WWE: Lio Rush is a misunderstood man who wants to be great

Lio Rush is one of WWE’s most talented superstars inside the ring and on the microphone, but he’s reportedly ruffled some feathers backstage for the second time in his career.

It took Lio Rush some time before his career at WWE hit the ground running, simply because backstage officials overreacted to a lame joke about Tenille Dashwood (Emma’s) release. Because Emma lost to Asuka on the latter’s main roster debut, Rush tweeted that Emma just wasn’t ready for Asuka.

Was it a dumb joke? Yes. Should it have cost Rush months of his career before he finally debuted on NXT and eventually made a name for himself on 205 Live? Hell no. WWE Superstars have tweeted worse things without being punished, but Rush, as an NXT prospect, was an easy target. Plus, Rush, in his own words, felt horrible about the tweet and tried to apologize directly to Dashwood.

Despite making shining on the main roster as Bobby Lashley’s manager and a breath-taking in-ring competitor in his own right, Rush isn’t immune to receiving backstage heat in the Monday Night Raw locker room either.

Fightful.com’s Sean Ross Sapp reports that the roster doesn’t want Rush in the locker room anymore, and “some” of those issues have arisen from Rush’s desire to have his wife with him backstage:

"“One apparently involves former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor, who was making an effort to give Rush advice months ago. Balor allegedly let Rush know that it’s quite likely that Vince McMahon wouldn’t take kindly to his wife sitting in on rehearsals, and Rush responded unfavorably. Word got around the locker room pretty quickly.We were told of a separate incident in which caused management to get involved, as well. Rush had told members of the WWE roster last year that he hoped to land a reality show with his wife. We should reiterate, it doesn’t appear there has been any heat on her, at least that has been relayed to us.”"

So let’s break this one down here. WWE Superstars travel the road year-round and don’t get to see their loved ones often. Most wrestlers just have to deal with it and don’t bring their significant others to an area that’s for wrestlers only, but Rush isn’t one for tradition. Is this really worth disliking somebody? If his wife isn’t causing any problems – because this clearly isn’t an Enzo Amore situation where the dude is bringing a bunch of random people for Snapchat’s sake – then this is a classic case of people within wrestling blowing something out of proportion.

Furthermore, while I’m sure Finn Balor only meant to be helpful and didn’t want Rush, someone who he was working with in a feud for months, to get in trouble with Vince McMahon, not everyone needs advice. If Vince McMahon has a problem with Lio Rush bringing his wife to rehearsals, then Vince McMahon will let him know and the two can work it out as adults. Vince, for all his faults, has shown he can handle one-on-one disputes with strong-willed people like Rush.

Should Rush have treated Balor rudely? No, but we have to understand that Rush has a chip on his shoulder. He’s stated that he has to face great odds as a smaller wrestler and as a Black wrestler, so he’s one of the last people in WWE who is willing to take anything he doesn’t like.

That leads me to another important point relating to Rush: This man knows his worth. Though he’s only 24, he’s been wrestling since 2014 and dazzled outside WWE before hitting the main roster after quickly shining in NXT and on 205 Live. Any role that’s been asked of him, Rush has knocked it out of the park.

As he said above, it seems like people mistake Rush’s drive to excel as arrogance or some sort of indictment about his personality. Wrestling, like any sport, attracts so many different types of people, but especially headstrong individuals. Rush seems to be in WWE’s ear about getting more opportunities to showcase exactly what he can do, and, in all honesty, they should be willing to listen to a 24-year-old with his athletic tools and firm understanding of how to generate strong reactions from the audience. He can only help them.

Lio Rush is a young man who understands his worth, wants to spend as much time as possible with his wife, and wants to achieve greatness. It appears some people don’t understand this or are even afraid of it, and it’s sad that the nature of pro wrestling is making us discuss this “heat” on Rush instead of how fast his stock has risen in terms of his actual on-screen work.