Since his release from WWE close to two months ago, Lio Rush has been very vocal about the negative experiences he supposedly had while working for the company. Days after accusing WWE of turning Drake Maverick’s release — and eventual rehire — into a storyline, Rush was back on social media on Friday, where he shared images of a letter he sent the company’s officials in 2018, accusing certain wrestlers of fostering an unhealthy locker room environment.
In an Instagram post shared Friday, Rush posted three screenshots of an email sent on November 9, 2018, with the title “Objections to hostile work environment.” In this email, the 25-year-old wrestler complained about incidents that had supposedly been escalating in the weeks leading up to the day he sent it, explaining that his issues started when he had a “fairly mellow conversation” with a wrestler whose name — like those of the other individuals he mentioned — was redacted in the screenshots. During this talk, Rush was allegedly reminded of certain tasks younger and newer wrestlers like him were expected to do.
After Rush was supposedly reminded of this unwritten rule a second time, the situation “took a more negative turn” when yet another unnamed individual told him that certain wrestlers were saying negative things about him in private because of his refusal to carry other people’s bags or hand them alcoholic beverages. As Rush further related, that same person took him aside during a WWE live event and reiterated their earlier warning, adding that a female wrestler was wrongly accusing his fiancée of entering the women’s locker room.
Toward the end of his email, Rush explained that he “fundamentally [disagreed]” with certain types of rookie hazing in WWE. He said that while he didn’t mind performing tasks such as helping dismantle rings after shows, he felt that carrying his colleagues’ belongings or serving them refreshments was too degrading. He further referred to the latter tasks as “racially insensitive,” considering his status as a young African American male in the wrestling business.
Months after Rush sent the email in question, rumors began swirling regarding the backstage heat he was purportedly receiving as a relative newcomer on the Monday Night Raw roster. At that time, it was claimed that the grappler’s confident personality was rubbing some colleagues the wrong way. However, Rush quickly issued a statement on Twitter where he suggested that certain people were trying to “tear [him] down” and stressed that he has a lot of passion for the wrestling business as someone who had overcome a lot of adversity in life.
Reacting to Rush’s Instagram update, Uproxx ‘s Elle Collins opined that there is no room for fraternity-style hazing in WWE if the company really wants to be known as a “legitimate entertainment company.” They also agreed with some of the points Rush made in his complaint letter, writing that it seems “particularly weird” for white wrestlers, regardless of how experienced they may be, to have a young black man act as their gofer.
