During a recent interview, Rusev was asked about his Bulgarian Brute character and credited his transformation into that persona with inside jokes with friends and his love of the Rocky movies. He also talked about originally being known as Alexander Rusev before he became one of many WWE Superstars to lose one of their names.
"[WWE] gives you an option to submit names you like," he revealed. "And I was thinking about it. Then to make a joke with my friend Vasil, Vasil Rusev, who I used to share a rowing boat with, I chose Rusev. And I was Alexander Rusev with Alexander later being dropped. I liked Alexander because it sounded [mighty] and Bulgarian."
As for why it was scrapped, he added: "But then it got dropped because Vince Mcmahon said ‘Ugh, Alexander, they’ll start calling you Alex as a nickname and you have to be a Russian/Bulgarian villain, we’re dropping it’."
At least some thinking went into Vince's decision and his argument actually makes sense. As for Rusev, we haven't seen him on television for a while and it's been reported that he asked for time off. However, it's thought he'll make his in-ring return in the near future.