Although Lio Rush was able to do much in his time on Raw, he admits that he needed a break.
Rush teamed up with Bobby Lashley, helping him capture the Intercontinental Championship and appeared at WrestleMania 35, but soon afterwards, Rush was absent from WWE programming for months. In an interview with Sporting News, Rush spoke about where his mental state was at the time of his break from WWE. Rush said he was grateful to do all the things he could do in WWE, but wanted to take time to evaluate why he wanted to be in WWE in the first place.
"During that time, I was in a bad mental space. I feel like I've been pretty open with the public about my issues with depression and anxiety and stuff like that. I just needed a little break. I needed some time away to rethink, to be with my family, to remind myself of why I wanted to be a sports entertainer in the first place and be in the WWE in the first place. And that experience that I had on 'RAW' was a very cool experience. I got to work with veterans of this business, people that have been a part of this business for so long. I've gotten to be on every single last pay-per-view. I've gotten to walk out at the Royal Rumble. I've gotten to walk out at WrestleMania. All of the things that takes guys so long to accomplish and I accomplished it all in six months. And, that time, I'm incredibly grateful for but, at the same time, it was eating me up," Rush said.
Back in September, Rush made a surprise return to NXT, where he briefly wrestled there and eventually won the NXT Cruiserweight title by beating Drew Gulak last October.
Rush will get a chance to become a two-time NXT Cruiserweight Champion when he takes on Jordan Devlin on the February 19 episode of NXT. Fightful will have live coverage of the show.
