Challenge Double Agents Player Preview: Lio Rush
13 months ago, Lio Rush became the WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Now, he will be sleeping in a bunk bed and having dinner besides CT and Big T. The last few years have been a bit of a rollercoaster for him. What I can say about Lio Rush is that he is a remarkably talented individual. In the wrestling world, he succeeded as both an in-ring performer and as a managerial talent whose focus was almost exclusively as a mouth-piece/speaker. He also creates music, which isn’t half-bad, considering it was a side-hustle for a long time. At the same time, his WWE career had tons of setbacks, some self-inflicted, and others seemingly accidental/misinterpretations. What is important to note is that most of his issues came through self-motivation. Lio views himself as a top talent and wants to get appreciated as such. It’s hard for me to say he isn’t a top talent because when I watch him on my television, he has my full attention, which not many people can do. I’m hoping he gets to shine on the Challenge as well.
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Introducing Lio: In 2017, at the age of 22, Lio got signed to WWE. A crazy feat in the modern era, as many wrestlers need to work years to gain a reputation in the industry before signing. Lio soared up the ladder and was immediately put in a feud on NXT (the developmental WWE show/brand) with his former independent scene wrestling partner Patrick Clark (Velveteen Dream). However, Lio made an ill-fated tweet poking fun of recently released WWE female superstar Tenille Dashwood (Emma). It upset many people in the company, and he got shelved until the Summer of 2018, where he got moved to the Cruiserweight (Men who weigh 205 lbs or less) Exclusive show, which is almost a death sentence. Lio was able to pick up steam on that show, getting wins as a flashy heel (bad guy) character. He impressed enough people that he got thrown onto Monday Night Raw, working as the manager of one of WWE’s top male talents, Bobby Lashley.
Lio, as a manager, elevated Lashley, and they made a fantastic combo. In January of that year, Lashley won the Intercontinental Title. Lio and Lashley would then feud with Finn Balor till WrestleMania 35, with Lio both costing Lashley the belt at one point and helping him win it back before ultimately dropping the belt at Mania. Unfortunately, Lio began to have heat with management over the way he was conducting himself. In Lio’s defense, he was getting paid a developmental contract while working both on Monday Night Raw and 205 Live. The guy was doing double duty for way less pay than his co-workers. Eventually, WWE soured on him, and kept him on the bench for months. Then out of nowhere, once WWE’s third brand NXT transitioned from an online 1 hr show to a television 2 hr show on the USA network, NXT showrunner Paul “Triple H” Levesque brought Lio back in, had him become #1 contender for the cruiserweight title, and then became champion a few weeks later.
The guy had a colossal come-up and was a good champion, putting on world-class pay-per-view level matches every Wednesday. Sadly, once COVID hit, WWE decided to release about 20–30% of their roster, and since Lio had requested release in the past and they had issues prior, it would be easy to release him.
Player Vitals
Lio Rush: 26 years old, 5'6, 160 lbs, ROOKIE
Skills and Physical Strength: Lio is a professional wrestler, but he isn’t the Macho Man/Hulk Hogan type of wrestler at all. Hell, he isn’t even as big as guys like Seth Rollins or Finn Balor. He is a small guy who can overcome his size by being an exciting highflying wrestler with tons of charisma and swagger. I expect him to do well in most of the heights and balanced base challenges and elimination because this is a guy who does flips and tight-rope walks for a living. Also, if he ends up in a physical elimination with someone who is 10–20 lbs bigger than him, I might take Lio because he has experience dealing with bigger men. Even though many people consider wrestling fake, there is a massive amount of grappling and actual athleticism required.
The problem is we don’t if he is willing to eat gross foods or can swim. Those are big unknowns that matter.
SSMP (Social, Strategic, Mental, and Political) Game: Lio will get seen as other people’s meal ticket to fame. Getting into an argument or a fight with a professional wrestler will get people tweeting and commenting, and it’s honestly somewhat courageous/intriguing to see someone like Lio take on the Challenge. He also needs not to have an ego to succeed. What also hurts him is that he’s married with children at home (he is a proud family man). If he were single, there’d likely be a decent amount of women interested in him, and when that part of your game is closed off, it’s more challenging as a rookie to comfortably blend into the social politics.
From a mental game perspective, Lio has been grinding as a wrestler since his teens, so I don’t expect him to be a puzzle or trivia savant as academics probably weren’t his focus. The housing element will be interesting, as Lio has openly talked about mental health struggles in the past. Then again, he was an independent wrestler, meaning he is probably used to living or staying in dingy environments at times.
Eliminations & Winning Potential: There is nobody I would like to see in an elimination more than Lio. Like if he played Balls In with somebody, would he be able to jump over some trying to tackle him low? You also don’t want to see him lose a Pole Wrestler to someone like Jay because it would give wrestlers a bad name, and CM Punk’s MMA career already did enough damage. I want to bet on him winning an elimination. I feel like his form of athleticism plays well into the more carnival aspect of eliminations.
Do I see him winning this season? No. He is inherently too big of a target and a personality without the social connections. I also don’t think he’d mentally prepared final, not that he’s not athletic enough; it’s just it takes a certain mindset and experience to thrive in one.
