Wrestling / Rusev and Lana

aka: Rusev

Get used to seeing this.

"Today is...RUSEV DAYYYYYYYYYY~!"

"Русев удря, Русев мачка!"^EnglishRusev Crush, Rusev Smash!

Miroslav "Miro" Barnyashev (born December 25, 1985) is a Bulgarian professional wrestler better known by his ring name Alexander Rusev (eventually shortened to just Rusev) best known for his time at WWE.

Catherine Joy "C.J." Perry (born March 24, 1985), better known by her ring name Lana, is Rusev's valet and ex-wife. She is a former model and actress turned professional wrestling figure.

Following his WWE debut, Rusev had a long streak without being pinned or made to submit (although he has numerous losses by disqualification), and is a three time WWE United States Champion, defeating Sheamus in a WWE Network-exclusive match following Monday Night Raw on November 3, Kalisto at Extreme Rules 2016, and Shinsuke Nakamura on the 2018 Christmas Special episode of SmackDown Live. His undefeated streak, along with his first championship reign, were ended by John Cena at WrestleMania 31.

During the late winter and spring of 2015, Lana became increasingly popular with fans, prompting writers to facilitate a face turn for her. A storyline was conceived wherein dissention began building between Rusev and Lana during a feud with John Cena. Following several weeks where Rusev talked down to Lana and sent her from the ring during his matches, things came to a head at the WWE Payback pay-per-view event, where Cena defeated Rusev in an "I Quit" match. Rusev complained a night later on WWE Raw that he did not quit, but Lana stood her ground and said that he did indeed submit, saying the words in his native Bulgarian tongue and that the referee clearly understood he quit. When Rusev began to threaten Lana, Dolph Ziggler came out to step in, and he and Lana kissed passionately in the ring. An upset Rusev knocked Ziggler down before focusing on Lana, and it seemed like he was going to brutally beat her into a pulp, but moments before his pent-up rage burst, Ziggler knocked him down from behind and left the ring with Lana. Rusev then got together with Summer Rae in a less-than-dignified copycat of his old dynamic with Lana, resulting in a couple vs. couple feud which was supposed to culminate in Lana's first match until she went down to an injury. During her time off, Rusev and Lana got back together off-screen at the point of Miro and CJ's real-life engagement becoming a tabloid headline.

Rusev was released by WWE on April 15, 2020, along with dozens of other wrestlers and staff as part of cost-cutting measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic. After changing his public name to Miro (shorthand for Miroslav) to become a Twitch streamer and content creator, Miro announced on July 30 that he had no interest in returning to wrestling again....

...for all of four-months, as on September 9, 2020, he returned to wrestling as a member of All Elite Wrestling under his Miro name. On the May 12, 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite he defeated Darby Allin to become the TNT Champion.

On June 2, 2021, three weeks after Miro claimed the TNT title, Lana was one of six wrestlers released by WWE.

At All Out 2023 Perry would debut in AEW saving her husband from Powerhouse Hobbs.

Miro and Perry would amicably split after 7 years of marriage in winter of 2023 with the latter hoping to remain friends and work professionally again someday.

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"Rusev! Tropes!":

