Pro Wrestling Real Life Stories: Episode 3 - Lana, Rusev, his real-life fight, Russia, Bulgaria and the American Dream

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Lana and Rusev are quite possibly two of the more underrated talents in the professional wrestling business today. Catherine Joy Perry (Lana) and Miroslav Barnyashev (Rusev) have, over the course of the past few years, established themselves as a staple of the WWE roster.

That beckons the question--how exactly did a dancer/model/singer find herself in the swashbuckling world of professional wrestling, much like the Bulgarian power-lifter who came over to the United States of America to live the American Dream? Well, today we are going to be looking at a few real-life anecdotes provided to the fans by Lana & Rusev, which have helped us get an extraordinary insight into the "real" lives of this WWE power couple.

*Fans can look forward to 2 episodes of "Pro Wrestling Real Life Stories" being released every weekend (Saturday & Sunday) in the upcoming days.

#10 Lana -- The Russian-American genius

In an extensive interview with WWE legend Chris Jericho on his podcast Talk Is Jericho, Lana and Rusev opened up about their personal lives for the very first time in an out-of-character aka shoot interview. It was in this conversation that Lana revealed several interesting facts about her childhood, young adulthood as well as latter years--with more than a few amazing details regarding The Ravishing Russian being unraveled.

Anecdotes:

Lana revealed that her parents were Christian missionaries from Soviet Russia who'd come to the US and worked there for a considerable amount of time--adding that just a few years into her childhood; Lana was sent back to live in then-USSR controlled Latvia. In fact, well after Latvia became a separate nation, Lana stayed put in the country--recalling that she attended a very strict school with that "Russian discipline".

Moreover, Lana revealed that she'd derived her on-screen character in the WWE of "The Ravishing Russian" Lana, from her "crazy ballet teachers" back in Latvia. In fact, Lana explained that her ballet teachers were so very erratic, that she vividly remembers a teacher referring to the students who didn't perform well as "stupid fat cow"...Lana claimed that she channels her inner-crazy ballet teacher while depicting her character on WWE TV...

#9 Rusev -- Discovering America

Attitude era legend Glenn Jacobs (Kane) and Rusev (right) are no strangers to each other

Rusev joked around with Chris Jericho while recalling his childhood in Bulgaria--revealing the amazing fact that he'd been planning to become a professional wrestler since he was in the 3rd grade; at the tender age of 9!

Anecdotes:

Rusev noted that he discovered pro-wrestling at a young age, loved playing video games, watching movies and engaging in activities of the sort--with the forenamed activities all in all, resulting in him being strongly attracted to the US. He revealed the obvious connection here, that playing the video games, watching movies and professional wrestling made him realize that learning English is quite essential for him to become a wrestler in the States.

Rusev fondly narrated how he'd be the only kid in the group comprised mostly of adults who'd watch VHS tapes together featuring pro-wrestling matches--a trend which continued until WWE and WCW programming began being aired in Bulgaria. He continued that he started taking an active interest in learning English from the 3rd grade, and planned on coming to the US--since most pro-wrestling events he watched took place in America--and become a professional wrestler...

#8 Lana -- Singer, Dancer, Model, Actress, and wrestler?!

Lana is an accomplished singer, model, actress and dancer

Lana is undoubtedly a woman of many talents; having time and again described herself as an outgoing adventurist. Lana recalled that after returning to the States from Latvia around the age of 17-18, the lifelong ballet dancer immediately began pursuing a career as a pro-dancer--with the intriguing part being that, despite not possessing a great deal of worldly experience at the time, she stepped out of her comfort zone and pursued knowledge of several other dance forms such as break-dancing, et cetera.

Anecdotes:

Lana was a part of the girl-band "No Means Yes", and worked as a professional dancer for several troupes in Hollywood. She spoke about working several odd jobs during her time as a model and actress--revealing to Chris Jericho that she'd often times have to sleep in her car due to the lack of gigs during her rise to the top.

Moreover, Lana zoomed in on the fact that it was WWE that approached her during the Divas search a few years ago; and she started off in the company's developmental territories alongside talents such as Alexa Bliss, JoJo Offerman and Eva Marie. Lana added that she made a huge impact on WWE executive Triple H, when she cut a promo on the latter in Russian and later spoke perfectly fluent English as well...The WWE hired her after a few interviews and put her through a grueling boot camp, as they did with Bliss and Offerman--during which Lana took her first pro-wrestling bump, and realized that the road ahead wasn't going to be easy...

#7 Rusev -- Painter, Cab Driver, and Bulgarian jack of all trades

While Rusev now finds the time to paint art, he was forced to paint walls during his early days in America

Rusev jestingly exclaimed to Jericho about how "The Bulgarian Brute" has likely worked every job under the sun.

Anecdotes:

Rusev revealed that he came to the US as a young man in the mid-2000s, and worked several odd jobs in Virginia--including that of a painter, despite never having worked as one in his life before. Rusev joked that he was so very bad at painting houses that his fellow Bulgarians who'd given him the job and accommodation, literally kicked him out and left him on the streets.

Moreover, Rusev revealed that he's worked every job under the sun--including that of a cab driver, worker at the Wendy's restaurant chain, etc--however, after finding himself on the streets, he had nowhere to go. Fortunately, a few work-acquaintances who didn't like the people who'd kicked him out, took him in and let him stay with them...Rusev then moved to California with a friend, and subsequently enrolled himself into the pro-wrestling school run by Rikishi and Gangrel.

