Rusev talks frustrations with WWE creative and Vince McMahon

Rusev Day was one of the most popular acts in the company, but to the chagrin of Rusev, WWE never fully pulled the trigger.

Patrick Ross

August 14, 2020

Miroslav Barnyashev, better known to WWE fans as Rusev, was a guest on The Ryback Show this week, where he spent a lot of time talking about his frustrations with WWE creative, including a disheartening conversation he had with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.

Rusev was one of the most popular acts in the company for several months, and “Rusev Day” was a chant heard in every arena WWE traveled to. However, it seemed like WWE was hesitant to pull the trigger on the act, though it was unknown at the time why. After Rusev Day settled down, the Bulgarian Brute was rarely seen on television, and was eventually released by the company.

Miro had some thoughts about his struggle with the WWE creative team in his interview with Ryback, including getting heat for appearing on Total Divas:

They think that exposed me but I think that showed my personality. That’s not exposing. That’s showing who I am. Why can’t I do that? Why can’t I show my personality backstage? Why can’t I go in the ring and do what I do? They told me don’t look at the people. Don’t smile. Don’t do this and don’t do that. I’m like, really because everything I’m doing, the people seem to like it. Why am I getting over and you are telling me to do the opposite?

He also talked about an altercation he got into with a member of WWE’s writing team after being fed up with the huge response Rusev Day was getting while WWE did nothing with it:

They started putting my segments early so the Rusev chants can go away. There was a period where I wasn’t even supposed to be at WrestleMania, the one that I lost to Jinder, at the height of my career of Rusev Day. I was not on TV for three weeks. At this point, I am sitting backstage listening to the people all day chant Rusev Day. At this point, I went to see one of the writers and said this is not right. This is the first time I yelled at a writer, which I feel really bad. He said, ‘we don’t know what to do.’ I said, ‘what do you mean you don’t know what to do? Just listen. Stay here and listen. They will tell you what to do.’ I’m busting my ass to get to the top level and finally, I’m getting close. Then they shove me down and I don’t understand why. What am I fighting for?

Finally, Miro talked about how well Rusev Day merchandise was selling, and bringing that up to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, who had a deflating response:

I said, ‘Vince, we have sold out all of our merchandise. We are beating Roman. We are beating AJ. We are beating everybody.’ He said, ‘what do you mean?’ I said, ‘the shirt is sold out, the merch is sold out’ and he said, ‘well maybe they didn’t make enough.’ I’m like, ‘they didn’t make enough shirts? That’s why my shirt is sold out? Not because we are doing good? Really? You’re going to give me that excuse?’

While fans are clamoring for Miro to show up in another wrestling promotion, he claims his wrestling days are behind him, choosing to instead focus on streaming.