Tropes applying only to Rusev

• The Artifact: His ankle wraps came originally from his NXT days, when he sported the gimmick of a Muay Thai fighter. Upon his debut in WWE, they actually misled some people into thinking Rusev's character was going to be a MMA fighter or something similar, but at the end they were kept as just a particular footwear choice and a subtle homage to his trainer Rikishi. He later started wearing real boots after suffering a broken foot during a match.
• Blessed with Suck: His relationship with Lana is this, sort of. Rusev is honor-bound to protect Lana from every guy that so much as looks at her too long. Problem is, Lana is a very stare-inducing lady, so he gets into a lot of fights. Unfortunately, when this tendency of his meets WWE's booking of him, it also results in him losing a lot of fights.
• Bilingual Bonus: Occasionally slips in a few deadpan lines in Bulgarian even insulting Stephanie McMahon to her face on Raw. This has actually made him quite popular in Bulgaria.
• Boring, but Practical: His camel clutch finisher.
• The Brute: He's even explicitly called the "Bulgarian Brute". See Red Baron.
• Bullying a Dragon: When he and the Big Show were teamed up in a tag team match he kept tagging himself in at inopportune moments and refusing to let Big Show in, despite the fact that Big Show was a lot taller, heavier and stronger than him, even tagging himself in just as Show had knocked out Dolph Ziggler and was about to pin him. At this point Big Show lost all patience, cold-cocked him and walked away.
• Catchphrase: Aside from the above quote, he has another in "It's...Rusev Day!"
• Chain Pain: He's grown fond of using a large chain to beat people down with before using it to further enhance The Accolade in the lead-up to a Russian Chain match against John Cena.
• Cool Teacher: Rikishi and Gangrel is as odd a combination as any.
• Crowd Chant: "Rusev Day!"
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The first person in eleven years to defeat John Cena - John Cena - with a submission hold.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Appears in a music video for Kushinator's "The Whole F'n Show" - which was Rob Van Dam's TNA entrance theme.
  • Was an entrant in the 2014 Royal Rumble, several weeks before making his Raw debut.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: He appeared quite different originally on NXT. Lana was not at his side, he came to the ring wearing a skirt, both he and his ring gear appeared to be covered in dirt, and his theme music resembled that of an islander. Also, he carried a plank with his opponent's name to the ring, which he would break in half before the match.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Start 2018 being the heel even though you and your ally, and by extension, your wife, are three of the biggest babyfaces ever in the eyes of the public. Always come up inexplicably short in matches and feuds. Get rid of your ally, breaking one of the most popular teams in the entirety of the WWE history who have never won a title. End 2018 by winning the United States Championship on your birthday.
• Emasculated Cuckold: His first storyline since his late-2019 return is getting cheated on by his wife with Bobby Lashley while they rub it in his face and mock him.
• Expy: Being a foreign monster heel with a similar build, wrestling attire, and both having debuted with lengthy undefeated streaks that were eventually thwarted by John Cena, it's easy to compare him to the late Umaga.
• Finishing Move: Two of them: a leaping superkick called the Machka Kick, and a version of the camel clutch he calls the Accolade (in WWE) or the Game Over (in AEW).
• Heel–Face Turn: Seems to have finally made one as of June 2018, winning his first WWE Championship opportunity - perfectly clean, without any interference from Lana or English - against The Miz and sharing a respectful handshake with the current titleholder, AJ Styles. Granted, the guy had been a face in the eyes of the fans literally for months leading up to that point, but that spot just made it official.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In Survivor Series 2014 during the match between Team Cena and Team Authority, where he attempts to flying press Dolph Ziggler through the announcer table. However, Ziggler rolls out of the way at the last second, causing Rusev to take the plunge solo. The impact dazed him so badly that he got eliminated by ring-out count.
• Hulk Speak: Sometimes dipped into this at the beginning of his career, but subverted as his command of the English language (or at least his ability to recite the English language) has obviously improved.
• Husky Russkie: A Bulgarian example, but loyal to Mother Russia nonetheless. Despite having long since abandoned the Soviet gimmick by that point, Rusev actually began to embody this trope more after his mid-2018 Heel–Face Turn, shedding his previous intense, brutish persona for a classically lovable, jovial one more closely resembling Zangief than Ivan Drago.
