Rusev has been medically cleared to return to the ring. He’s been off WWE TV since July 27, more than a month ago.
According to Fightful Select, Rusev suffered a neck issue during the match, entered WWE’s concussion protocol, and was out for a few weeks. He then returned to the WWE Performance Center but dealt with a health issue, which delayed his medical clearance until now.
In a recent interview with NotSamWrestling, CJ Perry explained what happened to him during the match.
“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. 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.’ I didn’t hear this; I was about ten rows back, and I missed it, but someone got on camera and went viral on Twitter.”
“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.’ 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. Those rumors are not true when people are like, ‘He doesn’t want to put people over.’ That’s not accurate and not true. He’s always there to do business. He always fights for a good story. That’s how people get over.”
“He finished the match. 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. I saw the internet [Fightful] reported the true story, and that was encouraging. It had nothing to do with the loss. 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. He just had to get back to the back as quick as possible because he wasn’t well at the time.”
Perry also said Rusev prefers to let the internet talk, because that’s how he was raised. To close, Perry revealed that Rusev got his medical clearance last week.
“He went to the PC last week and got cleared. He had a little bit of another issue with health going on, but he’s cleared now.”
Before his absence, Rusev had been working alongside Ethan Page, with both on the path to the Intercontinental Championship. The Bulgarian Brute is expected to return later this month.