CJ Perry says Rusev has been medically cleared to return to the ring.
Rusev has not competed since losing to Je’Von Evans on the July 27 episode of WWE Raw from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. During an appearance on NotSamWrestling, Perry revealed that Rusev suffered an injury during the match that caused his arms and hands to go numb.
“It was the Intuit Dome in LA; he had a match against Je’Von Evans, and in the match, something happened and his arms went completely numb,” Perry said. “He had to roll outside of the ring and the refs were thinking about calling the match. He’s like, ‘I can’t feel my hands.’”
Perry, who was seated approximately ten rows from the ring, said footage of the situation later circulated on social media. Some fans believed Rusev was legitimately injured, while others speculated that his actions were related to the planned result.
“The fans were debating and fighting each other because some were like, ‘He’s really hurt and injured.’ Some were like, ‘He just doesn’t want to lose,’” Perry continued. “He took a couple of seconds outside, and when the ref was like, ‘We’re going to call the match. Your hands are going numb.’ Once he had feeling, he was like, ‘No.’ He rolled in and finished the match.”
Perry pushed back against claims that Rusev was unwilling to lose to Evans, emphasizing that he chose to complete the match despite having the option to stop it.
“Those rumors are not true when people are like, ‘He doesn’t want to put people over.’ That’s not accurate and not true,” she said. “He’s always there to do business. He always fights for a good story. That’s how people get over.”
Perry explained that Rusev immediately sought medical attention after finishing the match because he was still in significant pain.
“He finished the match,” Perry said. “He was in a lot of pain and tried to get out the ring as quick as possible and get back to medical. That’s when the rumors started.”
She added that Rusev could have avoided taking the loss by allowing officials to stop the match, but instead decided to finish as planned.
“He could’ve had WWE stop the match and not lose, but he chose to roll back in the ring and do what’s right for business,” Perry said. “He just had to get back to the back as quick as possible because he wasn’t well at the time.”
According to Perry, Rusev visited the WWE Performance Center last week and has now received clearance to return.
“He went to the PC last week and got cleared,” she revealed. “He had a little bit of another issue with health going on, but he’s cleared now.”
Before being sidelined, Rusev had been aligned with Ethan Page on WWE Raw.
