You might not know that Rusev was trained by two former WWE stars: Gangrel and Rikishi. This was at the Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy in California. Gangrel was recently interviewed by Jim Varsollone at the Florida Supercon. During the interview, he spoke about some of the struggles that Rusev went through to become a pro-wrestler.
Here is what Gangrel said (h/t to Wrestling INC for the quotes):
“Rusev has gone the furthest of and the most right now. He was a big Bulgarian guy from Bulgaria. He moved from Bulgaria to become a pro wrestler and that cat slept in his car, he didn’t miss a class.
“He was delivering food, bouncing in a bar, and driving a taxi. But in-between all that, he was at wrestling school or sleeping in that parking lot so he wouldn’t miss his next class. His dedication is proof that hard work pays off. I couldn’t be happier for him that it paid off. Because you know, he wasn’t the most athletic coming in or this or that, but he had heart and he had drive and he had passion.
“I’m so blessed that I was a part of his life and seeing his success now. I ride that wave. Deep down inside I’m like, ‘yeah! I may not be [in WWE] anymore but a piece of me is.’ That’s so awesome.”
His hard work and dedication have really paid off. Love hearing stories like this.
On a related note, here was the original pitch for Rusev’s character on the WWE main roster.