AEW star Lio Rush recently spoke with Forbes about all things pro-wrestling, including his desire to become the young promotions first ever black world champion. Highlights from the interview are below.
On the importance of representation and how he hopes to become the first black AEW world champion:
“Representation, it changes lives. I didn’t have too many good examples of someone who can set the blueprint for somebody like me. At the time, when I was a wrestling fan, there wasn’t a short, Black, tattooed, dread-head guy who likes music from D.C. So the path that I was going, I was creating. I think that has opened up doors for a lot of people, but I want to be a world champion. I think I’m more than capable. If I’m not ready for something, I’ll say I’m not ready for something. But I’m ready. I’ve been ready. I want to take that step. I want to be that guy that everybody is looking at and say ‘Man, he did it. And he did it through the face of adversity.’ Because I’ve had some ups and downs in my career, and I’ve showed time and time again that I’m not someone who’s going to just lay down and give up on my passion and my dreams. I think that’s a good role model, just in life. Wrestling aside, to see someone like myself move the way that I move in life and inspire the people who look like me is a beautiful thing. I want to be that. I want to be that for everybody, and I think that I can be that. I think I have the mic skills, I think that I have the in-ring capability, I think that I’m a pretty personable and likable person. And I think I’m real. I think I’m honest. This is a glass panel right here, I don’t hold anything back and I think that’s what a champion is and I want to be the first African-American world champion in AEW.”
Says he’s excited to show a different side of himself in AEW:
“I’m always investing, my interest in investing is always there. Whether it’s investing in other things, or investing in myself. I’m always trying to move forward, do better and grow. Anything that I do is always an extension of me in some capacity. Even stuff that I did when I was a manager. That loud, brash kind of person, that comedic factor about me. That’s in me. I’m not always like that, I’m a pretty cool, calm and collected kind of person. I don’t really talk that much, I think I’m an introvert, but it’s exciting to be able to show people different layers of me.”
