It looks like the drama between Lio Rush and the WWE isn’t over. In the same week where Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer reported that Rush requested his release (and was promptly rejected), the former 205 Live wrestler scrubbed any and all references to WWE from his social media profile bios.
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Rush’s Twitter bio currently only has a link to his Gmail account for business inquiries.
Back in mid-April reports started popping up online that Rush had heat with backstage officials. The reports eventually started getting more elaborate, claiming that Rush had been kicked out of the locker room, had angered wrestlers for not participating in normal procedures for newcomers like carrying bags and had rebuked locker room leader Finn Balor after the Intercontinental Champion told him that Vince McMahon would be upset by Rush’s wife hanging around the arena during rehearsals.
Rush refuted all of the claims at first, then tried to tell his side of the story in an interview with Fightful.
“Me and Finn are cool, and my wife has never been an issue,” Rush said. “There is someone who works for WWE who has hated me since the day I’ve worked for ROH and now that they work for WWE they’re leaking false information to get me released. At a certain point, I have to defend myself so that’s what I decided to do. We’re all human, and we’re all grown ass adults. The kind of s– the flies backstage is ridiculous and I’m surprised more people aren’t speaking up.”
“It’s not about race and it has never been, but public perception is important to me and when we have fans that travel all over the globe and watch us get off of buses and into hotels, the look of a black kid carrying waters and bags for other wrestlers is just not a good look, especially when I’m trying to portray myself as a superstar as well,” he added in regards to the carrying bags issue.
Within days of Rush’s interview, another report came out that WWE had offered him a five-year contract worth roughly $300,000, but he turned it down after reportedly being denied double that amount. The story was particularly interesting given Rush claimed in the interview that he was “broke” while on the road with WWE because he wasn’t getting any of the profits from Bobby Lashley’s merchandise.
In recent weeks Lashley has appeared on WWE television by himself, with no mention of his “Hype Man.”
The 24-year-old’s last WWE match took place on March 18 on an episode of Raw.
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