Rusev worked on the indie circuit in California, and subsequently moved to the WWE's developmental territories in Florida in 2010...

#6 Rusev and Lana -- The tanning bed encounter

Rusev and Lana had a few interesting early encounters with each other

Rusev was the first of this power couple, to have started off with the WWE. Both he and Lana confirmed that it was late-great Dusty Rhodes who paired them together in the developmental territories.

Anecdotes:

Rusev recalled that he met Lana when she started off in WWE's developmental territories, around the time NXT was really starting to gain steam. However, despite working together on the day of their first meeting, the following day when Rusev and a friend were at a tanning booth; Lana who was with another girl, failed to recognize him.

Lana joked that Rusev introduced himself to her, saying that he and his friend are wrestlers; whereas the former said that she is an "entertainer". Rusev then jested that he taught Lana was a str***er--in response to which, both Lana and Chris Jericho exclaimed that Rusev's estimate was pretty close, considering that Lana is a trained dancer...This meeting would turn out to be one of many for the future husband and wife...

#5 Genie Rusev

Rusev put forth a rather hilarious impression of Dusty Rhodes, and revealed how he worked several outlandish gimmicks under Rhodes' guidance in WWE's developmental territories.

Anecdotes:

Recalling the fact that Rhodes gave him several gimmicks to try out and enact in front of the fans, he explained that Rhodes once gave him a gimmick where Rusev would play the role of a genie. Well, needless to say, the act didn't work out, and Rusev was back to square one.

Rusev then confirmed that Rhodes eventually suggested that Lana should work with "Rusenov" (mispronouncing Rusev's name in signature Dusty style!). The pair resultantly got together, and began working hard on their characters...

#4 Ice Pack Lana

Lana seemed to get a tad assertive while speaking to Chris Jericho about her initial struggles during her time in WWE developmental.

Anecdotes:

The Ravishing Russian explained that she and the other new girls were ribbed by their senior competitors in the locker room, and advised to apply ice packs on themselves despite the ice pack-therapy being unnecessary at the time. Lana, a novice wrestler, eventually caught up on the rib, and decided to teach the mischief-makers a lesson.

She went out to the ring covered with several ice packs, including one on her head, and acted out her gimmick in front of the fans--in response to which, Dusty Rhodes was all praise for her when she made her way backstage. Lana's strong will and fearless attitude apparently impressed "The American Dream", who had his eye on the incredible talent that is Lana, ever since...

#3 Tong Po and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tong Po served as inspiration for Rusev's early character work

Rusev made an interesting revelation about the origins of his WWE character, to Chris Jericho--something which harkened back to Rusev's study of Tong Po and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Anecdotes:

While Dusty Rhodes bestowed several gimmicks on Rusev--including the dreaded genie act--one fine day, The Bulgarian Brute chose to go out there and do what he really wanted. Rusev explained that he tried to act as though he were Tong Po--the iconic villainous character from the movie Kickboxer.

Although Dusty Rhodes seemed to be somewhat impressed with Rusev's work at the time, the former continued experimenting with new gimmicks for Rusev--a rather memorable one being a character that saw Rusev copying legendary bodybuilder and Hollywood action movie icon Arnold Schwarzenegger...Hilariously, Rusev and Jericho laughed to no end, as the former explained Dusty's instructions to him on the Arnold gimmick.

Rusev continued that his job was to wear a leather jacket like Arnold, speak little-to-no-English, and just "act confused (sic)"...

#2 Rusev's real-life fight

Rusev once recalled that early on in his professional wrestling career, he got into a rather tricky situation in the ring, against a smaller wrestler who he was working a match with.

Anecdotes:

Speaking to Chris Jericho about stiff workers, Rusev recalled that he was once at the receiving end of a stiff strike at the hands of a smaller wrestler against whom he'd been competing at an indie event. Apparently, the wrestler continued hitting him with unnecessarily hard strikes, and Rusev finally hit back with a huge forearm which laid out the man!

Rusev claimed that he then felt bad for the wrestler, however, Jericho explained that the former wasn't really at fault in the aforesaid situation. In fact, Y2J revealed that after receiving a couple of stiff strikes from Shane McMahon in a match at Survivor Series, he'd similarly tagged Shane with a stiff drop-kick in order to send the latter a message that he'd better take it easy with Jericho...

#1 The Bulgarian Brute -- A true gentleman

Lana and Rusev are one of the most popular couples in WWE today

Lana spoke in a seemingly somber tone, whilst passionately revealing how much she and her husband care for each other. As a matter of fact, Chris Jericho seemed thoroughly impressed with the maturity and camaraderie Rusev and Lana exhibit in both the personal and professional dominions.

Anecdotes:

The couple confirmed that Lana is the one who seems to be in work mode around the clock--constantly pitching her WWE creative ideas to Rusev. Lana added that she does so, hoping that they'd someday become "multi-billionaires".

Moreover, Rusev explained that he's often worried about Lana possibly getting hurt in the ring. Lana added that he's a Bulgarian Brute after all, and incredibly protective of his lady...The couple received a ton of praise from Chris Jericho for their incredible tuning as well as due to the glaring fact that both Rusev and Lana are workhorses.