Lio Rush discusses his WWE release, clashing with Triple H & Ever After [EXCLUSIVE]

Modified May 16, 2020 14:55 GMT

Lio Rush won the Cruiserweight Championship following his return

Of course, you were recently released - but the thing that struck me was your maturity when you put out a really heartfelt message on that day ahead of the releases. What was the thinking behind that?

Yeah, I think I just... I heard what was going to happen that day, you know, via different media outlets, and I knew that it had to be true. It had to be true. If it was being covered this much by mainstream news sites, then it had to be true, so, in my head, I just... I knew that, regardless of if I was going to be a part of it or not, it was going to be a very sh***y situation and I knew it was going to be messed up and it was going to be disappointing for a lot of people.

RIP AEW Rampage

So, I just figured that I would put out something to let everybody know that, "All I know is a lot of us are going through a hard time at the moment with the pandemic and everything but, at the end of the day, if you end up losing your job, just know that the wrestling world as an entire family and that you're going to be okay. We are all going to be okay because we are all looking out for each other," so I was just trying to lighten up the mood a little bit to tell people that, I know something bad is going to happen but just know at the end of the day, me included, I've got your back.

Did you know you were going to be one of the people released when you put out that statement?

I had a feeling that I was going to be one of the people just because of the lack of communication between me and WWE management weeks before. Once I saw the news, I ended up calling the head of talent relations, which is Mark Carano, and I just asked him straight up.

I said, "I'm seeing a whole bunch of stuff online about people are going to be released today and I know it's true so before I hear about it online, can you just tell me if I'm going to be one of these people released today?" And he said he was going to call me in a few minutes but, "Yes, you're one of those people who are going to be released today," and I didn't even question it, I didn't ask why, I didn't really say anything, I just said, "Okay, thank you," and I just kept it moving. A couple of hours later, the news broke and I was a part of that first group of people who got released.