Rusev Reflects On How He Developed His Character, Nearly Getting Fired Early On

Rusev recently looked back at his early days in WWE and how he nearly god fired before he developed the character he now portrays. The Bulgarian Brute joined WWE back in 2010 after only a short time on the indies. He made his WWE TV debut in NXT in 2013, then came to the main roster in January of 2014.

Rusev spoke on Insight With Chris Van Vliet about developing his persona and how he nearly got fired following his neck injury in the summer of 2012. You can check out the highlights below:

On How He Developed The Character:

“Trial and tribulation. So I was in developmental, after a few months, they found out my knee was broken at my ACL, so I had to get the surgery. So six months. But the American Dream [Dusty Rhodes] always kind of believed in me, even if I’ve never done promos before. In KnokX Pro, I used to train with Rikishi, they never taught us any promos. So now we have back in FCW, on Monday and Tuesday practice and then Wednesday was always promo class. But I’ve never done a promo in my life. It was kind of my first time I went out there did a promo and Dream liked me, the way I talked, I was big, I was able to move. So he gave me an opportunity. Unfortunately, my knee gave out, and we had to go and replace my ACL. I came back, starting climbing a little bit. Two months later, I broke my neck. I don’t even know how I broke my neck. I thought my shoulder was hurt, and I went and got my shoulder checked. He said, Yeah, your shoulder is bad, but your neck is broken. That’s what causes the problem. It was something leaking, blocking some pathway. Couldn’t move my arm, and so I had to repair the neck after that, which is another big setback. I thought after that, I was trying to be realistic, probably gonna fire me, it makes sense. I’ve provided nothing for this company, and besides, they had to pay for all these surgeries. Probably gonna fire me. But I was okay. I was gonna go to Japan or something. I was not gonna give up, for sure.

“But they didn’t fire me. They call me and they said they are gonna fire me if I don’t show them anything, I think they gave me a month or two to say, hey, we’re gonna give you this time and to show us what you got. If not, we’re gonna have to let you go. No problem at all. I love fighting for something when there’s not just a purpose, but what do you call it, like a goal. They stuck me in a beginner’s class, and I was extra motivated. You’re gonna put me in a beginner’s class? Watch me. So I was just f*cking go, doesn’t matter. I always do everything extra. It doesn’t matter what it is. So I was showing a boom, boom, boom, boom. After the first month, instead of firing me, they gave me an award for the most improved or whatever it was. But once again, I had nothing before that because I wanted to try something else. I went back and watched Kickboxer, I watched Bloodsport. Then all the bad guys that I grew up watching, I love it. So I was like, I’m gonna take something from this guy, something from this guy. That’s why I started changing my stance, my gear, my attitude. I went barefoot, start showing a different thing. And they loved it. They absolutely loved it. I started buying it more and more.

“Then eventually we moved. We started moving to Orlando, to the new system after Triple H took over, and it was a completely different thing. That probably saved me a lot, because there was such a structure. It was a program. It was you follow it. You go this coach, this coach, this coach. Everybody had a different level. It’s not just like figure it out. I had thrived in that system. I loved it, and it was very random. It’s not like I was ever prepared for anything. It’s not like anybody was like, oh, Rusev is going to be the next thing. It’s just one day. I had a random match, Dolph Ziggler came to NXT. They volunteered me for their Ziggler match and I haven’t even been on NXT TV at all, nothing. I was just doing nothing. And then I had this match, and Dolph was the nicest man. They wanted him to squash me pretty bad. He’s like, no, that’s not gonna do anything for you or me. We had a match, and let me showcase my moves, and thank God Triple H was there. He noticed it. He’s like, Who’s that kid? And from then on, fast-tracked. Once he saw me, once he saw my big traps, I guess my wild moves, and then they start figuring it out. Then Lana was there at this point, because she just started, so they figured out she can speak Russian. I’m a foreigner in that part of the world. And then they paired us together. We started doing promos. I showed CJ Rocky 4; she’s never seen it, not big into 80s and 90s movies as much as we are. Showed her Rocky 4. We said, This is what we’re doing. We’re gonna take this inspiration, and they loved it. From then, it was not a matter of if, but when.”

On The Recent Moment Where He Scared a Kid in the Front Row:

“I did [see it]. I did see he panicked, but it was his fault. At the end of the day, it’s like, you can’t blame me for that. I think I met him earlier backstage, and maybe that’s what made him so comfortable. That’s what I keep thinking. But then you can’t just be so comfortable to touch the animals, you can’t reach in the cage. And if your dad didn’t teach you that, your mom didn’t teach you that, I will. I always said don’t touch me kid, and he’s like ah! It was the most shocking face I’ve ever seen. Like before, they used to replay when The Undertaker lost. This is probably the next thing close to it.”