From unknown wrestler to WWE superstar, Mason Rook is making the UK proud.
The 29-year-old grappler from Workshop in Nottinghamshire, who went by Will Kroos before signing with the sports entertainment giant, has built a reputation as one of the industry’s best rising stars, and one of the most iconic wrestlers in history has taken notice.
‘I was floored,’ John Cena exclusively told Metro as he raved about Rook and revealed how long he’s admired him as a performer.
Fans have already seen the 17-time world champion posting the young star’s ‘He’s big, he’s bad, he’ll bodyslam your dad’ chant on X, but the future Hall of Famer made it clear he’s not just jumping on a bandwagon.
Cena was filming his upcoming movie Matchbox for a chunk of 2025, which saw him based in Budapest, Hungary from ‘late November to May’.
‘I didn’t have access to a lot of sports entertainment live, especially with the time change, and the only stuff I would watch is, they ran a UK wrestling program on broadcast television, on my hotel TV,’ he explained.
‘I think it was every Wednesday night, and I would consistently see Will Kroos do his thing, and the promotion he was working with. I was floored. And here’s the thing: he’s known for the moves. I was floored by his storytelling.’
Cena found himself raving about Rook, now a key member of WWE’s NXT roster, to his wife Shay Shariatzadeh. ‘I would tell my wife, like, “I gotta watch this kid”.
She’s like, “What are you doing watching this English UK indie broadcast?” I’m like, “This kid is good. He can tell stories, and he moves great!”‘
Rook, under the Will Kroos moniker, first debuted in 2017, going onto wrestle across the UK for companies like Pro Championship Wrestling (FKA Preston City Wrestling), Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), RevPro, PROGRESS and more.
In 2024, he started working in Japan for Pro Wrestling Noah, and eventually caught the eye of WWE. Cena had become a huge fan, and he was even a little starstruck when it first seemed like their paths would cross early in 2025.
‘We [WWE] did Glasgow, I think it was, and I was hoping, “Man, I know we have UK extras here. What if we walk into the room and Will Kroos is there? I will like lose my mind”. And that’s exactly what happened,’ he said with a smile on his face.
‘All the additional talent was kind of being shepherded into taking their physicals and stuff, and Will Kroos is one of them. And I stopped dead.’ Cena couldn’t pass up the chance to tell the rising star just how highly he rated him.
He told Rook: ‘”Yo, dude, I’m a huge fan of yours. The way you tell stories, the way you carry yourself, what you’re doing is appropriate. Anyone can learn to do the physical stuff with enough practice. You have the nuance that very few performers have.”‘
The retired wrestler admitted he was ‘surprised like everybody else’ when he saw Rook make his shock NXT debut in April this year. Cena pointed out that it’s subtle things that make Rook so good, no matter what the situation.
‘I watched him get himself counted out in a match against a Rey Mysterio-like opponent, and everything he did made sense,’ he recalled of those nights in his hotel room.
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‘I watched him in a further match; it was like a championship match, and he somehow made himself this big unstoppable force, but also somehow was able to get defeated with dignity.’
Those skills will set Rook apart as he continues to grow in WWE, and Cena is excited to see where he goes from here.
‘He’s a very intelligent performer, and a lot of times you see at a younger age aspirational performers who want to do crazy stuff, but their in-ring intelligence, they just don’t have enough time or attention. I was floored by his storytelling,’ he said.
Cena added: ‘NXT is just the next step in what could be. The sky’s the limit for him.’
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