WWE's Rusev recounted the exact moment his career changed, which set him on the path to where he is today.
Rusev joined WWE in 2010, appearing in FCW and NXT before moving up to the main roster. After his first few years in the company, he began exploring what more he could do to reach the next level in the business, which he discussed on "SHAK Wrestling."
"So I started digging into my character. What can I do better? What can I change? I change the gear. I changed my attitude. I changed my stance. I started training different styles. I started incorporating Muay Thai, kickboxing, and all these kind of different styles just so I can stand out and show that, hey, I'm not just another guy. I can actually do a lot more than that. And once I was able to show them that, because I have the basics. I wastrained at KnokX Pro with Rikishi, you know, the bumps, the psychology. I hadthat down. I just had to, like, narrow down the WWE style, what is that exactlythat you needed from me?" he recalled.
However, he feels that the turning point came when Triple H took over WWE's then developmental territory, FCW, which later turned into NXT. "The Game" noticed what Rusev was capable of during a match withDolph Ziggler, which he thinks was when things began to change for him.
"So once I got that down, once Triple H took over FCW, which was before NXT, once he took over, once he set up a nice system in play where people could be discovered, could be shown their potential, this is where he saw me after a match with Dolph Ziggler, and everything just took off from there."
He then had a six-year run on the main roster before his release, following which he featured in AEW only to return to WWE in 2025.
