Rusev has revealed how WWE got him to agree to the infamous Bobby Lashley storyline.
The former US Champion recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet for a new interview. He talked about things such as the best advice he got from John Cena, growing up in poverty, how match with Dolph Ziggler put him on the map in NXT and more.
During the session, he also opened up about the storyline involving his wife Lana and Bobby Lashley. When asked how it was originally pitched to him, Rusev revealed that he was originally told that the story would lead to a match between him and the All Mighty at WrestleMania:
“WrestleMania match. That’s how it was pitched to me. I said, Great, I can deal with that. We just never got there. But it was a good story. I understood the story. It was not my favorite story, but I understood it. And when they told me what the final goal was, I said, All right, that sounds good to me. We have a direction, we have a dip, we have a comeback. We have a good story to finish it.”
It\’s Acting: Rusev
The storyline from late 2019 saw Lana having an affair with Bobby Lashley. When Rusev questioned his wife about it, the female star accused the Bulgarian Brute of being a controlling sex addict, leading to Lana divorcing her husband in a Raw segment. Rusev had multiple matches with Lashley during this rivalry including one at the 2019 TLC PPV but he was unable to beat the former WWE Champion. He was then released from his WWE contract in April 2020, only a few weeks after WrestleMania 36.
When asked how he felt about his wife making out with another guy, the WWE star pointed out that it was no different than Hollywood actors getting intimate with their co-stars on screen:
“It’s acting, though, it’s nothing else, all these Hollywood people, and she’s the only one. How many other WWE female Superstars have made out with so many people? It’s just part of the business. If you start selling it, of course it’s gonna go bad for you, but as long as you take it just to work, it’s nothing else than just to work.”
Rusev was featured in the Last Time is Now tournament last year. He has had several matches on Main Event since then, but the 40-year-old has not competed on Raw or SmackDown this year.