Rusev Says Dusty Rhodes Wanted Him To Be A Genie

– Rusev recently appeared on Talk is Jericho (transcript credit ), here are the highlights…

On Coming to The US as an Exchange Student:”I had the opportunity to come to the United States of America as an exchange student, so I had to come for four months, work, and then, go back.” Rusev recalled, “I had to paint houses. I never painted in my life. It was 100º outside with 100% humidity. And they expect me to climb a ladder in the third floor and paint. I got fired a month later. I got thrown out on the streets because I don’t know anybody. I was a month in. I got thrown out by my own comrade, Bulgarian people. They were my employers. They threw me out, literally.” Rused continued, “they threw me out. I had no money. I had nowhere to go. They kicked me out of the house they provided.”

On His Stint Working at Wendy’s: “I worked at Wendy’s for a week. No, you just work at Wendy’s, right? Three guys there worked and there were seven managers. How is that even [possible]? It’s so American. We need more workers than managers.” Rusev mused, “‘you need to put mustard with a W on top of the burger.’ I’m like, ‘what? First of all, who’s going to open the burger and see the W. And, if you turn it upside-down, it’s McDonald’s!'” And the manager goes, ‘oh, I never really thought about it.'”

On His WWE Tryout: “I’ve been training for three years now, or so, at Knokx Pro, or two years, with Rikishi and I picked up as much information as I could because, I mean, they were in the business for so long and had all the knowledge. And they thought that I was ready and 2010, SummerSlam, they sent me for a tryout.”

On Dusty Rhodes Wanting Him to Be a Genie: “He has given me so many good and bad ideas that you have no idea! He tried to make me a genie. ‘Baby, I see you with that new gear. You look like a genie! I want you to work with that Russian chick, Anya, and she’s going to, baby, rub the lamp and you’re going to – pop – appear!'” Rusev continued, “he made me do genie promos for the next three weeks. Well, he had the lamp and this kickboxing chick we had back in FCW, she rubbed the lamp and I appeared.”