Vince McMahon Told Rusev WWE's Fans Were Mocking Him With "Rusev Day" Chants

From September 2017 to September 2018, Rusev (Miro) was one of the most popular acts in WWE with Aiden English. The tag team would often get the loudest crowd reactions of the night and they were one of the top merchandise sellers in the company.

Despite this, The Bulgarian Brute didn't become a permanent main eventer and he was released by the company back on April 15, 2020.

Miro recently appeared on The Ryback Show to discuss his time in WWE. During their conversation, the former United States Champion recalled two meetings he had with Vince McMahon about Rusev Day and how the act was getting over. The Chairman of WWE seemingly didn't believe Rusev was over with the audience, however, as he told him fans were "f*****g" with him when they chanted "Rusev Day" and he later said the only reason Rusev Day's merchandise had sold out was because the company hadn't made enough.

Miro said: "Always I wanted to do this. Kurt Angle, one of my favourite wrestlers of all time. Maybe number two, maybe number one between Hogan and him. He always did the same thing backstage. He had that personality that people can fall in love with and in the ring he was kicking everybody's ass, no doubt about it. Aggression, everything. Up and down Kurt Angle, one of the greatest of all time. Why can’t I do that? Why can't I show my personality backstage and why can't I go in the ring and do what I do?

"And then I was told, 'Don't look at the people. Don't smile. Don't do this. Don't do that.' It's like, 'Really?' Because everything I'm doing it seems like the people like it. So, why am I getting over and you're telling me to do the opposite? And I don't understand it. That's when we had the conversation with Vince and he said, 'Rusev Day, they're just f*****g with you, they don't mean it.'"

He later added: "And he had absolutely everybody on his side, of course, because quite a few producers came and they're like, 'Oh, they don't mean it. They're just messing with you.' In my mind, I know that's not true."

"I was just defeated, man," The Bulgarian Brute said. "I was like, 'Then what am I doing here?' We gave it one go and then the second go. And when Vince said the second time, 'They're “f*****g with you,' I sat down and said, 'Vince, we have sold all of our merchandise. We beat Roman, we beat AJ, we beat everybody.' He's like, 'What do you mean?' 'The shirt! It's sold out. The merch is sold out.' He's like, 'Well maybe they didn't make enough.' I'm like, 'They didn't make enough shirts? That's why my shirt is sold out, not because we're doing good. Really? You're gonna get me with that excuse?' Like, come on man."