Rusev says he did not refuse to do jobs in AEW

In four years with All Elite Wrestling, Rusev went from a dominant champion and a prominent part of the show to being an afterthought who rarely appeared on TV. Reports surfaced that Rusev was refusing to do jobs, but he is now denying that was the case.

Rusev addressed the reports in an interview with Shakiel Mahjouri at SHAK Wrestling. Mahjouri noted Rusev’s long period of inactivity, then asked Rusev to address his” unwillingness to lose to guys when you were with the other company.” 

“There’s a lot of rumors out there, but the problem is that a lot of these rumors are spread by one person, by these dirt sheets, so-called dirt sheets,” Rusev replied. “And they have no evidence, no proof, right? They just can go out there, run a story … and nothing can be traced back to them. ‘Oh, I heard, I saw, duh-duh, duh duh.’ … Clearly, if you judge, just by this run, obviously that doesn’t make any sense. Clearly when I lost [the title to] to Sammy Guevara, that didn’t make any sense. When I lost to [Bryan Danielson] right after, that didn’t make any sense. When I lost to whoever … So let the people go back and review whatever and we can talk about that.”

The one person appears to be our own Dave Meltzer, who replied to this clip of the interview by saying “I remember when I wrote he had a knee injury, he said I was lying, then started wrestling with a giant knee brace on.”

After beginning his career in World Wrestling Entertainment, Rusev debuted with AEW during the pandemic in 2020. Using the name Miro, Rusev went on to win the TNT title from Darby Allin in November of that year and held it for 140 days before losing it to Sammy Guevara. He spent most of the next several years on the sidelines before returning to Raw in May. 

According to Cagematch, Rusev wrestled 36 matches for AEW, going 31-5. The five defeats:

• Dec. 2, 2020: Miro participates in the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal, a match eventually won by MJF and Orange Cassidy.

• March 25, 2021: Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy defeated Kip Sabian & Miro in Arcade Anarchy when Taylor pinned Sabian.

• September 29, 2021: Sammy Guevara pins Miro after a go to hell and 630 senton to win the TNT title. 

• November 13, 2021: Bryan Danielson defeats Miro by referee’s decision in a World Title Eliminator Tournament.

• June 26, 2022: Pac won the vacant All-Atlantic (now Unified) championship, submitting Clark Connors in a four-way that also included Miro and Malakai Black. 

Miro wrestled five matches for AEW in 2020, 20 in 2021, four in 2022, and seven in 2023.