Miro Believes Part of the Reason WWE Fired Him Was COVID-19 Related

Miro (formerly known as Rusev) was arguably the biggest name WWE let go when it released more than 30 wrestlers back on April 15. He's since reinvented himself as Miro, launched a successful Twitch channel and signed with All Elite Wrestling. He's also spoken out multiple times on why he was let go, citing the numerous frustrations he had with WWE's creative process. However, in a new interview with Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho this week the former "Bulgarian Brute" speculated that part of the reason WWE gave him the pink slip was due to his vocal concerns about how WWE was handling COVID-19.

"I was getting some of the boys around because we were not okay about how everybody was treated in the pandemic situation," Miro said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). "We felt scared to go to work, and once again, it was probably ten of us talking, somebody leaked it to the office. From us 10 people that were talking, somebody leaked it to the office and to the dirt sheets, and once that happened, I knew right away they're gonna fire me because they're going to blame it all on me of course because I'm the guy, but it doesn't matter."

"They fired me," he added. "I lashed out because I think we're on the path of doing something good because I do want to protect the boys. We all wanted to protect the boys and the girls. That didn't work out, and that's why I felt like they cut me underneath because I was just so angry man."

WWE has dealt with the ongoing pandemic in a number of ways, shutting down all live touring and moving the television product into the WWE Performance Center and the WWE ThunderDome at the Amway Center in downtown Orlando. However the precautions they've taken haven't stopped multiple outbreaks from occurring within the roster. The exact number of positive cases has never been fully disclosed, though numbers as high as 30 have been reported.

AEW's next pay-per-view, Full Gear, takes place this Saturday. Check out the full card below:

• AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston (I Quit Match)
• TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin
• AEW World Tag Team Championship: FTR vs. The Young Bucks
• AEW Women's World Championship: Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose
• Chris Jericho vs. MJF
• Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara (The Elite Deletion Match)
• AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament Finals: Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page
• Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver
• The Buy-In: NWA World Women's Championship: Serena Deeb vs. Allysin Kay