Insightful, funny, and fascinating. Finished the book in less than two days, it was so good. One of the best pro wrestling reads in a long time. Would love to read a follow-up that dives into the past few years in the WWE and continues the story. Excellent!

Kross has lived an interesting life. From learning martial arts and grappling from his father as a kid, to a career as a bouncer to finally making his way into wrestling where he met the love of his life. Life is Fighting is written in a non-linear, stream of conscience style. I enjoyed learning more about him and his life since I already find him interesting.
Kross seems like a really humble, grateful guy and that's cool. There's no real gossip and the names he does drop are people who have helped him along the way and/or friends he made. He offers his insight and advice on the wrestling business and just life in general. I wish there was a bit more in here about his time in TNA and what it's like to communicate with ghosts. Both are mentioned briefly, though TNA is never mentioned by name.
I would recommend this to fans of Killer/Karrion Kross, wrestling fans and people who like biographies.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for an advance copy of this new book that is both a biography and a meditation on the lessons and experiences that have shaped the writer, expanding his mind, honing his body, and how this culminated in a job he enjoys, along with a wife that is his greatest achievement.

I have never been much for sports, not my thing in the slightest. I have a hard time even pretending to care, though with my extended family I have had a lot of experience. Professional wrestling on the other hand, I have enjoyed since first seeing it on my grandparents black and white tv, their other tv was broken at the time. I was in awe. This was like watching a comic book come to life, huge men battling for honor, glory, or just meaness in front of a crowd of jubilantly rabid fans. I know the ending is predetermined, but this is not to take away from the physicality, or the pose, or the verbal chops of these wrestlers. And for those who say it is fake, well it is not. As a brother who was jumped on from couches, a bunk bed, and a jungle gym once can attest, it hurts quite a bit. The pain is equal to both wrestlers. Some moves hurt the person giving the move as much as the person taking it. There is trust that one won't hurt the other, I am giving you my body, give it back like you found it. I have read many books on wrestling, biographies, histories of territories, books against wrestling. This is one of the first that really makes a person understand the siren song of martial arts, and wrestling. Why one does this, and why one is willing to pay many costs. All while really expertly told. Life Is Fighting by Kevin Robert Kesar, known better by his WWE name Karrion Kross, tells of his life, his struggles, misadventures, and lessons learned on his way to finding out who he wants to be, and where it might take him.

Kevin Robert Kesar was born in New York City to a father who loved martial arts and amateur wrestling. Kesar split his time between the Big Apple and Toronto Canada, where his father worked, learning an appreciation for the martial arts, and picking up many different styles as he grew. Kesar was also a professional wrestling fan, one who you can tell loved to bring others in and show them the majesty, and the physicality of the sport, something that stuck with him, and made him dream. Kesar was working out when he was offered a chance to do a little MMA, which turned out to be a bare-knuckle fight that made Fight Club look like Star Wars. Kesar had always been physical, but knew that being physical came with a cost Kesar has spent much of his time working on these ideas, probably as much as he was worked on his appearance. Bouncing, bodyguarding and other things gave him stories to tell, but wrestling it seems has given him far more. A chance to hone his craft, to work out his thoughts on action and violence. A place in the WWE, and his wife, who one can tell he is totally in love with.

Not the book I expected. One gets a sense of this wrestling books, hard scrabble upbringing, training incidents, bad matches, good matches, fame, and maybe a slow fade out. Oh and lots of stories about wrestlers being jerks and settling scores. This book has really none of that, and yet has a whole lot more. Kesar talks about the act of hitting people, what it feels like, and what it leaves behind. The book is rather stream of conscious which really adds to the storytelling, though the occasional date would be nice. There are some funny stories, one in particular I still laugh about now. A wonderful set of episodes about meeting his wife, and their wedding. Also there is a a little bit of WWE is the greatest, which one can understand. However if one wants breakdowns of matches, one is reading the wrong book. This is a look at the career and the costs, not individual moments. A career that I am intrigued to follow.

Kesar is a very good writer with an interesting approach to his book, and an openness that is rare. I quite enjoyed it, though in a different way than I expected, but makes me interested to see what might be next for Mr. Kesar.

Kesar is better known as WWE’s Karrion Kross, but this is not a pure autobiography. It’s somewhere between a life story and a self-help book, but it may be too much of a blend of formats to find wide appeal.

Perhaps the most similar previous wrestling title is Bobby Heenan’s second book, but that was more explicit about tying life lessons to moments in Heenan’s career. This explores Kesar’s wider life story, including his time working as a bouncer and competing in martial arts and combat events of varying levels of professionalism. As a result, those looking purely for wrestling content will be out of luck, particularly as some of the more specific stories have names removed.

The advice, or rather life philosophies, is often interesting and well thought-out, with a degree of levelheadedness and self-awareness that’s not always present in a wrestling book. The parts that do relate to the wrestling business may well be engaging to fans. There’s a particularly interesting observation by Kesar, who didn’t make his pro debut until 29, that he benefitted by gaining life experience first rather than growing up while navigating the unique world of pro wrestling.

The main drawback is that the book often lacks focus and structure, feeling more like a stream of consciousness. The sections are organized neither chronologically nor overtly thematically, so whenever the reader comes across a topic of particular interest, there’s a good chance the book will move on to something completely different shortly afterwards.

It’s the type of book that will offer something of value to almost anyone who reads it and justify their time reading it, but there’s not really enough wrestling content to appeal to those solely interested in Kross’s career and not in the life lessons and philosophy.

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.