WWE star Rusev recently sat down with Shakiel Mahjouri for CBS Sports, where he discussed his long career, his frustrating time away from the ring in AEW, and a “scary” period in WWE that forced him to re-evaluate his career.
Rusev, who is back in WWE and in the Intercontinental Championship picture, recalled a recent WWE Supershow match in Japan against Jey Uso, explaining why he was so intense during the bout.
“I had to light a fire behind him because I wanted to go, man. I told him, ‘I’m going so hard, and I’m not going to apologize, because I had a period of time where I’d have one match, not knowing when the next match is coming.’ That’s a very scary situation. Now we have this hot crowd in Japan. Let’s freaking go! Let’s give it 150%.”
He also spoke about developing his “Redeemer” character after his 2020 WWE release, a time when he felt lost without the company’s structure.
“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.”
Finally, he recounted a moment from 2011, after returning from a torn ACL, where he was told he had to improve or be fired, which he credits for pushing him.
“Again, I was pushed against the wall with nowhere else to go. I remember that very vividly… After having that meeting about, ‘You have this much time left here,’ I once again went back and started revisiting my character. What could I do better? If you ask something of me, I’ll deliver.”