• Hurt Foot Hop: At Payback 2015, Rusev tried to stomp on John Cena, but Cena rolled out of the way and Rusev's foot hit the steel steps, making him stagger and clutch it.
• I Know Karate: Subverted. He used to have a Muay Thai fighter gimmick in NXT and was announced as such, but it was soon dropped in favor of a more generic wrestler approach. However, due to his ankle wraps, submission finisher, "super-athlete" gimmick and obvious inspiration on the fictitious boxer Ivan Drago, he still retained some combat sports undertones until much after his debut in the main roster.
• Irony: Roman Reigns was one of his biggest foes in WWE... and is also the cousin of Rikishi, one of Rusev's trainers.
• The Juggernaut: Didn't lose a match by pinfall or submission since his debut until WrestleMania 31, when John Cena finally pinned him.
• Jumping Out of a Cake: Rusev did this during Lana and Bobby Lashley's wedding on Raw. Of course he proceeded to beat up Lashley.
• Last-Name Basis: Some time into the beginning of his run, the "Alexander" was dropped from his name completely, and he simply became known as "Rusev".
• Lightning Bruiser: This man is deceptively fast and agile for someone of his build; he's often, and accurately, described as "explosive".
• Malicious Misnaming: During his storyline with Lana and Bobby Lashley, he had a tendency to call Lashley "Bob" or "Bob Lashley."
• Perpetual Frowner: Rusev always looks ready to crush someone. Up until his feud with Lana, he was also literally this, as he never ever smiled. Since then, however, he seems to get a kick out of using Summer Rae to make Lana jealous.
• Precision F-Strike: When Lana told Rusev that he cheated on her, because Bobby Lashley said it, Rusev snaps:
  Rusev: Of course, you're gonna believe Bobby Lashley! Why don't you go to Bobby Lashley? He's talking shit on what he's doing. That never happened, that never happened. Absolutely not.
• The Quiet One: Lana initially did most of his talking for him. Subverted in that this only applied on the microphone and due to him apparently not knowing/speaking much English, as Rusev could be seen often shouting presumably in Bulgarian away from the mic. Like Roman Reigns in The Shield before him, he turns into a Screaming Warrior in battle. Though he got better about this later on.
• Red Baron:
  • As Rusev: "The Super Athlete", "The Bulgarian Brute", "The Hero of the Russian Federation".
  • As Miro: "The Best Man", "God's Favorite Champion", "The Redeemer"
• Stealth Insult: Managed to become one of the few to disrespect The Authority incarnation of Stephanie McMahon and get away with it simply by speaking to them in his home country's language, which she (along with most viewers outside said country) didn't understand.
• Stout Strength: Has a thick figure and is also shown to be very strong.
• Straw Misogynist: Was portrayed as this during the breakup storyline in 2015 — insulting Lana by calling her weak and inferior as a woman, outright having Summer imitate her to show how replaceable she is, and having to be lectured on a couple of occasions by Dolph Ziggler about how to treat a lady. This promptly came to an end soon after Lana announced their (reunion and) engagement.
  • Popped back up in late 2016 where he disrespected both Sasha Banks and Charlotte and the Women's Revolution so badly that he got the two bitter rivals to unite for a moment in dropkicking him out of the ring.
• Ur-Example: The first Bulgarian to wrestle for WWE.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Well, boyfriend, but this has basically been Rusev's shtick ever since he and Lana were billed as an actual couple (rather than Lana being simply a valet), and has only continued after they married in real life. If there's a backstage segment on TV with Lana alone with a guy, chances are that guy is going to be an irritated Rusev's opponent for the night.
• Would Not Hit a Girl: For all his sexism, chauvinism, and misogyny, Rusev will not bring himself to harm Lana, even when she strikes him.
• Yandere: During their split, Rusev's feelings for Lana morphed from (presumably) love to an obsessive hatred. He's hooked up with Summer Rae, but it's implied that he cares less about her than just trying to make Lana jealous — which, of course, isn't working at all as Lana herself hooked up with Dolph Ziggler. In any case, for someone who claims to have gotten over it, he really hasn't gotten over it. No, seriously. After she sort of fell out with Dolph and suddenly went down to a wrist injury, they made back up and got engaged. What's more, the linked article takes care to point out that he was the one who proposed.
• Your Mother: While submitting in Bulgarian during an "I Quit" match against John Cena, one of the lines he said translates to, "Damn your old mother, Cena!"

