Rusev Explains Why Chris Jericho Nearly Replaced Him In Undertaker Saudi Arabia Match

Former WWE star Rusev has explained why the company nearly replaced him with Chris Jericho in facing the Undertaker in Saudi Arabia.

WWE first announced a casket match between Undertaker and Rusev for Greatest Royal Rumble for its first show of the Saudi relationship in 2018, which prompted a fair few jokes about the company trying to ‘bury’ the Bulgarian.

This was only further blown up when Rusev tweeted ‘bury me softly, brother’, but he was then pulled out of the match and replaced by Chris Jericho. WWE then changed the match back to Rusev, and he’s now explained the story of the whole situation.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said:

“Then he took me out and everyone was like, ‘Why did they take him out?’ They said they took me out because I commented on Twitter, ‘Bury me softly brother.’ That has nothing to do with anybody being taken in and out or whatever. I just said that because it was a casket match and I thought in order to win, you need to be buried. That’s why I said bury me softly and everyone took it soooo somewhere, nowhere near this universe what it was supposed to be. The original idea was that Vince was going to turn me babyface and they did not want me to lose to Undertaker if I was turning into a good guy, which was great. It’s s***ty, but it is what it is. Then they put Jericho in, but what happened was, the prince called and said, ‘I want Rusev back in this match.’ Guess what happened? Rusev went back in the match and Rusev went to dinner with the Saudi prince. Rusev was over in Saudi Arabia, brother. Then we had the match with Taker and I loved it. Loved every second of it. I have so much respect for him. I mean, everyone respects ‘Taker and it was fun being there.”

He also discussed how he reacted when he was first told he’d be facing the ‘Deadman’, saying:

“It was great. Working with Taker was great. It was another dream come true. I thought it was a rib. I got called into the office by Vince and I don’t remember what we talked about, but Vince said, ‘Miro, I got you working with The Undertaker in Saudi Arabia.’ I went, ‘And I’m winning right (laughs).’ That’s exactly what I said because I thought he was joking. Like, why would I be working with ‘Taker. I know I had the Rusev Day thing going on and they were thinking of turning me into a good guy, whatever, but I never thought I would work ‘Taker. I never thought in Saudi Arabia, so I thought it was a joke. When I said, ‘I’m going over right,’ Vince looked at me weird and I said, ‘Okay sir, see you next time.’ Then I went out and Road Dogg came to me and said, ‘Why did you act like this?’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? He’s joking with me. I’m joking with him.’ He said, ‘No, you’re actually working ‘Taker.’ I thought no freaking way. I felt like such an asshole.”

Thanks to Fightful for the transcription

• Rusev
• saudi arabia
• undertaker
• wwe

Share this article with friends