Lio Rush returns to singles action for the first time in nearly five months.
While the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion has been M.I.A on AEW television recently, Rush and Action Andretti have been quite busy working down in CMLL. The duo are coming off a couple of Best of Two Falls matches in August. However, the announced match in PROGRESS will see Lio challenge Man Like Dereiss for the PROGRESS Men’s World Championship at the upcoming Chapter 185 show.
This isn’t the first time that two have fought. At PROGRESS: Chapter 150, Rush beat Man Like Dereiss in a singles match that went nearly 21 minutes. Man Like Dereiss won the PROGRESS Men’s World Championship at Chapter 183 by beating Luke Jacobs in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.
Thus far, he’s successfully defended his title three times. Though Lio Rush has not won any world titles in AEW or WWE, the 30-year-old has won multiple singles titles throughout his career. Most notably, the AEW star has previously held the X-Division title, the MLW World Middleweight title, and the CZW World Heavyweight Championship.
The PROGRESS Men’s World Championship match is the recent addition to the upcoming show that also features a three-way ladder match for the PROGRESS Tag Team Championship between Lykos Gym (the champions), Sunshine Machine, and Connor Mills & Nico Angelo. PROGRESS - Chapter 185: Jump in the Line will be held at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London on October 26th.
As expected, more matches will be announced for the upcoming event soon. As far as Lio Rush’s return to AEW, that’s currently unknown. Lio Rush isn’t injured, so this is a case of AEW not knowing what to do with him at the moment. The last time he competed in AEW was a pre-show match on Forbidden Door. Hopefully, that changes in the coming months as Rush can be a valuable commodity if given a chance, but the AEW roster is so stacked that it’s hard to give the spotlight to everyone. Of course, it doesn’t help when Tony Khan continues to add new names like Andrade to the roster.