Tropes applying only to Lana

• Bait-and-Switch: Got a pretty good one over on the WWE Universe when she asked them if they thought they could handle her topless photos. When the audience convinced her they could, she turns to the screen and reveals... the already-infamous photos of Vladimir Putin riding shirtless on horseback. Ironically, CJ Perry actually has posed nude, though this was long before WWE obviously.
• The Baroness: Lana fits here somewhat, as she definitely seems to get some kind of enjoyment out of watching Rusev hurt people. The only real issue is that, apart from being a very attractive woman in a criminally short skirt who tends to turn her body to show off at times, there's not really anything outwardly sexual about her character.
• The Berserker: Her wrestling style has pretty much devolved into this, with some justification behind it. When she tries traditional wrestling she's always horribly outmatched, but her 'scream madly and launch myself at my opponent with fists flying' has actually yielded her some success against far superior opponents.
• Bilingual Bonus: Cuts promos in both Russian and English.
• Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: Attractive blonde female that dresses in suits and acts as the supporting lady that gives her leading man his focus and resolve? Yup, heel Lana definitely qualifies as a villainous version of this. (Although, ironically, her being Russian, many fans probably are tempted to imagine her as a communist.)
• Characterisation Marches On: When she first debuted on NXT, she merely wore fashionable dresses and her hair down before eventually adopting her iconic look of business suits with a Prim and Proper Bun. Then when she broke up with Rusev to start dating Dolph Ziggler she began dressing in jean jacket and skirt outfits and occasionally letting her hair back down. Since reuniting with Rusev she's just as likely to adopt any one of said looks from one week to the next.
• Crowd Song: "Lana is the best, Lana number one!"
• Dance Battler: After she was moved to SmackDown during the 2017 Superstar Shake-up, a vignette aired hinting this will be her next gimmick.
• Distaff Counterpart: Is remarkably like a female Paul Heyman. She speaks rather similarly about Rusev the way Heyman does about Brock Lesnar — they are both non-action managers for big brutish powerhouses.
• Expy:
  • Lana has a little bit of a Russian Vickie Guerrero going on, thanks to always beginning her speeches with a Russian equivalent to Vickie's "Excuse Me!" (or "Attention!", but the same idea, basically).
  • She also brought comparisons to Debra, since they're both blonde valets to heel wrestlers and dress in sexy business suits.
  • Her career trajectory is also similar to Sable, albeit at some points it simply occured by happenstance. They debuted as the manager for their real-life partner (Marc Mero for Sable, Rusev for Lana), they both get over with the crowd (although in a marked difference, Rusev remained over with the crowd, whereas Marc Mero gradually faded into the background), and WWE capitalizes on this by making them an active solo competitor (while WWE didn't go as far as putting a women's title on Lana as they did with Sable, they still put Lana in a feud for the SmackDown Women's Championship). Her storyline with Bobby Lashley also had her popularity getting way over her head, similar to how Sable had turned into The Prima Donna by the time of the end of her first tenure in the company.
• Face–Heel Turn: Turned back after getting engaged to Rusev, later feuding with Brie Bella.
• Gratuitous Russian: She will often start out speaking this language, and pepper it in her speeches.
• Heel–Face Turn: The result of Lana getting cheered by fans during the spring of 2015.
• It's All About Me:
  • Calling her late-2019 heel character self-absorbed would be a galactic understatement. Any time she touches a mic, she rants and raves about how beautiful, smart, and successful she is. She also wrote her own wedding vows, as well as Bobby Lashley's vows, when the two were to be married on WWE Raw. Both sets of vows consisted of endless praise towards her. She even name-dropped the trope verbatim during the ceremony:
  Lana: This is my day, and it's all about me! L-A-N-A, Lana, Lana, Lana, Lana!
  • When Lashley's old associate Montel Vontavious Porter came into the picture to try and help Lashley win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre, Lana hated MVP for calling her out on her selfishness so much that she got involved in the match despite Lashley's wishes. This cost Bobby the title, to which he became furious with Lana, lambasting her for being an Attention Whore down to broadcasting their sex life to mock Rusev for the spotlight, and declaring that he wanted a divorce. All just under nine months from the start of their affair.
