"I was scarred [by] my WWE run" - Former AEW Star on why he signed with Tony Khan

Did Tony Khan convince this star to sign with AEW?
Did Tony Khan convince this star to sign with AEW?

AEW President Tony Khan has picked up many former WWE stars since first establishing his promotion back in 2019. While most have still praised WWE in hindsight, Lio Rush has now admitted that his time within the promotion affected him negatively.

Lio Rush's run in AEW was very brief and he mainly spent it as Dante Martin's manager before eventually joining the star in the ring. Compared to his WWE main roster stint saw him solely act as a manager to Bobby Lashley.

During his appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, The Man of the Hour was asked if he still had animosity with Tony Khan and what he thinks about him.

"Probably [there was animosity], a little bit, how can there not be? But I like Tony a lot. I really like Tony – I think that’s the first time I’m saying it out loud. It’s [the] one thing that made me so willing to give AEW a chance – ‘cause I feel like I was scarred [by] my WWE run. We connected pretty quickly, [and] there was a lot of emotion involved. I probably shouldn’t have brought the emotion out." (46:18 onward).

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Rush also spoke about his stint as Bobby Lashley's manager in WWE and how it helped him become a better pro wrestler.

If you use the quotes above, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.


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Despite not having bad blood with Tony Khan, Lio Rush doesn't regret his explosive reaction to the AEW President on social media

While his time with All Elite Wrestling was short, fans unfortunately still recall his exit after going on an explosive rant when Tony Khan made comments against former AEW star Big Swole.

This unfortunately led to his contract mutually not being picked up, but during a virtual signing with K & S Wrestlefest, he claimed he doesn't regret his actions.

"I rarely regret anything that I do and if it is something that maybe I shouldn’t have done or it could have been handled differently then let me learn from that experience. I’d rather learn from my own mistakes than have somebody tell me to do something and it goes either way." (H/T: POSTWrestling)

The door is clearly not closed off on a return, but fans hoping to see Lio Rush back in All Elite Wrestling will have to continue being patient at this point.

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Edited by Faden Cloete
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