AEW: Rusev absolutely should be a priority signing for All Elite Wrestling

Per the words of Jim Ross himself, AEW absolutely should be making a grab for trying to sign Rusev whenever they get the chance to do so.

During a bonus episode of his Grilling with JR podcast (h/t WrestlingNews.co), AEW lead commentator Jim Ross spoke in depth on Rusev’s release from WWE, how that company dropped the ball on making the former US Champ a big star (which, hey, preaching to the choir there, pal; same can be said about a lot of recent releases) and where he’d like to see the Bulgarian Brute next.

“Rusev would be my priority,” Mr. Slobberknocker pontificated. “That’s who I’d want to go after first because I can see him having some major pay-per-view main event matches … anyone would be smart to hire him.” Amen, JR. Amen.

We could expound all night and day about how WWE dropped the ball on Rusev, but it’s not going to get him his job back. There is just a little more value in speculating the right place to sign him. Which believe me, the places are a plenty.

An indie run from Rusev would certainly be loads of fun in itself. Personally, there’s nothing I’d love to see more right now than seeing him bulldoze through the likes of Okada and Ospreay in NJPW’s G1 tournament. But ultimately, AEW may be the best move for good ole Ru Ru.

First off, let’s point out that with so many names being released by WWE recently, a lot of talented names are going to be unleashed onto the wrestling market very soon. It’s going to be hard for companies to cherry pick the very best names to sign for the moment, but for AEW at least, Rusev should be at the top of their list of prioritized signings.

Just imagine for a sec the sight of Rusev knocking around a roster that, for the most part, are significantly smaller than him. He’ll come off as a monster that belongs in the main event picture.

There’s going to be critics who would argue that signing Rusev is going to set a precedent of signing “too many ex-WWE guys” (which is weird, as no one says WWE signs too many ROH/IMPACT/NJPW/indie/etc guys – every wrestler has a past with another company, get over it), but when the talent speaks for itself, it shouldn’t matter.

Rusev’s talent certainly speaks for itself, as he’s just as talented in the ring as he is on the mic. He can put on great matches and can hold his own when it comes to comedy segments – two very important necessities when it comes to the type of product AEW puts on.

Now, obviously, it seems unlikely AEW will be signing anyone anytime soon during this pandemic – although they recently announced signing Anna Jayy during the middle of all this, though Rusev likely has to wait 90 days to wrestle anywhere, whether this all blows over by that time or not.

However, a world where Rusev is All Elite may be an ideal world to envision.