Pro-wrestling star and former NXT cruiserweight champion Lio Rush recently spoke with Andrew Thompson from Post Wrestling about a wide range of topics, which included the Man of the Hour reminiscing about his days in WWE’s 205 Live brand, and details his first meeting with IMPACT’s Tenille Dashwood. Highlights from the interview can be found below.
Recalls his run in 205 Live and how the roster would have each other’s backs:
We’d have conversations like that all the time [205 Live roster would talk about why WWE doesn’t put ‘the machine’ behind them]. Almost every taping, we’d have that conversation amongst ourselves and not even just amongst ourselves, even with, you know, people within the company… I think it was just that clear. I think it was that clear to everybody. You could see and just feel the frustration with all of the guys, you know? Because we were going out there and putting on a show and really, really trying to make a name for ourselves and I definitely felt like we trusted each other too so it kind of felt like a brotherhood, it wasn’t that many people. You know, you got Raw, you got SmackDown, you got NXT, rosters of people. You know, 30, 40, 50-plus, 60-plus but you know, with 205 Live, you only had those core amount of guys and it felt like we had each other’s backs so that was definitely a special time for sure.
On meeting Tenille Dashwood for the first time:
Yeah, yeah, that was cool. That was a really cool moment [meeting up with Tenille Dashwood] and I’m glad that it happened and I feel like so much has happened since then. So, you know, both of us talking about it and not really laughing on the situation but just thinking back on how crazy it was and how it changed my career, not so much changing her career [Lio laughed]. But, just seeing what transpired from it and me growing as an individual and seeing how I could have said or not said or approached things differently. I like growing and changing for the better. I never wanna have the same mentality that I had, you know, four or five, six years ago. So, it was cool that I saw her and as soon as I did, I walked up to her, we had a chat and later on in the day, we took a picture and I’m glad that-that moment happened. Definitely one for the books for sure.