Lio Rush Comments On Winning WWE NXT Cruiserweight Title During ACH - Triple H Controversy
Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman sat down with former WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush on a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast where, amongst other things, they discussed Rush's split from Bobby Lashley when he was his manager. The pairing was well praised by fans but was abruptly ended, and Hausman asked Rush if there was ever a reason given for the end of the pairing.
"I don't know. I really don't know," Rush admitted. "The last day that I was on RAW, I was in a room with Vince and Hunter, and for some reason, I just had this weird friction with Hunter. I don't know what it was. I don't know if he thought I was too brash. I don't know if he thought that I was too outspoken. With me and Hunter, we just never saw eye to eye."
After his release from WWE, Rush posted a prototype of a mask he was planning to wear based around his "Man of the Hour" (MOTH) persona, but the idea was dismissed by Triple H. Rush said on the podcast that Triple H "had a different vision for me", but he was glad that he was able to showcase the gear in his post-WWE appearances.
"I'm not entirely sure. I showed it to Hunter, and he wasn't too pleased with it," Rush revealed. "He had a different vision for me, but I'm glad that I was able to showcase that after my time in WWE."
Rush became Cruiserweight Champion on the Oct. 9, 2019 episode of NXT. Hausman noted that Rush winning the title came around the same time former WWE Superstar ACH called out the company saying "WWE doesn't care about Black people" amidst the controversy around an allegedly racist shirt WWE put out. Rush gave his thoughts on the idea of his title victory being a distraction from the ACH situation.
"That's a very touchy subject, and I didn't even think about that before, but I don't know. I don't know what they think," Rush said. "ACH, I don't know what the extent of his situation was. I knew that it was bad. I knew that it was ugly. I knew that a lot of people didn't like it. I knew that it was getting blown up on social media.
"It has some similarities with my situation, but it was an entirely different thing on its own. I don't know. Who knows with that company? So much goes on. There's so many people involved in every single conversation. The only thing that I do know is that it's unfortunate because ACH is such a talented person.
"We saw that with the match that I had with him at GCW, which was a match that definitely needed to happen. It's just an unfortunate situation that myself and ACH were in. Similar but different situations but it just had a very bad look on the African-American community. It's just an unfortunate situation."
Rush was asked Vince McMahon's thoughts on NXT since he had said that he and McMahon were close friends. Rush admitted that he hasn't watched a full episode of WWE television since his release but said that he most likely views NXT in a positive light.
"Well, I don't know what's going on now. I haven't watched anything since my release," Rush admitted. "I mean, I've come across a few clips here and there, but I haven't watched an episode in its entirety at all. I would assume that he thinks is doing pretty well [since] NXT has been on for quite some time now, so there's got to be some type of enjoyment there from it."
Lio Rush can be seen as part of MLW's The Restart every Wednesday night. For more information please visit MLW.com. Lio's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.