Lio Rush feels like he’s just hitting his prime.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard spoke with Lio Rush ahead of IMPACT’s Slammiversary pay-per-view. Rush will challenge Chris Sabin for the X-Division Championship at the event.
This is Lio Rush’s second PPV appearance for IMPACT, as he debuted at the company’s Multiverse United event in Los Angles in April. Rush said he returned to IMPACT this time because it’s the perfect fit for him.
“If I’m being completely honest with you, it feels like the perfect fit for where I am right now in my life professionally. Personally, it feels like the absolute right place for me to be right now,” he said.
Free agent talent will often say they chose a promotion because they wanted to work with a specific wrestler. Rush said that wasn’t exactly the case, but his familiarity with the roster definitely pushed him in the right direction.
“It wasn’t entirely the roster. I wanted to be in IMPACT. I felt like it was the right fit but the roster definitely did help. A lot of those guys, I’ve never been able to compete in the ring with before with my almost ten years doing this. A lot of those guys and girls I’ve never gotten a chance or opportunity to work with, but a lot of the people there as well were there during my earlier days in my wrestling career. Guys like Motor City Machine Guns, guys like Sami Callihan, Rich Swann, Moose. So, to have that familiarity definitely persuaded my decision to go to IMPACT a little bit more. If it already feels like home. It already feels like family, and it didn’t take long, and I wish I knew it wouldn’t.”
Rush added that while his appearance at Multiverse was a “spur-of-the-moment” situation, he believed he also lined up future opportunities with the company because of his performance.
I Am Who I Am
With his status as a free agent, Rush is also aiming to continue exploring the “forbidden door,” whether that be in IMPACT, NJPW, or other promotions.
“The plan is never going to change. It’s to always make that impact around the world, around the entire world,” Rush said. “I feel like I’ve been on the same path since I started wrestling — that’s to continue to show everybody why I am who I am,” Rush said. “I am every bit of what I think I am. That I am a hard worker, that I am a workhorse. I am motivated, that I am determined, and that I am myself 100% apologetically. This is what is supposed to be happening.”
“You want to talk about a forbidden door, I’ve been in that door, out that door, multiple times. Right now, I like to think of myself, if there’s a door, I’m the handle, because everybody has to go through me. Everybody has to touch me. Everybody has to get to me in order to walk to the other side. So, I’m excited. I love the position that I’m in right now, and it’s an exciting time.”
While Rush is confident in his professional placement right now, how is he feeling mentally and physically? In recent years, Rush has battled through injury and a brief retirement. Despite rumors and comments suggesting otherwise, Rush clarified that he has only retired once. He has since regrouped though, and believes he now is inches away from hitting his prime.
“I will say that it has been one time where I’ve genuinely said to myself, ‘I am going to walk away.’ But now that I am here and now that I’m staying here, I do feel like I’m at my best. I feel like I’m slowly creeping into my prime. It definitely feels like this is the right place, right time type of situation. I’ve never felt more clear-headed, I’ve never felt more calm, poised. I’ve never felt more healthy, physically speaking, about all of my injuries. I feel great. I really do. I’m fully ready for any and everything that comes my way.”
IMPACT Wrestling’s Slammiversary takes place on Saturday, July 15. Watch our full interview with Lio Rush below:
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