While wrestling under the name Rusev, Miro was one of the most popular wrestlers on the WWE roster.
The Bulgarian (although sometimes Russian) wrestler was the most hated heel upon his debut, battling all the heroes of America as a representative of Putin’s Russian forces.
He took out the likes of Big Show and Jack Swagger, before falling to John Cena at WrestleMania 31. However, his entrance in a tank is still one of the greatest of all time.
Later on, he came up with his “Rusev Day” gimmick. With Aiden English as his personal ring announcer/singer, he declared every day to be “his” day, something that the fans latched on to.
Despite his immense popularity, WWE never pulled the trigger on Miro as a main event talent.
Even up until his last match in the WWE, they showed him no respect by changing the finish for the bout at the last minute – to the detriment of Miro himself.
Miro’s Last WWE Match
Miro’s last match in the WWE came on February 2nd, 2020, on an episode of Monday Night Raw.
Then known as Rusev, the Bulgarian Brute was locked in a feud with Bobby Lashley. His real-life wife, Lana, had recently left him (in storyline) for Lashley, with the pair kissing in front of regularly on television.
This came after his super-popular “Rusev Day” gimmick. However, he got over with Vince’s permission, so had his knees taken out from under him and pushed backed down to the mid card.
Lashley and Miro had had what was seemingly their big “blow off” match at TLC the year prior. Bobby Lashley beat Miro in a tables match, in what would be Miro’s last PPV match in WWE.
Despite the crushing defeat, the pair continued to wrestle in tag team matches on Raw. These were both all-male matches, but sometimes also mixed tag team bouts, with Lashley and Lana taking on Rusev and Liv Morgan.
Miro’s last match in WWE was in a tag team match. He teamed with Humberto Carillo to take on the duo of Angel Garza and Bobby Lashley. He lost his last match after being pinned by Garza.
Miro lost his final WWE bout by roll-up, to a man who was not even involved in his storyline. This was a change from the original plan, which caused an irate Miro to attack his opponents in his last appearance for the WWE, before his release two months later.
During Talk Is Jericho, Miro explained how his last match in the WWE came to be. He explained how losing the match was a last-minute change from Vince McMahon, and one that the former-Rusev did not take too kindly to.
“I knew the last match I had on TV was my last match. It was me and Humberto Carillo against Garza and Bobby. The match started. We were supposed to go over. Next thing I know, I’m losing. Next thing I know, Garza is beating me.
Not even Bobby who was the feud. I already don’t have any wins against these people. It doesn’t matter, I’m a professional and whatever you want to do, that’s what we do.
Here comes the finish, a rollup, and the instructions were for him to leave the ring. Next thing you know I see the ref goes to his ear. Next thing you know, Angel goes to the corner and raises his hand while I’m in the ring selling a rollup. I turn around and I see what’s happening.”
“I charged him and beat the f*ck out of him. I saw him there and my eyes turned red because I knew what they were trying to do. I went after him and started clubbing him.
He rolled out and I broke Joey Mercury’s rule which is if you are a babyface and you lose, you never raise your hand. I so wanted to stick it to everybody and say I don’t care who wins and loses because I am Miro and I raised my hand.
I came to the back and Vince said he was going to give me a bonus because he said, ‘Oh, they tried to bury you out there and you tried to take care of yourself.’ Jericho said, ‘What, they aren’t going to do anything out there without telling him.’ Miro said Vince told him, ‘this is exactly what we wanted to see, very aggressive good stuff’ and that was my last match.”
Miro was released by the WWE in 2020, and promptly signed for AEW. He is a former TNT Champion in the company, and was a top heel for a spell.
However, Miro has not been seen in months in AEW, and has been off TV for a very strange reason. Click the link below to learn about what happened to Miro, or let us know in the comments what you thought about his final match.
