Rusev‘s Return toโค WWE Driven by Desire for Consistent Ring Time, โReveals CJ Perry
STAMFORD, CT – Rusev’s decision to leave โขAll Elite Wrestling and return โขto โWWE earlier this year stemmedโค from a desire to wrestle regularly on television, according to his wife, CJ โPerry. Speaking on theโข “Insight withโข chris Van Vliet” podcast, Perryโ detailed the frustrations Rusev experienced during his five-year AEW tenure, โขparticularly a period where he was absent from televised matches.
“Both him and I love telling stories, and WWE โขis aโ storytelling factory,” Perry explained. “And he isโค amazing at what he does. He’s the ‘Super Athlete.’ He loves playing a villain. He loves, absolutely loves WWE-style storytelling.”
Perry emphasized that โขRusev’s motivation wasn’t โfinancial. โ”He wanted toโค wrestle every โขweek on TV. That was a big thing for him.He loves wrestling. It โขwasn’t about a check for him. So it wasโข like, yeah, maybe he made more money at AEW or something,โ but he wanted – it wasโ more vital for him to get โคout there and be wrestling, it was realyโข hardโ for him to not be working.”
As his return to WWE, Rusev participated inโ the “Last Time isโค now” tournament to determineโข John Cena’s final opponent, defeating โขDamian Priest inโ the โคfirst round before beingโ eliminated by Jey Uso in the quarterfinals. Gunther โand LA Knight will compete in theโข tournament finals this โฃFriday on SmackDown.
Perry also confirmed she has re-signed withโ WWE underโ aโ WWE Legends contract and remains available for potential television appearances.
(Pleaseโ credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet with a h/t to WrestlingNews.coโข for the transcription.)