Lio Rush on How He Deals With His Detractors

– During a recent interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, wrestler Lio Rush discussed how he deals with his detractors and critics. Below are some highlights:

Lio Rush on his detractors: “I think I try to tune it out just because I realize that no matter what I do there’s always going to be a 50/50 to anything. That’s not just with me, that’s with anybody. There’s gonna be people who don’t like your podcast and you’re gonna have people that love it. It’s just different tastes. I don’t like to harp on it too much because even with music, although everything is the same now that my music is starting to grow and I have this deal now and I’m gonna start reaching a different audience and more ears, I can’t really harp on all this stuff, the controversy that happened within wrestling because of different audiences. That’s a different fanbase. So it’s almost like I’m re-introducing myself to this new music audience that I am presenting myself to. It’s half and half. I like using it. It fuels me, for sure. I do like having that tension and that ‘heat.’ I thrive off of that. I like having those detractors to push me and push me forward.”

On people who mock his past retirement announcements: “At this point, man, it’s just like, ‘Why?’ I can only say this from when I was a fan of wrestling, when I was not in the business—maybe it’s because social media wasn’t around—but I was just a fan of wrestling. I didn’t dig into people’s lives. It’s too personal now. Fans aren’t just fans anymore. They want to be in the know. I guess that’s fine, but there’s a line. If you like wrestling, just like wrestling. Just be a fan. It seems very exhausting to be a wrestling fan nowadays. But I’m fine with it. It doesn’t annoy me. I’m sure it annoys my fans, the people who like and enjoy my work, but me, personally, it doesn’t annoy me. It’s just like a, ‘Why are you wasting your energy?’ The joke has already been made. I’m here and I’m here to stay.”