Vince McMahon's Excuse For Not Pushing Rusev Revealed

"Really, you’re going to give me that excuse?"

by Andrew Pollard
Rusev WWE
WWE

Having been arguably the biggest name to be let go by WWE this past April, the former Rusev has given an insight into how Vince McMahon failed to see the magic that was Rusev Day.

Now going by his real name of Miro, the former United States Champion joined The Ryback Show to discuss a whole array of topics – including a baffling reason Vince gave for Rusev Day not being all that big a deal.

If you remember – as Miro addressed in his chat with Ryback – there was a time where Rusev Day chants filled arenas from the start of the night to the end of the night. But still, WWE refused to pull the trigger on Rusev and truly get behind him in any meaningful way.

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Detailing one interaction with McMahon, Miro explained, “I’m thinking, what am I doing here? I give it one go, then a second go. I said, ‘Vince, we have sold out all of our merchandise. We are beating Roman. We are beating AJ. We are beating everybody.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘The shirt is sold out, the merch is sold out,’ and he said, ‘Well, maybe they didn’t make enough.’ I’m like, ‘They didn’t make enough shirts? That’s why my shirt sold out? Not because we are doing good? Really, you’re going to give me that excuse?’”

For Rusev, he was the classic example of a talent who got themselves over way more than they ever were supposed to.

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WWE clearly viewed the Bulgarian Brute as having a certain ceiling, yet there was a spell with Rusev – like so many other stars over the years – where the fans were behind him in such a natural and organic way that it was baffling to not see WWE embrace that fan response and run with it.

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Senior Writer
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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.