{"id":218977,"date":"2026-07-06T15:51:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T20:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=218977"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:51:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T20:51:28","slug":"parkss-take-lio-rush-is-somehow-someway-maybe-making-his-gimmick-work-in-aew-isnt-he","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/06\/parkss-take-lio-rush-is-somehow-someway-maybe-making-his-gimmick-work-in-aew-isnt-he\/","title":{"rendered":"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Lio Rush is somehow, someway, maybe making his gimmick work in AEW, isn&#8217;t he?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1547972291\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>It&#8217;s hard to believe that one of the biggest pops on TV and at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view was for Lio Rush&#8217;s new Gollum-like character.<\/p>\n<p>In some ways, this character is everything AEW isn&#8217;t. While WWE is gimmicky and character-heavy, AEW takes pride in &#8220;wrestling&#8221; being on the marquee first and foremost. There are stories, sure, but those stories are based on winning matches and titles. It&#8217;s part of the reason Danhuasen never gained traction in AEW even in the way he already has in WWE.<\/p>\n<p>Is Rush simply an outlier? The exception that proves the rule?<\/p>\n<p>When the character first debuted, it felt destined to flop. Plopped down in the middle of an AEW environment where things tend to be much more grounded in reality than in WWE, Rush seemed out of place. His commitment to the bit has been effective in getting him over. As is often said with successful characters, it&#8217;s likely that no one else would&#8217;ve gotten this gimmick over like Rush has.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-7-1-keller-lilly-discuss-omega-s-huge-gamble-and-how-they-pulled-it-off-plus-lio-rush-mox-ospreay-more--72785032\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade Keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (7\/1): Keller &amp; Lilly discuss Omega's huge gamble and how they pulled it off, plus Lio Rush, Mox-Ospreay, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=72785032&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The best part is he wrestles as this character, too. The phrase &#8220;and then the bell rang&#8221; stands, in part, for characters that appeared on the surface to be intriguing, but who were never able to translate it to the ring. Rush has been able to do that.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most importantly, this incarnation has earned Rush TV time that he likely wouldn&#8217;t be getting had he not taken this leap of faith. And sometimes, as a wrestler on a roster packed with talented individuals trying to break through, you have to zig when others are zagging. A calculated risk, for sure, but one that so far has paid off for Rush.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (7\/1) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Lilly\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vvDaa6jptyo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2029228181\"><div id=\"pwtor-4088075331\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>It&#8217;s hard to believe that one of the biggest pops on TV and at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view was for Lio Rush&#8217;s new Gollum-like character. In some ways, this character is everything AEW isn&#8217;t. While <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/06\/parkss-take-lio-rush-is-somehow-someway-maybe-making-his-gimmick-work-in-aew-isnt-he\/\" title=\"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Lio Rush is somehow, someway, maybe making his gimmick work in AEW, isn&#8217;t he?\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,57,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-takes_parks","category-opinion_stafftakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-06-at-3.49.51-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218980,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218977\/revisions\/218980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}