Kross, who also narrated the audiobook, explained that the book is a raw and honest look at the man behind the on-screen persona, Kevin Kesar.
When asked what he wants readers to learn about him, Kross was immediate and introspective. “That Kevin is an imperfect person who didn’t have a perfect handout in life, that didn’t come from a privileged background and still achieved what he wanted to do since he was a little kid,” Kross said. “And I think something that people can take from that is like, you don’t have to wait for a perfect hand to jump into the game and play it. And I don’t want to come off cheesy or come off like, you know, not sincere, but like, the truth is, is like, you have to bet on yourself, and you have to find self love, and you have to be able to find that balance of knowing when to push yourself and when to back off.”
A Message of Hope and Self-Belief
Kross explained that the book details his own personal failings and his search for a greater purpose, a journey he feels is universal. “All of that type of stuff is in the book that you’re going to find out about me. Like, I’ve made plenty of mistakes in life. I’m very far from a perfect person, but I was still able to find things in my life that provided me with fulfillment,” he said. “And listen, man, no matter where you’re from, no matter what you believe in, that is something that people can connect on. And I’m talking like as a person who’s traveled all over the world to different continents, different cultures, we’re all looking for a sense of fulfillment… and a lot of what I wrote about in the book is about me trying to find out what the hell that even is. Like, what is that? I don’t know how to even identify that.”
Why Now? The Universe Sent a Sign
The decision to write the book at this point in his life came after a series of signs that Kross felt he could no longer ignore. He revealed that after his WWE release, numerous people who didn’t even know each other all started telling him the same thing, which he took as a message from the universe.
“I had so many people reaching out to me, asking me how I rebounded from being released by WWE at the time,” he began. “And everyone as I would kind of explain it and explain what I had been through in my life that kind of helped me solidify an ideology or a philosophy to put into place on how to deal with situations and recover, they were like, ‘You need to write a book.’ And honest to God, man, it was like for three weeks, it was like five or six people consecutively for three weeks were telling me I need to write a book. And when something like that happens, and they don’t even know each other, like this wasn’t a coordinated effort. I said, the universe is trying to tell me something, and I think it’s trying to tell me to write a book.”
He admitted that he had been hesitant to share such personal stories in the past, feeling it would be like leading with his failures. “I didn’t want to share my life with anybody. Like you want me to tell you about, like, all of the relationships that I blew and all the jobs that I lost? Why the hell would I tell you about that?” he said. “You don’t walk up to somebody at a job interview or a stranger and be like, let me tell you all the things in my life that I’ve completely screwed up, you would never do that, and that’s what I felt like the book was. But then as I kind of like, spent some more time thinking about it and actually tried to write words to page, I was like, ‘No man. Now I get what people are telling me. There’s a silver lining in all of these experiences, because I just didn’t see myself the same way other people saw me.’” He concluded that the writing process was “very cathartic” and a “big leap in self-development for me, that’s for sure.”
Life is Fighting, written by Kevin Robert Kesar, is published by ECW Press and is scheduled for release on Tuesday, August 5, 2025. The 280-page memoir will be available in paperback and e-book formats wherever books are sold, including major retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart. The audiobook, narrated by Kross himself, will also be available on Audible.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Battleground podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
