For one glorious year, there might not have been a more fun, or more over duo, than Aiden English and Rusev. Calling themselves “Rusev Day,” the duo were a fun team that seemed to have the full support of fans, but never the higher-ups with WWE’s creative. So what was the issue behind their lack of front-office support? We might now have our answer.
Road Dogg spoke recently about Rusev Day on his Oh You Didn’t Know podcast. Road Dogg was lead writer on SmackDown during the duo’s rise. When discussing the popularity of English and Rusev, Dogg had the following to say:
“So it’s yes, yes, we saw it. Yes, we saw Rusev Day getting over. I honestly don’t know what happened to Rusev Day. One day, we were pushing it and the next day, we weren’t. Honestly, when I say we weren’t pushing it, it didn’t go away. It didn’t just disappear, we just weren’t doing anything with it anymore.
“Every time I would pitch something, it would get shot down. So I don’t know what happened. I’m not going to say anything, because last time I said something, I got a phone call and I’m not gonna have that happen again.
“I think it was getting over and I don’t know if Vince was a fan of Aiden English. I feel comfortable saying that. I don’t know if he was a fan of Aiden English. He’s a great singer. He’s a great wrestler. He’s, I mean, he’s not a beautiful man, but neither am I. Well, look, he doesn’t, his body looks like everybody else’s, just he’s not tanned and he looks like me or whatever. You know what I mean? Like he just looks different. And I don’t mean nothing bad by that. You can’t say nothing nowadays without having to qualify it with everything. God, the dude is not good-looking, what do you want me to say?”
Aiden English would cost Rusev in a United States title match against Shinsuke Nakamura, effectively putting an end to Rusev Day. Rusev would move on to AEW, where he now wrestles as Miro. Aiden English returned to the indies under his real name, Matthew Rehwoldt. Rehwodlt has distanced himself from in-ring action, and focuses more on his time behind the mic.
