Lio Rush was one of the Jokers in the Casino Royale matches at Double Or Nothing. Lio Rush has been one of the most surprising Joker cards through the gimmick match, as there is usually a rumour or two before the match happens. Soon after his debut in AEW, it was a massive surprise that Lio Rush was retiring after filling out his contracts in companies. However, since then, it seems like Lio Rush has gone back on that by signing with AEW. Before then, Lio was also killing it in the indies and in NJPW. Making it very confusing what Lio Rush was doing with his career, but he has now cleared that up.
What Lio had to say about his contract
Speaking to Vickie Guerrero on her podcast, he said this about his AEW contact:
“During that time of me debuting in AEW, at the time, my wrestling career viewed by the casual fan or anybody following my career was up and up. I was all over the country with independent promotions. I was with New Japan. I just finished up with MLW and AAA. It was a lot, but I was also going through a lot of personal things during that time too. A big part of that was financial because it was a huge hit that me and my family took with me being released from WWE. Trying to find consistent work without being under contract, I have kids, I’m married, I was having a baby, my wife was pregnant, there were a lot of things going through my mind.
Me being me and just believing in myself so much, I’ve also been doing music for some time now. It was me taken aback on me moving in a direction that I thought I was capable of moving in the music industry and letting that be a source of income while also allowing me the time to be with my family, be with my wife, be with my newborn. For me, I never really got that opportunity to be the dad that I always wanted to be because I got pushed into the wrestling world pretty quickly. That was around the time I had my first son. Then when I had my second son, I was with WWE, so I definitely wasn’t home enough that I wanted to be. With being released from WWE and having to work during the pandemic, I now had to work twice as hard, twice as much to try to make up for the money that I need to make for me and my family, so I definitely wasn’t home. It was a lot. I saw where my life was going and I didn’t want it to be like that. It was a hard choice between signing a contract with AEW along with the frustrations that I’ve had from the wrestling business in general.
Why he orginally was going too retire
It was a lot of everything. It was a lot of me kind of giving it up. It was a lot of me believing in myself with other ventures that I had in mind. It was a lot of me putting my family first. It was a lot of being selfish. It was a lot I wasn’t expecting. I wasn’t expecting to think this way in that short amount of time. I had to think about a lot. It was such a split decision. It was a decision that if I would have taken that contract during that time in my life, I feel like it would have affected me and my family a lot. It came down to, do I want to try and work on being the family man that I want to be and saving my family relationship and stuff like that, or do I hurt my personal life even more and take this contract, but it might work out in the end financially, but by the time it works out financially, what does the personal life look like? There was a lot weighing on me so I decided to walk away. I decided to not take the contract.
I’ve decided to do things on my time and my way, and hopefully have that work out. During that time, I’ve found out a lot about myself. I learned a lot about myself. I started to get a grasp of how much of an influence that I’ve had on the wrestling world in a way that I just didn’t realize. Starting off at 18 years old and just being so focused and I need to move forward. I’ve never really had that time to sit down and think about anything. I think this injury forced me to sit down, forced me to think, and forced me to stop and figure out where I want to go, what I want to try to do, and who I’m doing it for. There’s a bigger picture here than just wrestling and that’s why I’m back.”
Lio Rush’s Gimmick in AEW
It’s still unclear what is next for Lio Rush in AEW, as his new gimmick feels similar to Matt Hardy’s. With him offering to help Dante Martin after Malakai Black attacked him. It feels like currently, he is setting up a faction in the near future or maybe a management role.
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