Arguably the biggest up-and-coming star in independent pro wrestling for 2016 has been Lio Rush. The youngster has been working in CZW and Beyond Wrestling, among a slew of other indie promotions, and he got signed to Ring of Honor after winning their 2016 Top Prospect Tournament. But his career had one of the more unorthodox beginnings we’ve heard in a while, as he managed to do almost everything wrong. Or at least … he managed to do everything not right.
In a profile on ESPN.com, Rush explains that when he was 16 years old — after a successful stint as an amateur wrestler — he had no idea how to get into pro wrestling, so he did what seemed like the best idea at the time: he called up WWE to ask them.
“It all fell into place when I was 16,” said Rush. “I called the WWE office and, believe it or not, they picked up. I asked them how old do you have to be to become a professional wrestler, and they said I had to be 18.
“So when I was around 18, and as soon as I graduated, I’m like, ‘Man, I’m old enough to be a professional wrestler.’ And I already have this All-American amateur status under my belt, so let me try to see if I can find some kind of training to be a professional wrestler.”
But he wasn’t quite finished with a very unorthodox route to pro wrestling. After turning 18, he moved to Florida and started attending Full Sail, with the idea that he’d sign up for the WWE Performance Center. But he somehow got a year into classes at Full Sail without finding out the Performance Center doesn’t actually work that way.
“I saw that WWE Performance Center was opening up,” Rush said. “It was around Full Sail University and I was like, ‘Perfect. I can train at the WWE Performance Center, and I can go to school regularly, working on videography at Full Sail.’ I was already good at doing videos — I was a videographer, and my dad and my mom were into video production and just media in general, so I grew up around that stuff.
“I got almost a year in, and I found out that the WWE Performance Center was not a training school for just anybody that wanted to sign up,” Rush said. “It discouraged me [as far as] being in Florida and at Full Sail University, so I went back home to Maryland.”
Hey man, his name’s Lio Rush, not “Lio Asks Questions About How This Shit Works.” But Rush, of course, doesn’t have much reason to complain about how everything shook out, because he’s still just 22 years old, signed to Ring of Honor, and gaining a growing following on the indie scene. And getting ESPN articles written about him, apparently. AND UPROXX ARTICLES OH NO [Inception horns]
Plus, he’s got the number to WWE’s office. Probably still in his phone and everything.
If you haven’t seen Rush in action, here’s the match that won him the ROH Top Prospect Tournament.
