Rusev On What The Rock And Steve Austin Taught Him, Riding A Tank At WrestleMania, Breaking The Mold
Rusev spoke with ESPN on his tank entrance at WrestleMania, working with The Rock and Steve Austin, and being different from previous "evil foreigner" characters. Here are some of the highlights:
What working with The Rock and Steve Austin taught him:
"The Rock taught me you don't always have to talk or move all the time. You can just stand there and soak it in. Let the crowd just do what they do. Looking back at the segment, I could tell what he was talking about. Austin actually punched me in the mouth so hard, he tore his shoulder. So he taught me to never punch someone too hard. I joke with him about it all the time."
Breaking the mold for the "evil foreigner":
"When you look back at foreign wrestlers 20 years from now, you'll remember I wasn't like them. I want to be remembered as the guy who broke that mold for other foreign wrestlers. Just do what you have to at first. When the time is right, show them who you are and what you can actually be. Don't be afraid. Pick your battles though, too. You can't always fight them."
Riding a tank for his WrestleMania 31 entrance:
"The tank entrance at WrestleMania 31 is my favorite moment in WWE. It's definitely a top five entrance of all time. Everything was just so perfectly executed. I rehearsed it the day before and had no idea it was happening before that. I always wished for years about a tank entrance in wrestling, and I feel like I manifested that at WrestleMania. I had to make sure I didn't burn my feet somewhere because I was barefoot at the time."
Rusev also discussed "Rusev Day." You can check out the full interiew by clicking here.