Rusev recalls Vince McMahon’s reaction to his 2019 weight loss
Rusev appeared on the debut episode of his wife CJ Perry’s new podcast, Identity Crisis.
During the conversation, Perry asked Rusev about an interaction he had with Vince McMahon in September 2019 when he returned from a three-month absence noticeably slimmer.
Lana: “Are you okay with sharing the story about in 2019 when you lost a bunch of weight and then we had a meeting with Vince and what did he say to you about your new look of being 260lbs?“
Rusev: “He said he wanted the big Bulgarian. He wanted a 300-pound guy.”
Lana: “(Vince) goes, ‘I want my 300 pound Bulgarian brute. That man puts asses in seats. That heel. I want you as a heel. I want the 300 pound Bulgarian brute because that sells tickets.”
Rusev didn’t last much longer in WWE after this meeting. He was released from the company in April 2020 and at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before his release, he was involved in a storyline where Bobby Lashley was having an affair with Lana. He lost a Tables match to Lashley that December at the TLC pay-per-view, then teamed with Liv Morgan in a losing effort against Lashley and Lana on the January 20 episode of Raw. His final televised match before his release came on the February 17 Raw, where he teamed with Humberto Carrillo in a loss to Lashley and Angel Garza.
The debut episode of CJ Perry’s new podcast is available below:
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.