Rusev is a Bulgarian-American professional wrestler and former powerlifter and rower who is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Rusev. Rusev, who has portrayed the character of the wicked foreigner to America since his WWE debut, became one of WWE’s most popular wrestlers through crowd interaction. He made the rounds in the industry and gained fame following the success of one of his storylines that started in late 2017 wherein he declared every day as “Rusev Day” and started his own chant.
Born Name
Miroslav Barnyashev
Nick Name
Rusev
Sun Sign
Capricorn
Born Place
Plovdiv, People’s Republic of Bulgaria
Residence
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Nationality
Occupation
Professional Wrestler
Manager
He is represented by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Stamford, Connecticut, United States.
Build
Athletic
Height
6 ft or 183 cm
Weight
138 kg or 304 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
Rusev has dated –
Catherine Perry (2014-Present) – Rusev married his fellow WWE performer, Catherine Perry, better known by her ring name “Lana” in July 2016. The couple resides in Nashville, Tennessee.
He is a former three-time WWE United States Champion.
He went to a sports school while growing up and competed in rowing and powerlifting as an adult.
After he moved to the United States carrying his ambition of becoming a professional wrestler, he started training in Torrance, California, under Gangrel and Rikishi at the Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy.
On November 22, 2008, he debuted in the San Diego, California-based independent promotion New Wave Pro Wrestling under the ring name Miroslav Makaraov. In 2010, he became part of the Santa Maria, California-based independent promotion Vendetta Pro Wrestling (VPW) and shortened his ring name to Miroslav. At that time, he was managed by Markus Mac.
In September 2010, he was signed to a contract by the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). At the time, he was assigned to WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory where he got the ring name Alexander Rusev.
On July 17, 2011, Rusev wrestled his first televised match and defeated Mike Dalton.
Following his FCW debut, he tore both of his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus and spent 6 months for rehabilitation.
In 2012, he suffered from a broken neck which temporarily paralyzed his arm. While he was rehabilitating, he traveled to Thailand where he studied Muay Thai.
On August 21, 2013, he participated in his first singles match on NXT, losing to Dolph Ziggler.
Rusev’s undefeated streaks came into sight in the years 2014 to 2015. At that time, he gained his first professional wrestling championship and became the first Bulgarian-American champion in WWE history after winning the United States Championship from Sheamus in a post-Raw match which aired on the WWE Network.
Along with other VPW wrestlers, Rusev appeared in a music video for the song The Whole F’n Show by Kushinator.
He made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K15 and he has his own path in the “Who Got NXT” mode. From there, he has also appeared in WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, and WWE 2K19.
In 2016, he appeared in the 6th season of Total Divas as ‘Himself’. He also appeared in the WWE film countdown and the animated film Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon.
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