• Rusev Recalls His Debut At 2014 Royal Rumble Not Being Certain
During a recent interview with TV+, Rusev talked about where his name “Rusev” came from, how he and Lana came up with “Rusev udria, Rusev machka”, being a foreigner in WWE, his debut at 2014 Royal Rumble not being certain & more.
Below are the highlights:
On where his name “Rusev” came from:
“I had a friend named Vasil Rusev in my rowing classes. I’ve always liked that name. When I first started in WWE, I had the opportunity to choose a name and I choose Rusev. The ‘Alexander’ name just sounded like a good Bulgarian name, but the Rusev part I got from my friend Vasil.”
On how he and Lana came up with “Rusev udria, Rusev machka”:
“The plan was before my entrance music hit to have something said in Bulgarian, but I had no idea what would that be. The idea for ‘Rusev udria, Rusev machka’ came from me and Lana watching Rocky 4. There was something along the lines of ‘What Drago hits, he destroys,” which I liked a lot and I wanted to do something similar to it. I got the mic and it came naturally, ‘Rusev udria, Rusev machka.’ They asked me what that meant and after I explained they liked it.”
On being a foreigner in WWE:
“To be a foreigner may be an advantage, but disadvantage as well. It was advantage for me for sure. They loved the fact that I could speak a foreign language and that I look apart from everybody else.”
On his debut at 2014 Royal Rumble not being certain:
“I remember that nothing was certain that night. They called me up but I didn’t know if I was going to participate or not. I was there, just waiting the whole day. At one moment I was in the ring and I saw a big graphic on the tron that had my name on it. It was like a millisecond and when I turned around It was gone. I had a feeling that It might finally happen. On the same day they called Lana (she wasn’t at the arena) and she took the first flight and came there. We weren’t sure that we were going out together and if the crowd is going to accept us but It happened and it was like a movie, everything worked fine.”
On if he was nervous about his debut:
“Not so much…you are ready, at least you have to be. I’ve always believed in my ability, but the feeling that all that hard work sums up in that one day, that one moment … is just unbelievable.”
On the toughest opponent he has faced:
“My biggest opponent and at the same time my highest rated is John Cena and our match at WrestleMania 31, because I was undefeated that whole year. First, I was able to defeat him at Fastlane, we had our great match at WrestleMania, where I entered the arena on an army tank.”
• SmackDown Live Star’s Possible US Title Win Cancelled Because Of Originally Planned WWE Title Change Being Nixed
As we noted before, DirtySheets.net reported that the original plan for Money In The Bank 2018 was for Shinsuke Nakamura to capture the WWE Championship in a Last Man Standing match, only to lose it back to Styles at the Extreme Rules 2018 PPV in a ‘3 Stages Of Hell’ match.
However, the plan of Nakamura winning the WWE Title was nixed just minutes before the PPV began.
Now, WWE officials might be compensating Nakamura’s cancelled WWE Title win by having him win the United States Championship from Jeff Hardy, according to the Dirty Sheets.
This comes at the expense of Andrade “Cien” Almas, who was originally planned to face Jeff Hardy for the US Title (and possibly win it) after having a short feud with Sin Cara.
Another reason behind Nakamura (previously Almas) possibly winning the US Title is that Vince McMahon loves a foreign heel as the US Champion.
