AEW wrestler Lio Rush (Photo credit Supplied photo).
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) high-flyer Lio Rush’s impetus in reveling in the art of the live performance stems from the constant presence of his parents’ Gospel singing career—and everyone that went along with it.
Rush, who was raised in Washington, D.C., learned early on what being “On” meant from his Gospel-signing parents, Lionel and Leslie Green.
“I think seeing people sing live so much was a huge influence for me. It kind of gave me a different perspective, and it’s crazy because I’m even thinking about it now for the first time,” said Rush. “But I think as a kid, I saw so much of live performances, whether it was in the church or whether it was a gospel festival, or my parents singing on a cruise ship.”
This week, Rush is in Chicago for AEW’s “Dynamite: Beach Break,” which takes place tonight at the NOW Arena, located in north suburban Hoffman Estates.
AEW wrestler Lio Rush credits his upbringing for preparing him for live action (Photo credit: Supplied photo).
Rush, the father of three boys (ages 4, 7, 11), shares his love of wrestling with his sons when he’s home from the road. The time spent with his sons is one of the ways he includes them in a career that often takes him away from them.
“I love being a dad. I love being a dad of all boys, which is really cool… But it’s cool to see all of them interact with each other and support each other, and it’s cool to see that they all love wrestling,” said Rush. “They’ve been watching it since they were in diapers, and still watching it all together. Sometimes they’ll watch it with me if I’m home. So, yeah, it’s definitely a journey.
“… Playing that role of just being the overall protector and the leader whenever I’m away so I try to be with them in those moments of me wrestling because I don’t want to make it seem like wrestling is when Dad is away. I want them to be able to experience wrestling even when I’m home. We watch our matches back all the time so it’s pretty cool.”
Before joining AEW, Rush was mostly-known for his time with NXT, WWE’s developmental brand. After initially aligning himself with the AEW tag team Top Flight (Darius and Dante Martin), he and Action Andretti, another Top Flight affiliate, split from the group to form their own tag team, “CRU.”
AEW tag team CRU (Lio Rush, right and Action Andretti, left) (Photo credit: Supplied photo).
Rush says Chicago is one of his favorite cities to wrestle in due to the historically-passionate fan base. On the other hand, the passion he’s describing can often devolve when the Internet Wrestling Community, known as the IWC, leans heavily into tribalism, where fans believe one wrestling promotion is better than another based on individual feelings.
“I think just watch what you want to watch. I think that’s the beauty about wrestling, which is what attracted me to wrestling as a kid,” said Rush. “And I knew that there were other promotions that might not have been WWE, but I knew of other promotions, and I didn’t even think like that. I just watched what I watched. I liked who I liked. If I had a favorite wrestler that wrestled in one place, I’d watch them there. If I knew of a promotion that wasn’t on national television, but I still like the wrestler, I go on YouTube and watch clips of that wrestler; I think I’ll just enjoy it.
“Takes a lot of dedication to be a wrestling fan in this day and age with so much going on. … But I think you got to strip some of the hate away from that passion. It’s gonna take some years off your life…”
The formative learning experiences Rush mentioned earlier are something he holds dear regarding his wrestling career, along with being a budding musician. Last week, he released “Feel Like A Giant,” an album where he amalgamates his musical and wrestling influences. One of the album’s tracks is named, “Rey and Eddie,” named after iconic wrestlers Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero.
One of Rush’s wrestling influences, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) legend Terrance “Sabu” Brunk passed away earlier this week. Rush described hearing about Sabu’s death as a “gut punch” to the wrestling community. He says he first saw Sabu faceoff against the aforementioned Mysterio in an ECW pay-per-view.
“I grew up watching [Sabu]. I’ve been on a bunch of shows with him, but I’ve never gotten a chance to work with him. … And I feel like that’s a name that I never bring up, and I’m shocked at myself that I don’t bring it up because thinking back on it as a kid, I love Sabu,” said Rush. “I loved his move set. I loved how he came out there and he had tape wrapped around his arm like he was already messed up before he even went out there to wrestle.”
In a move first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, AEW is hosting its first multi-week residency in Chicago at Uptown’s Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom, nicknamed by locals, “The Brawlroom.”
Back when ECW made stops in the Chicago area, the Aragon was one of the places that hosted shows.
When I told Rush that an AEW residency could be a thing, he said Chicago would be a great place for a residency to happen.
“I don’t know anything about that, but that would be extremely crazy,” said Rush. “That’d be pretty cool if that did end up happening. Like we were talking about earlier, just that [Chicago] fan base. That wrestling fanbase. That audience is intense…”
To the naked eye, it appears that Rush has a lot going on between his wrestling career, his music and fatherhood. If you let him tell it, he’d say all those are things he loves to do, so he doesn’t see himself as being busy per se.
“I grew up and was raised by entrepreneurs, so I didn’t really see a lot of rest,” said Rush. “I didn’t really see a lot of vacations; we were somewhere else enjoying the sun or enjoying whatever we’re enjoying, but we’re also getting things done…I grew up an entrepreneur. I grew up a hustler. I grew up working so I feel like it’s just my natural day-to-day. I try to find joy and rest within the moment, but I feel like I’m always in the moment. I guess I would say that I’m a walking moment in itself, and I just try to find enjoyment in it so I don’t burn myself out.”
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