Impact Wrestling hasn’t been shy about their claims of former WWE superstars being signed in a recent Slammiversary promo. There’s a good chance at least some of the wrestlers they showed will be joining the promotion like EC3 and Eric Young, but one that’s really struck a chord was the Bulgarian flag that’s been interpreted as meaning Rusev.
This would be a huge coup for the promotion as Rusev brings another enormously talented individual looking to prove himself into their ranks. He’s got the physique and the charisma to help lift the promotion as part of the main event roster.
@ToBeMiro on @IMPACTWRESTLING #Slammiversary teaser: "I understand why you think it's me, but I can't confirm or deny. Or I don't wanna confirm or deny."#IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/GAim4lE3jZ
— Himanshu Doi (@Himanshu_Doi) June 15, 2020
Rusev’s denial
It’s not hard to understand why Rusev would deny signing with Impact as the promotion wants to keep whoever signed a secret until Slammiversary. But his denial on Twitch (shared via Twitter above) feels more like a confirmation than not to us.
“As I said, any Bulgarian can go and debut. They may have another kid from Bulgaria. I keep saying that. Could be anybody. Look, I don’t know why you think it’s me. I understand why you think it’s me, but I can’t confirm or deny. Or I don’t wanna confirm or deny. Maybe they wanna pay me a million dollars for one match. Who knows? Maybe I’ll come in.”
Of course, he’s taking the middle ground to allow us to speculate one way or the other, so we’ll take him up on that.
Why he’ll sign
There is the speculation that he has no interest in Impact because he’ll make more in Japan. While he is in demand in Japan, there’s no reason he can’t do both as many do. There have been plenty of wrestlers that never “made it” in the WWE or other large promotions, but had awesome careers there. Plus, going to Japan has long been held as one way for someone to know they’ve made it when they’re invited to wrestle in Japan.
One reason for him to sign with Impact is to prove himself. While he knows his worth, the WWE treated his character horribly and made him more of a sideshow than anything else. This is his chance to prove to an American audience that he’s a legitimate talent that should be taken seriously. While many of us know this, many of us only remember someone’s last appearance as their legacy. By joining Impact, Rusev would join a very good main event block and help lift himself to another level.
Plus, Rusev would have the chance to face Michael Elgin for American audiences, and that would be a feud for the ages. Just imagining the matches between them is enough to get fans flooding back to Impact.
The positives outweigh the negatives for fans, but Rusev could feel differently. He may just be fanning the flames to get us excited for him to appear for a single match or it is someone else. He’s also recently launched his own podcast where he talks about his career, gaming, and other wrestlers, so his signing could go either way. But as we’ve all seen, anything is possible in professional wrestling, so we’ll have to wait and see.
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