Rusev was recently a guest on the Bulgarian show: At Cafe. During the interview, he spoke about Vince McMahon making the decision to shorten his name.
For those who are unaware, he wrestled under the name, Alexander Rusev. After a while, WWE shortened his name to just Rusev.
Here is what he had to say about the name change (h/t to Wrestling INC for the quotes below):
“[WWE] gives you an option to submit names you like. And I was thinking about it. Then to make a joke with my friend Vasil, Vasil Rusev, who I used to share a rowing boat with, I chose Rusev. And I was Alexander Rusev with Alexander later being dropped. I liked Alexander because it sounded [mighty] and Bulgarian.
But then it got dropped because Vince Mcmahon said ‘Ugh, Alexander, they’ll start calling you Alex as a nickname and you have to be a Russian/Bulgarian villain, we’re dropping it’.
What do you think of the name change? Let me know what you think in the comment section below.
On a related note, check out several NXT stars who just received new names from WWE.