Rusev shares the roller coaster ride that was the behind-the-scenes journey to his match against The Undertaker at The Greatest Royal Rumble show in 2018.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Rusev talked about how he first learned he was getting the match against Undertaker. Rusev said Vince McMahon was the one who told him, but Rusev actually thought that it was all a joke. After what he thought was playful bantering between him and McMahon, it was Road Dogg who told him that it was not a joke, which made Rusev feel awful about it.
“It was great. Working with Taker was great. It was another dream come true. I thought it was a rib. I got called into the office by Vince and I don’t remember what we talked about, but Vince said, ‘Miro, I got you working with The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia.’ I went, ‘And I’m winning right (laughs).’ That’s exactly what I said because I thought he was joking. Like, why would I be working with ‘Taker. I know I had the Rusev Day thing going on and they were thinking of turning me into a good guy, whatever, but I never thought I would work ‘Taker. I never thought in Saudi Arabia, so I thought it was a joke. When I said, ‘I’m going over right,’ Vince looked at me weird and I said, ‘Okay sir, see you next time.’ Then I went out and Road Dogg came to me and said, ‘Why did you act like this?’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? He’s joking with me. I’m joking with him.’ He said, ‘No, you’re actually working ‘Taker.’ I thought no freaking way. I felt like such an asshole," Rusev said.
There was a very brief time where Ruev was actually taken out of the match and replaced with Chris Jericho. Many speculated that it had something to do with a tweet Rusev made directed at Undertaker that said, “Bury me softly, Brother.” While Rusev was taken out of the match, it wasn’t someone from the office that put him back in. It was the Saudi prince, according to Rusev.
“Then he took me out and everyone was like, ‘Why did they take him out?’ They said they took me out because I commented on Twitter, ‘Bury me softly brother.’ That has nothing to do with anybody being taken in and out or whatever. I just said that because it was a casket match and I thought in order to win, you need to be buried. That’s why I said bury me softly and everyone took it soooo somewhere, nowhere near this universe what it was supposed to be. The original idea was that Vince was going to turn me babyface and they did not want me to lose to Undertaker if I was turning into a good guy, which was great. It’s shitty, but it is what it is. Then they put Jericho in, but what happened was, the prince called and said, ‘I want Rusev back in this match.’ Guess what happened? Rusev went back in the match and Rusev went to dinner with the Saudi prince. Rusev was over in Saudi Arabia, brother. Then we had the match with Taker and I loved it. Loved every second of it. I have so much respect for him. I mean, everyone respects ‘Taker and it was fun being there,” Rusev said.
You can check out the video at the top of the page.
