As documented by WrestlingNews.co , AEW star Miro — formerly Rusev in WWE — was a guest on the latest episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast. During the conversation, he opened about his time in WWE and recalled how he was punished for cutting his hair.
According to Miro, officials “threw a big stink” about his decision as he didn’t ask for permission first. They thought he wasn’t protecting his heel character, even though he wasn’t being used on television at the time. When he returned to action, he was allegedly buried right away.
“I cut my hair because I had nothing going on. They were beating me day in and day out. I was going away for shoulder surgery. I came back for one match and they made Big Show chokeslam me four times and chokeslam me seven times and they tried to convince me to protect my character. C’mon man. I’m not that stupid.”
Miro went on to say that he had no problem being jobbed out to Big Show. He revealed that the veteran was good to him early on in his career and was happy to return the favor. However, he took issue with officials who purportedly pretended he wasn’t being punished.
As documented by Sportskeeda, rumors of Miro having backstage heat for the change in style first emerged in 2017. The article noted that management was mad because the decision interfered with the company’s marketing plans for him.
The report highlighted that the company makes a lot of money from merchandise, especially action figure lines. Miro cutting his hair automatically made the toys based on his likeness seem dated. The former United States Champion also happened to have an action figure set for release at the time.
Miro also talked about how his former base of employment is full of “stooges” with a habit of leaking private information about the media. He said there were other backstage incidents that were reported after he discussed them with his colleagues.
Some of the stories about Miro that came out during his tenure in Vince McMahon’s promotion were reportedly false as well. As The Inquisitr wrote, he previously claimed that another alleged incident that led to him seemingly falling out of favor was not true.
Miro was released earlier this year as part of WWE’s cost-cutting measures in the wake of COVID-19. He joined AEW after his noncompete clause expired, and he’s currently involved in a notable wedding angle on Dynamite .
