Lio Rush Talks ‘Butting Heads’ With WWE Management Over Money

Lio Rush was Bobby Lashley’s hypeman during his stint on the main roster. Then stories of backstage heat surfaced and he was soon taken off the road.

Rush was released from WWE on April 15th. He then stated that he doesn’t know if he will wrestle again. This was followed-up by the Man Of The Hour selling a ton of his in-ring gear.

While speaking to Inside The Ropes, Lio Rush admitted to butting heads with “the powers that be” in WWE. His issue was over money due to a miscommunication. He was making an NXT paycheck, but the merchandise WWE was selling on the main roster with his catchphrases weren’t attributed to him.

“I don’t really know where the backstage heat thing came from. I mean, people talked to me, people were pretty cordial with me. Nobody ever came up to me and said anything bad or disrespectful and vice versa.”

“As far as the split with me and Bobby, I know that there was some miscommunication as well as some frustration and just me butting heads with the powers that be, financially, that was my biggest thing at the time just because I was still making the money that I was making while I was in NXT at the time, and then merchandise was getting put out and I just felt like I contributed so much to that as far as the sayings and the mottos and the catchphrases and stuff like that, and I wasn’t getting compensated for that stuff. I wasn’t on the meet and greets with Bobby, which didn’t make sense to me.”

“Everywhere Bobby went, I had to go because I was his manager, but Bobby was so busy, he was the Intercontinental Champion, he was on every show, every live show, traveling, had to get hotels, all of that is great to be used, but I’m not making enough money to cover all these expenses because I have to do everything that Bobby is doing, but the difference is Bobby is making this much and I’m making this much. So if I’m going to be doing this, I basically need more money, I need more money to survive. It’s not just me out here, I got a wife, I got two kids, I got other responsibilities that I have to take care of, so I just felt it was unfair in that sense, and I guess they didn’t like a 25 year old, or a 24 year old, however old I was at the time, they didn’t like me being so outspoken about that, so I think they just cut it, but that’s what I think. They never told me why they split us up.”

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Lio Rush just dropped his first full-length musical album. He also dyed his hair green. Rush is no longer a WWE Superstar so he’s free to speak about his time in the company. Things could have been much different for him, but Lio accepts the twists and turns that life threw at him as he carries on with the next chapter in his life.

Thanks to 411 Mania for the quote