Massive shots fired at Rusev's AEW career on WWE RAW

Rusev's old ally-turned-rival took aim at his AEW tenure live on the latest edition of WWE Raw. The erstwhile Miro officially departed from the Tony Khan-led promotion earlier this year.

The Bulgarian Brute has been on a mission since returning to the sports entertainment juggernaut this past April. In his first match back in WWE, Rusev defeated Otis in under seven minutes. He proceeded to squash the Alpha Academy member's teammate Akira Tozawa last week, and continued to punish his opponent with his brutal submission hold after the bout until his former League of Nations ally Sheamus arrived, forcing him to back off.

On the June 2 episode of Monday Night RAW, Rusev delivered a promo lashing out at The Celtic Warrior for supposedly not helping him at his time of need years ago, and sent an ominous warning to the latter for opposing him a week earlier. Later in a backstage interview, Sheamus acknowledged his long-time friendship with the former US Champion, but claimed that the latter's WWE career had "imploded because of his own bad decisions."

He then took aim at Rusev's career "outside of WWE", stating that it lasted "about as long as Rusev Day, 24 hours." Sheamus was of course referencing the Bulgarian's five-year stint in AEW, where he signed in 2020 after he was released by the Stamford-based company as a part of the COVID-19 budget cuts.

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Despite being pushed heavily during the early half of his AEW run, Rusev's (then going by Miro) booking in the promotion seemed to lose traction since the end of his dominant TNT Championship reign in 2021. The Redeemer's appearances became more and more sporadic over the years, and he finally parted ways with the company in February after being on an extended hiatus since Worlds End 2023, reportedly due to creative differences, among other possible reasons.

About the author

Anurag is an AEW writer for Sportskeeda Wrestling. He holds a BA and MA degree in English along with a TEFL certification to teach English. Before Sportskeeda, he worked as a Content and Correspondence writer at Nayabad Titas, a theater group. He has also worked as a English language tutor.

To ensure complete accuracy, he uses internet resources, social media platforms, and especially pieces composed by his peers to find solid, verified information that he presents as objectively as possible. Thanks to his academic background, he can research different subjects thoroughly.

Anurag's interest in wrestling began as a child. He watched RAW and Smackdown frequently from age 10 or 11 and was officially hooked by the YES Movement story in WWE heading into WrestleMania 30.

As a lifelong wrestling fan and lover of stories, Anurag would read news, articles, and other content about the talent and events he enjoyed watching. His understanding of the business continued to grow with time, and his interest in the art and sport of wrestling led him to pursue a career as a writer.

Apart from writing, he loves to read books, watch movies and television programs, play and listen to music, and write poetry and fiction.

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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee