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Lio Rush on Rocky Romero Helping Him Get Booked in NJPW Again, Wrestling Promotions Working Together

January 15, 2022 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
NJPW The New Beginning USA - Lio Rush & Rocky Romero Image Credit: NJPW

– During a recent interview with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, AEW wrestler Lio Rush discussed his relationship with NJPW and Rocky Romero. Rush is scheduled to be working the NJPW Strong New Beginning USA tour, with a TV taping set for later today in Seattle, Washington. Rush will be teaming with Rocky Romero against Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson. Below are some highlights from the interview.

Lio Rush on Rocky Romero being the reason he’s working with NJPW again: “The reason is definitely Rocky. I’m forever grateful. Rocky is an amazing guy, an amazing performer, every time I always bring up Rocky’s name, nothing is ever said poorly or bad about him. Thank God for Rocky. The locker room in New Japan is incredible. It’s a breath of fresh air. You’ve got people in that locker room that are experienced, you’ve got independent legends in the States, you have legends in Japan, the up-and-coming guys in the States, guys coming over on excursion, and the young boys. It’s so cool because you never know what to expect really and you never know what to expect with these matches. There’s no real tier system in New Japan. You can see a young boy go up against somebody that has years of experience and you might see a shock win or it might not be a shock win, you might be looking at the future of New Japan and that was your first time seeing it. It’s pretty cool and I’m happy down there.”

On how wrestling promotions are able to work with each other now: “I couldn’t ever imagine or thought that wrestling would get to this point. Even when I was a teenager or a pre-teen looking on YouTube and watching the ‘dream matchups’ that people would make; Sting vs. Kane. Something as crazy as that, you’re seeing matchups that you would have never thought could have happened, they are happening. I would say every week, but wrestling is on every day now. History is being made day after day after day and it’s pretty cool to see, especially in New Japan. Even for myself, my favorite match in New Japan so far was against Taiji Ishimori. I didn’t even think that was possible, but when it happened, I’m like, ‘This is so cool.’ I can’t imagine how cool it must be as a fan to have seen that or any of these matches.”

Lio Rush on his tag team match set for the NJPW Strong TV taping: “It’s been cool. It’s definitely been different. I’ve been a singles wrestler for years. It’s cool to dip my toes into something different. it’s nice because I’m getting older and can take less bumps [laughs]. I got somebody else to get beat up. It’s been fun, really fun, especially teaming with guys that have that experience and guys I have been crossing paths with over the years. Teaming up with Rocky, it’s a match made in heaven and makes so much sense. I’m definitely looking forward to it. I made a tweet the other day where, we’re like fire opponents, but we’re going to be a dynamite tag team. The chemistry that me and Rocky have, even outside of the ring, it’s definitely going to help prepare us to be a cool tag team in New Japan.”