Karrion Kross was originally set to lose his match this week on WWE RAW - Reports 

Karrion Kross made his debut on RAW last week and shocked the WWE Universe when he was defeated by Jeff Hardy. The current NXT Champion's loss was the first in his WWE career in almost two years, and it appears that he was set to suffer his second loss this week on RAW.

𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/eu0p8qmu38

— WWE (@WWE) July 27, 2021

The reason given for Kross' surprising loss was the fact that Hardy was a former World Champion and it wasn't supposed to be seen as that much of an upset.

According to a report by Fightful Select, Kross was originally scheduled to lose against Jeff Hardy for the second week in a row, but the former WWE Champion has been forced onto the sidelines after testing positive for COVID-19.

Instead, there was a change of creative direction and Kross wrestled Keith Lee and was able to pick up the victory when he forced the former NXT Champion to tap.

Karrion Kross Was Originally Set To Lose Again On RawFull story on https://t.co/jy8u4a7WDahttps://t.co/DfbaSgJ3f4 pic.twitter.com/rs9WLq8G36

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) July 27, 2021

Fightful noted that they were not told about a specific creative direction, but even several members of the creative team were baffled by the fact that Kross was booked to lose for a second time.

Keith Lee and Karrion Kross on WWE's main roster

The backlash from last week's loss led to Jeff Hardy chants on this week's episode of NXT and forced the company to re-tape Kross' entrance. It's unclear what the future now holds for Kross since Jeff Hardy won't be allowed to make his return to the ring for another week or so.

Keith Lee returned to WWE after five months last week and lost his match to Bobby Lashley before tapping to Kross this week. Lee hasn't had a great run on WWE's main roster and a feud with Kross could allow him to push himself back into contention for a main title run.