WWE wrestler and manager Lio Rush has recently been the subject of rumors that he has heat backstage. Yesterday, he took the time to respond and made some serious claims about issues he’s having in the company.
The initial report about Rush’s workplace problems was published by Fightful earlier this week, with a staff member writing that “Lio Rush would be very lucky to be back on the main roster any time soon, if ever” according to their sources. The tension between Rush and the rest of the locker room was said to stem from “Rush’s insistence to have his wife present at almost all times” because he was trying to get a reality show with for them and Rush ignoring advice from Finn Balor about the situation.
Rush responded to the report first on Twitter, then in statements to Fightful. He tweeted nonspecifically about “dirtsheets” writing “ridiculous” articles about him, then claimed the backstage heat rumors were “dirt sheet fabrications.” In a series of longer tweets, which are embedded below, he addressed the specifics of the report from Fightful and another from PWInsider that also included a story of Rush not doing certain duties typical of junior members of the roster on a 2018 European tour.
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1123363545251491841
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1123364413145255941
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1123364496054079490
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1123365440280043522
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1123365537336254465
https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1123369337342103553
Rush’s comments to Fightful, which you can read in their entirety here, include descriptions of what issues he does have with his job at WWE. These include:
- Not being included in meet-and-greets with Bobby Lashley
- Not “getting paid for merchandise for us that has my catchphrases on them”
- Having to pay his own way for hotels and rental cars on the road “while not making enough money to do so,” resulting in him “walking around broke”
- Another WWE employee who knows Rush from his time in ROH (2015-2017) and hates him is “leaking false information” in an attempt to get him fired
As more of a general statement, Rush adds that “The kind of shit [that] flies backstage is ridiculous and I’m surprised more people aren’t speaking up.”
This is far from the first report of WWE treating its workers in less than ideal ways or of WWE wrestlers getting away with bad backstage behavior. Right now, this is a lot of “he said, they said” and has yet to affect Rush’s standing in the company in a way fans can clearly see on screen. Whatever the specifics about this situation are, they point to drama at best and a concerning workplace environment at worst.
