Earlier this year, Rusev met The Undertaker in a Casket match at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. When Vince McMahon initially told Rusev heād be working with āThe Deadman,ā he didnāt believe him. He assumed it was a joke. But when it turned out the match was actually booked, āThe Bulgarian Bruteā couldnāt believe it.
Due to Rusev being a babyface, McMahon didnāt want Rusev to get buried with a loss to Taker. So, Rusev was replaced by Chris Jericho in the match. Rusev told Inside The Ropes in a recent interview that the Prince of Saudi Arabia actually called WWE and wanted Rusev back in the match with The Undertaker.
As a result, Rusev was again added back to the match:
āSo I was supposed to be in it,ā Rusev said. āVince told me one time, you know āyouāre gonna work The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia,ā and I laughed at him because I thought he was joking. Iām like, āwhatever,ā and heās like, āitās gonna be a casket match.ā I completely laughed at him and was like, āyeah and Iām winning, right?ā He was like, āalight Iāll talk to you later.ā
āHe left and I still completely thought it was a joke and there were other people in the room and they thought that I was being an asshole. I was like āhe was joking with me,ā and he was like, āno, itās booked.ā The next day there was a big advertisement āRusev vs The Undertakerā I was like, āoh my godā¦ what aā¦ so stupid.ā
āThen they took took me out because weāre kinda going a different direction. Weāre kinda doing the good guy thing and [McMahon] thought I shouldnāt be buried if I was a good guy. Then he took me out and he put in Jericho. Then The Prince of Saudi Arabia called and said, āno.ā
āHe wanted to see Rusev in that match so Jericho was out again and they added me back to it. I was back in the match and the match was great. Just going out there and wrestling a true legend and learning a lot from him it was a great opportunity.ā
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
