Lio Rush was a recent guest on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast to discuss a wide range of topics. During it, he was asked about being paired with Bobby Lashley in WWE as the current AEW star was the manager of the former WWE Champion.
“That was pretty surreal. Just my whole journey in WWE was pretty surreal to me from the point of being signed, to me being in NXT for only two matches before I got put up to 205 (Live). I was only on 205 for about 4 months before I got put up on RAW. I was doing 205 and RAW at the same time. That came about because that stemmed from me being in the [WWE] PC and me wanting to be so ready for TV. I was asking, I believe his name was Joe Castro. I remember asking him to watch my promo during promo class, and he said that he would. He was texting while my promo was going on. I saw it in the corner of my eye. I had asked him if he watched my promo. He had said, ‘Yea, it was great.’ I’m like, you didn’t watch it. It lit such a fire underneath me. I asked him for some tips, and he told me I wasn’t ready for TV and I wasn’t going to be ready for a while. There was so much going through my head. I was thinking, why am I even signed? But, I took that moment to say, you know what? I think I am ready for TV, and I’m going to show you that I’m ready for TV. I started cutting promos on my phone every day, and I would release a promo every day on my Instagram and my Twitter. They started really catching fire, and I was doing it every day all up until I was signed to 205. I got a call when I flew back home from 205 saying I was needed for Monday Night RAW and to send my flight details.
They wouldn’t tell me what I was doing. Of course, I’m backstage when I got there, panicking. I don’t know what’s going on. Paul Heyman walked up to me and said, ‘Vince had seen one of your promos that one of the writers had shown him from your social media, and he thought you were great. He wants to pair you up with Bobby.’ I’m like, ‘That’s so cool’ I couldn’t believe that me taking that initiative to put out promos essentially landed me a job on RAW, and it was seen by Vince. Vince pulled me into his office and said that I was going to be working with Bobby. I didn’t know what it was going to be. He kept saying it was going to be like a hype man. I’m a WWE fan, and I’ve never heard of a hype man. I said, ‘What is a hype man?’ He said, ‘Paul will talk to you about it.’ We went into the weight room of the stadium, and he was saying I was essentially going to be Bobby’s manager, but in a way like Jimmy Hart. I was going to be loud, wear obnoxious suits, and I was going to be that mouthpiece for Bobby. That was the most surreal day of my life.”
