The RAW after WrestleMania is always good for some surprises, and we got a big one last year when former AEW star Rusev returned to WWE.
The Bulgarian Brute left WWE in 2020 when he was released by the company. The three-time United States Champion wasn't happy with how Vince McMahon booked both him and his wife, Lana, and he later joined the AEW roster as Miro.
Wrestling fans had high hopes for him there, but Tony Khan largely wasted the one-time AEW TNT Champion, and he spent most of his run at home. He finally parted ways with the company in February 2025.
Since returning to WWE, Rusev has spent most of his time in the upper mid-card. A main event run doesn't seem likely, though this Monday's RAW saw the company tease a clash between Rusev and Oba Femi.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, the formidable WWE Superstar revealed why he chose to return to WWE last year:
"I wanted to wrestle. I wanted to mix it up with the best. I know that the roster is stacked. I don’t remember the last time it was this stacked, but I just want to mix it with everybody. I wanted to wrestle more and more, and all these European tours and everything. I love all that, I love the grind. Because when we first started, we were five days on the road, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, you go home Wednesday, you’re out on the road again on Friday."
"And that’s just how life was, as hard as it was, that’s how you get better, just by putting in the work. Because every day you work different towns, you travel. Now the people can only hear about that and be like, Oh, really, that’s what it was. It was so cool. Wrestling, getting beaten up, getting the rental car driving three hours to the next town, getting the hotel, waking up, working out, doing the same thing, makes you feel like a real professional wrestler. I miss the grind."
Asked whether he believed a WWE return was always possible, Rusev explained that it boiled down to "only if I wanted to":
"Well, look so I got fired. It sucks, right? Nobody wants to get fired, especially in the pandemic. There was just something else. But I jumped right away, I started doing the Twitch thing, because I had the three months no compete and jump on Twitch. I had fun on Twitch. I was making money. I was playing video games. I was having fun. I was gaining my audience, little by little, and that was fun. And then AEW came through, and I started wrestling there."
"The same thing. I just wanted a short contract, just to feel them out. Everything was great, signed a bigger contract. Then did I ever think I was going to come back to WWE? If I wanted to. I really meant that if I wanted to. If I didn’t want to, I didn’t have to come back. But I love WWE. I love what they’ve made for me, and I love how they’ve taught me since I was a young kid. And I just love the organization."
You can hear more from Rusev in the player below.