Miro Admits TMZ Leak Cost Him WWE Intercontinental Championship

Miro has claimed that a leak from TMZ cost him a run with the Intercontinental Championship while he was with WWE.

Miro – then known as Rusev – debuted on WWE’s main roster in the 2014 Royal Rumble match accompanied by Lana who acted as his onscreen Manager.

By May 2015, however, the pair’s run on WWE TV seemed to have come to an end as Rusev struck out on his own. the Bulgarian Brute later attempted to reconcile with Lana but his plans fell through when she began a relationship with Dolph Ziggler.

This led to Rusev teaming with Summer Rae and the rivalry between the two couples went on through the summer before culminating in Summer Rae proposing to Rusev. He turned her down, vowing to win another championship first.

The storyline came to a sudden halt when, on October 11th, TMZ leaked the news that Lana and Rusev had got gotten engaged in real life. Shortly after Rusev returned from an injury that November, he and Lana were back together on-screen.

During a recent interview on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, the AEW star who now goes by Miro revealed that the TMZ leak cost him a run with the Intercontinental Championship.

“We saw the post, people thought CJ did it which she didn’t.”

Rene Young interjected to ask if Vince McMahon “lost his s**t” when it happened and Miro confirmed he did.

“Yeah, our story got scrapped right away, I was supposed to win the IC title and do the wedding with Summer [Rae] but that all got scrapped.

“I tried to speak with Vince and tell him this is TMZ who cares and he just said ‘No, this is world news… they are like CNN.’”

The star stayed with WWE until he was released in April 2020 as part of ongoing “budget cuts.”

He soon signed with AEW where he won the TNT Championship. Meanwhile, Lana remained with WWE until she was also released in June 2021.

H/T to Inside The Ropes for the above transcription.