• Jobber: As a wrestler. When she gets a win, it's usually as part of a tag team match.
• Karma Houdini: Rusev has found himself laid out a couple of times, but for all of her bad-mouthing America, Lana always gets away scot-free.
• Kayfabe: For a long time she was known for never breaking kayfabe, even though it's dead and buried six feet under; her postings on social media being a good examples. A good example of this is her first cameo appearance on Total Divas, when despite doing headstands in a nightclub with Paige and Alicia who were out of character, she still kept up the accent. When she was dating Dolph Ziggler on TV, pictures of the two "dating" were being posted as well. Of course, then came the TMZ leak of her and Rusev's engagement... However, even after that, when the storyline of her dumping Rusev for Bobby Lashley came along, she would stop posting pictures of herself with Rusev and start posting pictures of her and Lashley "dating".
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: On the last SmackDown before her showdown with SmackDown Women's Champion Naomi at Money in the Bank, she sneak-attacked her in a blue gown.
• Kick Chick: In her first match, she hit Paige with a series of kicks.
• Large Ham: Lana has a booming voice perfectly suited for introducing her client. She doesn't introduce Rusev, she introduces "RRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUSEEEEEV!!!!!"
• Leotard of Power: Used for her first ring outfit in the 10-woman tag match.
• Letting Her Hair Down: After splitting from Rusev and pairing up with Dolph Ziggler, her rather harsh-looking bun was replaced with a long ponytail. This was reflected in her outfit change as well, swapping her sexy-but-severe business suits for a denim skirt and a tube top and open jacket combo that exposed her belly.
• Limited Wardrobe: Appears as if she has one outfit that simply changes colors every show.
• Phrase Catcher: "What?" from the audience, as she usually starts off speaking in Russian, which most of the audience of course doesn't understand. Oddly enough, though, they keep shouting it even when she's speaking English, as they have for years.
• Pretty in Mink: During the 2015 WrestleMania event, Lana wore a white fox wrap over one shoulder as part of the duo's particular image of Glorious Mother Russia.
• Purple Is Powerful: Her first ring outfit was purple.
• Red Baron: "The Ravishing Russian".
• Running Gag: Getting thrown into the announce table by Nia Jax has become a bit of one for her.
• Sensual Slavs: Was alluded to during her heel run (most notably by the Rock on the January 25th, 2016 edition of Raw), before she turned face and ditched the accent.
• Sexophone: Her entrance music is a saxophone theme and she's a Ms. Fanservice all-around, including her ring gear.
• The Smurfette Principle: She was the only female member of Rusev Day.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: During a storyline where Lana issued a restraining order on Rusev, she would have cops arrest him whenever he is in the same premise as her. Then there's the December 2, 2019 Raw, where the police escort that accompanied her to the ring don't do anything when Rusev sneaks into the ring and attack Bobby Lashley. AS one of the cops explains to her, it turns out that the cops are WWE fans, and knowing full well that they are not required to arrest anyone violating the restraining order, realize that Lana is basically abusing the order, opt not to chase after Rusev and instead arrest her and Lashley for assaulting them.
• Token Good Teammate: In 2015, after their engagement became public (and she took some time off to heal a broken hand), she again started managing Rusev, technically making her a member of Sheamus's Power Stable, the League of Nations, when Rusev himself joined. But she remained popular with fans, did not affiliate herself with the League, and the most heelish things she did were the occasional Wounded Gazelle Gambit to distract Ryback when he and Rusev were squaring off for several weeks. Averted in good time when she started antagonizing Brie Bella leading to WrestleMania 32, and then when the League disbanded and it was revealed that she'd warned her fiancée to begin with that the group wouldn't last but allowed him to go have fun if he so desired.
• Took a Level in Badass: In 2015 she started getting physical with Summer Rae, possibly leading to an in-ring debut that got shelved when she was injured. She later started antagonizing Brie Bella and made her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 32.
• Trrrilling Rrrs: In the Russian style.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Or rather, wife. She would make her AEW debut by whacking Powerhouse Hobbs with a chair to save her husband.

