Arturo Ruas Confirms He Was Pulled From NXT’s Diamond Mine Days Before Debut
The Wrestling Inc. Daily will be featuring an exclusive interview with former WWE NXT star Adrian Jaoude, f.k.a. Arturo Ruas, on this coming Tuesday's episode. Please make sure to subscribe to The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast on your preferred podcast platform so you don't miss out on part one of the interview.
Jaoude was released by WWE in late June, and a report came out that stated Jaoude and Marina Shafir were originally supposed to debut with the Diamond Mine. Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Jaoude about the reports.
"When I did my match with Kushida, I knew that the storyline of that match would be leading to me being a part of Malcolm Bivens' group," Jaoude revealed. "It wasn't Diamond Mine yet. I was supposed to be in that group, and then I got injured. I got surgery on my bicep, and things kind of stopped, but I healed. I got cleared, and everything started to run again. That's where Diamond Mine came up. It would be a group of legit fighters with legit backgrounds.
"I always was and I am still a hard working man. I worked my ass off. I worked a lot and not just because I want to improve my technique, but I wanted to always be sharp, to be able to deliver a good show because people are paying the tickets. People want to see a good show, and I don't want to disappoint the people. People are paying to see what they want to see, and that's why I worked my ass off, and then I started to work more and more and I got more in shape. And I did my gear and things started to kind of move a little bit weirdly. They canceled one date. They pushed it to another date.
"Not just for me, the group itself and then they canceled another date, and they canceled a big date supposed. And finally they were like, okay, it will be this day. I was like, let's go. The group were talking together, and then days before, not weeks — they billed it on Tuesday. I got a call Saturday. 'Hey man, we're putting you off now, but you're going to be on soon. I felt like something's weird, something's off here. I was like, 'Hey, let me know more. What's happening?' They said, 'No, nothing's happening. You're good. You're going to be on later because if you debut all together, it won't make sense, but in the future, you're going to be there. That's it.' The same week, bye bye."
The Diamond Mine officially debuted with Malcolm Bivens as the manager along with a returning Roderick Strong, Tyler Rust and Hideki Suzuki. Jaoude has an accomplished amateur background finishing fourth in the 2011 Pan American Games in amateur wrestling. Jaoude discussed how he would have liked the situation to have played out.
"Everybody has their role," Jaoude noted. "I don't believe that a writer or producer would be able or allowed to tell you that you're going to be cut. They have to tell you something, but don't tell me that you're pulling me off to put me back.
"Just tell me, 'Dude, it's over for you. I don't know what what is next, but it's over for you,' and I will know right away that something is off. But don't tell me that you're going to put me back. But that's fine. Maybe that person that called me never knew what was happening because it's crazy. Everything changes so fast, and changes will happen no matter what. You have to be prepared."
You can follow Adrian on Twitter and Instagram @AdrianJaoude. Part one of Adrian's interview will air as part of Tuesday's The Wrestling Inc. Daily. You can listen to the latest episode of The Wrestling Inc Daily, featuring former WWE doctor Dr. Frank Romascavage, via the embedded player below.
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