Miro

Jan 18, 2014 - by Jamie Cruickshank

Real name: Miroslav Barnyashev
Height: 6’0″
Weight 305 lbs.
Date of birth: December 25, 1985
From: Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Resides: Nashville, Tennessee
Pro debut: 2008
Trained by: Gangrel, Rikishi
Finishing move: Game Over

Biography

– Barnyashev began his sporting career as a professional rower and powerlifter
– In the mid-2000’s, Barnyashev emigrated to the USA, moving to Torrance, California
– In 2007, Barnyashev began training under Rikishi and Gangrel at the Knokx Wrestling School
– On November 22, 2008, Barnyashev (as Miroslav Makaraov) made his professional debut, defeating Aerial Star
– In April 2011, Barnyashev was signed to a WWE Development Deal and was repackaged as ‘Alexander Rusev’
– On June 9, 2011, Rusev made his FCW debut, defeating Mike Dalton
– Less than one month later, Rusev tore his ACL and missed over 6 months of action
– On his return to competition, Rusev & Antonio Cesaro unsuccessfully challenged for the FCW Tag Team Titles
– In June 2012, it was reported that Rusev was being considered for the Bulgarian Olympic Weightlifting team. However, Rusev broke his neck that summer and was unable to compete
– Rusev returned to action in May 2013, competing in a Battle Royal
– In August 2013, Rusev joined Sylvester Lefort’s stable, ‘The Fighting Legionnaires’
– On October 24, 2013, Rusev competed in the NXT Title Beat The Clock Challenge, defeating Colin Cassady, but losing the challenge to Adrian Neville & Sami Zayn
– On October 30, Rusev ended his alliance with Lefort and adopted Lana as his new ‘social ambassador’
– On November 21, 2013, Rusev defeated Kofi Kingston on an episode of NXT
– In January 2014, amid rumours of a main roster call-up, Rusev defeated Zack Ryder and Tyson Kidd in WWE Main Event dark matches
– Rusev made his main roster debut at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 26, 2014. The sixth entrant to the titular match, Rusev was eliminated by a joint effort of four wrestlers
– Rusev arrived on WWE TV a short time later managed by Lana
– At Payback 14, Rusev (with Lana) defeated Big E by submission
– At Extreme Rules ’14, Rusev defeated R-Truth & Xavier Woods in a Handicap Match
– At Payback ’14, Rusev defeated Big E
– At Money In The Bank ’14, Rusev again defeated Big E
– At Battleground ’14, Rusev defeated Jack Swagger by countout
– At Summerslam ’14, Rusev defeated Jack Swagger in a Flag Match
– At Night of Champions ’14, Rusev defeated Mark Henry
– At Hell In A Cell ’14, Rusev defeated The Big Show
– Immediately following Raw on November 3, 2014, Rusev defeated Sheamus to win the WWE United States Title
– At Survivor Series ’14, Rusev was part of Team Authority in their loss to Team Cena
– At TLC ’14, Rusev defeated Jack Swagger to retain the WWE United States Title
– At Royal Rumble ’15, Rusev was the last man eliminated from the Rumble match by winner Roman Reigns
– At Fastlane ’15, Rusev defeated John Cena by referee stoppage
– On May 18, 2015, Rusev fired Lana as his manager. A week later, he had dropped the Russian persona in favour of a Bulgarian equivalent
– On the May 28 edition of Smackdown, Rusev suffered a fractured foot during a match with Ryback, ruling him out of action for around 6 weeks. During this time, he continued to appear on television, supported by crutches
– In June, Rusev ‘replaced’ Lana with Summer Rae
– On July 6, Rusev attacked Dolph Ziggler, who had gained the services of Lana, putting Ziggler out of action indefinitely
– At Summerslam ’15, Rusev fought Ziggler to a double-countout
– In October 2015, Rusev and Lana announced their real-life engagement
– At TLC ’15, Rusev defeated Ryback
– In November 2015, The League of Nations faction, consisting of Sheamus, Rusev, Alberto Del Rio & Wade Barrett, was formed
– At WrestleMania 32, The League of Nations (Sheamus, Rusev & Del Rio) defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods & Big E)
– The League of Nations disbanded shortly after WrestleMania
– At Extreme Rules ’16, Rusev defeated Kalisto to win the WWE United States Title
– At Money In The Bank ’16, Rusev defeated Titus O’Neil to retain the WWE United States Title
– In the 2016 WWE draft, Rusev was allocated to Raw
– At Battleground ’16, Rusev defeated Zack Ryder to retain the WWE United States Title
– On the Roadblock ’16 pre-show, Rusev defeated Big Cass by countout
– On April 11, 2017, Rusev moved to the Smackdown roster
– In late 2017, Rusev formed a partnership with Aiden English
– In October 2018, English turned on Rusev, ending their partnership
– On December 18, 2018, Rusev defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the WWE United States Title, but lost it back to Nakamura in his first televised defense
– In February 2019, Rusev & Nakamura formed a tag team
– Rusev moved to the Raw brand in September 2019
– At Crown Jewel 2019, Team Hogan (Rusev, Roman Reigns, Shorty G, Ali & Ricochet) defeated Team Flair (Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre & King Corbin)
– Rusev was released by WWE on April 15, 2020
– Miro debuted on AEW Dynamite on September 9, 2020 as Kip Sabian’s Best Man
– Miro wrestled his first AEW match two weeks later, teaming with Sabian to defeat Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss
– At New Year’s Smash 2021, Miro defeated Chuck Taylor
– At Revolution 2021, Miro & Sabian defeated Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy
– In March 2021, Miro underwent a character change, violently attacking former friend Kip Sabian and taking on a more vicious in-ring style
– On the May 12, 2021 episode of Dynamite, Miro defeated Darby Allin to win the TNT Title
– On the May 28 episode, Miro defeated Dante Martin to retain the TNT Title
– At Double Or Nothing 2021, Miro defeated Lance Archer to retain the TNT Title
– On the June 5 episode of Dynamite, Miro defeated Evil Uno to retain the TNT Title
– On the June 30 episode, Miro defeated Brian Pillman Jr to retain the TNT Title
– On the August 4 episode, Miro defeated Lee Johnson to retain the TNT Title
– On the August 13 episode of Rampage, Miro defeated Fuego del Sol to retain the TNT Title
– At All Out 2021, Miro defeated Eddie Kingston to retain the TNT Title
– On the September 15 episode of Rampage, Miro defeated Fuego del Sol to retain the TNT Title
– Miro suffered an injury in November 2021 that would keep him out until the new year
– Miro returned to action in June 2022, answering the open challenge from Johnny Elite
– At Road Rager 2022, Miro defeated Ethan Page
– At All Out 2022, Miro, Darby Allin & Sting defeated The House Of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews)
– Following a lengthy creative and injury related layoff, Miro returned to in-ring action on the debut episode of AEW Collision, defeating Tony Nese
– At All Out 2023, Miro defeated Powerhouse Hobbs
– At Worlds End 2023, Miro defeated Andrade El Idolo

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