10 Things We Learned From Speaking To Lio Rush

10. He Believed He'd Be In The Current Cruiserweight Tournament

Right now, the NXT brand is in the midst of a tournament to crown an interim Cruiserweight Champion.

With current champ Jordan Devlin unable to travel and compete due to restrictions in place as part of the ongoing global situation, the call was made to pull a silver lining from this in the form of a tournament. After all, when done well, who doesn't love a good tourney?

The announcement of this tournament was made a week before Lio Rush was one of the multitude of WWE talents to be released on April 15, and Rush - like so many of us - presumed he'd be a part of the competition.

As a former Cruiserweight Champion who'd had an impressive two-month run with the title late last year, complete with show-stealing performances on a weekly basis, it seemed a no-brainer that Rush would be a key part of this tournament, or if not then his stock as a former champ would surely put him in line to square off with the eventual winner down the line.

Upon hearing the news of this tournament being announced, Rush explained to us that he texted one of the company's writers - who broke the news to him that he wouldn't be involved.

On hearing that news, Rush told us, "I'm not gonna lie, I was really shocked. I was pretty shocked, because I had a pretty good run with the title for a little while, so I just thought I was gonna be a part of it. Once I found out I wasn't, I just started doing promos on social media promoting the tournament and promoting the guys that were in it."

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 30th May 2020

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Interviews Lio Rush