“The Bulgarian Brute” Rusev has responded to rumors that his lengthy, unexplained absence from AEW television was due to a refusal to lose matches. Rusev, who did not wrestle for the entirety of 2024 and left the company in early 2025, was the subject of reports from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claiming he “refused to put over talent.”
In a new interview with Shakiel Mahjouri of CBS Sports, Rusev denied those claims, instead chalking his absence up to a frustrating lack of creative direction and the painful “dead time” it cost him during his prime wrestling years.
“In the past five years, I have had 20 or 30 matches. Back in the day, I had 30 matches in 30 days. The dead time sticks out the most. We only have this body and age for so long. We can’t do this job forever, so we must take advantage of it while we’re young. I sat on the sidelines for so long, unable to do what I love, which is performing for people in professional wrestling.”
Rusev explained that this time in the “abyss” forced him to dig deep and figure out who he was, which led to the creation of “The Redeemer” character.
“You go out in the wild, in the dark, in the abyss, and have to figure everything out for yourself. You don’t have the producers or the creative team… I dug deep inside myself to find out who I am and what I wanted to stand for. From there, we started developing ‘The Redeemer’ character.”
Rusev returned to WWE after WrestleMania 41 and competed at tonight’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in a Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship, which was ultimately won by the defending champion, Dominik Mysterio.