Tropes applying to both Rusev and Lana

• Battle Couple: They involved in WWE Mixed Match Challenge.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: During their time as Rusev Day: Lana was the beauty, Aiden English was the brains, and Rusev was naturally the brawn.
• Big Entrance: Their entrance for Rusev's match against John Cena for Rusev's United States Championship at WrestleMania 31 has to go down as one of the most grandiose and epic wrestling entrances ever. Lana, as classily sexy as a Femme Fatale villainess from a James Bond movie, sashays down to the ring carrying Rusev's championship on her shoulder to the sound of the Russian national anthem, followed by eight goose-stepping Russian soldiers bearing a giant Russian flag. Then after artillery fires off a salute, a flag-wielding Rusev rides into the arena on a goddamn honest-to-goodness tank!
• Expy: The Rusev-Lana duo was specifically modeled after and compared to Ivan and Ludmilla Drago. This was lampshaded by Xavier Woods (who used to be an Expy of Apollo Creed), who called him an "Ivan Drago-looking piece of garbage."
• Face–Heel Turn: Rusev confronted R-Truth, who had defeated Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship and pushed him into defending his newly-won title against him, but Truth retained his title. After the match Nakamura attacked Truth and Rusev joined him in attacked Truth and turned heel.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel:
  • Straightest example of the trope to appear for WWE in several years. He was already earning strong heat when, at the 2014 Battleground pay-per-view, Lana turned things up several notches with an anti-United States promo; even though she did not specifically mention it, the mainstream media and many viewers claimed there was a strong tie-in to the crash of Malaysian Flight MH17, which killed 295 people just three days before the pay-per-view event and something that increased tensions between the United States and Russia. It got to the point where WWE became concerned about its image, having to clarify, as well as cool down on the Rusev and Lana push for a couple of weeks.
  • Following their breakup and reunion, they seem to have developed an admiration for the American life but still find it fitting to conquer their enemies in the name of their own nations.
• Happily Married: A given considering that they went from an onscreen couple to a real-life item, but this aspect of Rusev and Lana's relationship has been played up vastly more following their dual face turns in June 2018. Beyond the simple fact that he went back to being a traitorous snake, Aiden disrespecting Lana and implying that she would be unfaithful to Rusev was what destroyed Rusev Day as a tag team and prompted Rusev to kick his former partner's ass square.
• Love Triangle:
  • In 2015 they entered one with Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae.
  • In late 2016, Enzo Amore and Lana began to display attraction to each other, but that ended up being a trap.
  • They entered another one in 2019 with Bobby Lashley (which even featured a segment of Lana and Lashley in bed).
• Mother Russia Makes You Strong: Lana believes so, and apparently so did Rusev, who has relocated from Bulgaria to Moscow.

Tropes applying to Miro in AEW

I want to thank God for making me powerful and my hot wife flexible.

