Lio Rush recently spoke about the troubles he dealt with backstage in WWE.
When the 25-year-old first arrived to WWE in 2017, he quickly impressed fans and officials backstage with his athleticism and strong work rate. However, the young star’s attitude had gotten the best of him, first with a joke regarding the firing of Emma (Tenille Dashwood).
Rush got major heat for that and was taken off of television for a bit before returning to the main roster as Bobby Lashley’s manager. Again, the Maryland native impressed many with his mic skills; however, reports surfaced over Rush’s arrogance backstage, which rubbed officials the wrong way.
Rush is now in a better place in 2020, and the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion spoke with
Brian Fritz about the incidents that got him into trouble during the early days of his WWE run:
“During that time, I was in a bad mental space,” Rush said.
“I feel like I’ve been pretty open with the public about my issues with depression and anxiety and stuff like that. I just needed a little break. I needed some time away to rethink, to be with my family, to remind myself of why I wanted to be a sports entertainer in the first place and be in the WWE in the first place.”
Rush was questioned on whether he was surprised that the company didn't fire him and the NXT star just sounds grateful for still working at his dream job:
“Man, I feel like I’ve asked myself this question a lot like, I’m not gonna lie to you, man,” started Rush.
“There were some times and some points where I thought that this was the end. And more than one occasion. More than twice, three times, four times. There were a bunch of times where I thought like, wow, this is it, and a bunch of times where I thought like, you know, where do I go from here?
“This is all I wanted to do since I was five years old. I wanted to be in the WWE, specifically. I wanted to be a part of the WWE. I wanted to have a long career. I wanted to be a Hall of Famer. Am I surprised that I’m still in the WWE? I wouldn’t necessarily say surprised. I don’t know if surprise is the word that I would go for. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to still be here. I’m not going to say that I’m surprised that they still kept me here or anything like that because I feel like that would be a very arrogant thing to say. The one thing I am is grateful.
Check out the full interview where Rush talks about returning to NXT, his current mental state regarding the black and yellow brand, and so much more!