Lana Reveals What Vince McMahon Told Her After She Split From Rusev On TV

Aug 4, 2022

When Rusev was first called up to the WWE main roster he was a force to be reckoned with and Lana was right by his side. However, in the summer of 2015 WWE decided to split Lana and Rusev up, and what followed was a relationship storyline involving Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae.

CJ Perry recently talked about her time working as Lana on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, and she recalled Vince McMahon telling her that she had two choices once the fans started chanting her name.

“I’ll never forget Vince called us into the office. This was after we had split up because he was adamant. He was like, ‘You cannot be with Rusev anymore.’ Once the ‘We want Lana’ chants started , He was like, ‘That’s it. You have two choices. We can either do a relationship story, or you’re gonna have to go back down to NXT to learn how to wrestle.’ I was like, ‘I’ll do a relationship story, that’s cool.’

Perry went on to say that a month and a half into the storyline Vince got Summer Rae involved with the idea that it would lead to a match. The former WWE star tried to explain to Vince McMahon that she felt she was better used as a manager, but he was adamant that she at least learn how to take a bump.

“I was like, ‘Okay, I’m fine with that. But I just think I’m great at this, let me do what I’m great at,’ versus, ‘I don’t know if I want to catch up to these girls.’ We had this conversation in His office. This is actually the first time saying this story.I was just like, ‘I just don’t think I’m gonna ever be that great.’ I want to be great at stuff. Not good, right? He’s like, ‘No, this is a wrestling company. You have to, at the very least, know how to bump.’ He goes, ‘You have to know how to resolve your conflicts in the ring, and your conflict is with Summer, and you’re gonna resolve it in the ring.’ That was that. Miro didn’t say anything else and I was like, ‘Okay, and you’re right. This is a wrestling company. If I just want to do acting, I probably should fuck off, right?’”