• Achilles' Heel: Because of Miro previously breaking his neck in 2012. He has demonstrated a specific weakness to powerful attacks to his head and neck namely DDT's. This first came up during his TNT title defence against Lee Johnson, where a Tornado DDT was virtually the only thing in the match that rattled him. This set up his next title defence against Fuego Del Sol, who got to pull off three Tornado DDT's in a row and got incredibly close to a countout and a pinfall win as a result. At the end of his reign, Sammy Guevara hitting him with a Tornado DDT to avenge Fuego is what set him up for his win.
• The Artifact: The name of his submission finisher, the "Game Over", fits his early "gamer" gimmick well, but less so as The Redeemer.
• The Atoner: Inverted as a heel, as Miro seems to believe the world should atone to him as he brutalized Kip, even ending the beat down by clutching Kip and whispering “I forgive you…”
• Beware the Silly Ones: Boisterous, videogame-obsessed Miro may not seem terribly intimidating at first glance, but when you piss him off and you end up facing him across the ring, he'll gladly show off what a brutal, vicious and powerful heel he can be.
• Camera Abuse: During a brawl with the Best Friends on Dynamite he grabs a camera, shakes it, yells "Get out of the way!" and upends it before returning to the fight.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: To Jimmy Havoc in terms of being Kip Sabian's closest friend. Miro's boisterous and excitable personality is a stark contrast to Havoc's brooding and sadistic demeanor.
• Custom Uniform: He introduced a personalised variant of the TNT Championship belt that pays homage to his home nation of Bulgaria: possessing a green and white color scheme along with side plates featuring the coat-of-arms of his hometown, Plovdiv.
• Finishing Move: Has renamed his variation of the Camel Clutch "Game Over".
• Holier Than Thou: Miro became this after winning the TNT Championship, praising God for making him better than his competition and declaring himself "God's Favorite Champion" and "The Redeemer".
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He unleashed his rage on Kip weeks after losing the Arcade Anarchy. It ended with Miro slamming a door on Kip's arm. Then proceeded to do the same thing to Darby Allin to take the TNT Championship.
• Once per Episode: Almost all of his promos after becoming the heel “God’s Champion” incorporate some kind of absurdly blunt but creative reminder that a) he’s married to a beautiful wife, and b) he gets to… enjoy that.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: His love of video games is put front and center of his gimmick, but that doesn't make him any less of a monster in the ring.
• Rage Against the Heavens: When "God's Favourite Champion" lost the TNT Championship to Sammy Guevara, he cut an intense promo addressing God himself, demanding to know if this was some kind of cosmic joke at his expense.
  Miro: Have I displeased you? Have I not bowed enough, kneeled enough, have I not given your name enough praise?! You gave me a body of granite and a neck of sand, is that some kind of a JOKE?!
• Rage Breaking Point: Losing the Arcade Anarchy match to the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy, resulting in his first loss (albeit a tag team loss where he wasn't pinned or submitted) in AEW. Miro hadn't even wanted to accept the match in the first place, considering himself done with the feud, but Kip Sabian had gone over his head and accepted it for both of them. When Kip proceeded to be pinned in the match despite Miro's ferocious efforts, Miro snapped and brutalised his "friend" as "the Best Man" gave way to "the Redeemer".
• Religious Bruiser: He makes this a case of Churchgoing Villain thanks to his ego as TNT Champion, “giving thanks” in just the right way to come off as a sanctimonious egomaniac.
  • Upgraded to a major gimmick for him as “God’s Champion” and “The Redeemer;” he gives thanks and parables about his rise as champion… and about his “hot wife.”
• Shout-Out: His renamed finisher, the "Game Over", isn't just a video game reference, but the way Miro bellows it before submitting an opponent is a reference to Raúl Juliá's memorable Large Ham performance as M. Bison in Street Fighter.
• Significant Birth Date: With Miro's gimmick as "God's favourite champion", the fact that he was (legitimately!) born on Christmas Day is icing on the cake.^note While Bulgaria is a mostly Orthodox country, its branch of the Orthodox Church uses the revised Julian calendar instead of the traditional version, meaning that Christmas falls on December 25 instead of January 7 as in several other Orthodox countries.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: When Jon Moxley took a break from wrestling to attend treatment for his alcoholism, Miro took his place in the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament and its related storyline. This turned out to be quite fortunate in keeping the gist of the angle the same: Jon was portrayed in the tournament as displaying a brutal streak in tearing through babyfaces on his way to the finals. Miro fills that same role quite nicely without needing to completely overhaul the tournament's booking.
• Take That!: His first promo on TV was a shoot against his past company.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: His custom green and white TNT Championship belt, when combined with his red shorts, make the colors of the Bulgarian flag.

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Today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week, the week after next week, next month, the month after next month, next year, and the year after next year, is always...RUSEV DAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!

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