WWE Hall Of Famer Says Rusev Day Was Shut Down By Vince McMahon
The Rusev Day act was very popular in WWE, but the group was shut down by Vince McMahon, according to Road Dogg.
Following several years on the WWE roster as a heel, former United States Champion Rusev (now known as Miro in AEW) became a popular act in WWE in 2018 as part of a small group called “Rusev Day.”
It was a simple concept that saw Rusev gain an ally in fellow wrestler Aiden English, who really wasn’t doing much as a singles star at the time. That was when WWE decided to use English’s incredible singing and promo skills by having him do elaborate introductions for Rusev. At first, they were a heel act in late 2017, but then they really became popular in the summer of 2018. While Rusev Day never became Smackdown Tag Team Champions, they did come close several times.
For some reason, WWE decided to pull the plug on the group in October 2018 by having English turn heel on Rusev, who was joined by Lana. They had a lot of merchandise items for Rusev including “Happy Rusev Day” and “Happy Lana Day” shirts.
WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg was Smackdown’s lead writer during the Rusev Day era and talked about the group on a recent episode of his “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast. Road Dogg noted that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon shot down ideas for Rusev Day often.
“We saw Rusev Day getting over. I honestly don’t know what happened to Rusev Day. One day, we were pushing it and the next day we weren’t. When I say we weren’t pushing it didn’t go away. It didn’t just disappear. We just weren’t doing anything with it anymore. Every time I would pitch something, it would get shot down. So I don’t know what happened.”
As Road Dogg continued, he noted that sometimes his comments get him in trouble, but he thinks that Vince McMahon wasn’t a big fan of Aiden English.
“I’m not going to say anything because the last time I said something, I got a phone call and I’m not gonna have that happen again. But honestly, I don’t know what went down that all of a sudden we stopped running with it because it was going really well and I think it was getting over. I don’t know if Vince was a fan of Aiden English. I feel comfortable saying that. I don’t know if he was a fan of Aiden English. He’s a great singer. He’s a great wrestler.”
“He’s, I mean, he’s not a beautiful man, but neither am I. Well, look, he doesn’t, his body looks like everybody else’s, just he’s not tanned and he looks like me or whatever. You know what I mean? Like he just looks different.”
“And I don’t mean nothing bad by that. You can’t say nothing nowadays without having to qualify it with everything. God, the dude is not good-looking, what do you want me to say?”
English now works for Impact Wrestling as an announcer using his real name Matthew Rehwoldt. Miro is barely utilized in AEW and his wife Lana has been away from wrestling since her WWE release in June 2021.