When WWE signed Lio Rush last year as a top prospect from the independent scene, the company appeared to have struck gold with the undersized, yet hyper-talented youngster. But being as young as he is – only 22-years-old at the time he reported to WWE’s Performance Center – Rush has also made his share of youthful mistakes, most notably the time when he joked about Emma’s release on social media.

In an interview with ESPN earlier this week, Rush covered a variety of topics, including the deal he signed with the WWE, and how he was discovered by William Regal in 2016 at an EVOLVE show. According to Rush, that was the first time he had met someone from WWE, and while Regal initially told him to wait it out and keep working hard before he could sign a deal with the company, he took that advice to heart, and got signed by WWE in the summer of 2017.

RELATED: LIO RUSH BLASTED FOR TWEET ABOUT EMMA

At first, Rush seemed to be living up to the hype, and even got a nice little break early on, as he wrestled his first televised match on NXT in October, losing to the Velveteen Dream. Unfortunately, the next week turned into a nightmare of the public relations kind, as Rush put the proverbial foot in his mouth and tweeted that Emma’s release is something that could happen “when you’re not truly ready for Asuka.” This earned him stern rebukes from many of his colleagues, including several main roster wrestlers who had worked alongside Emma before she was unexpectedly wished the best in her future endeavors.

With nuclear heat attached to his name following his poorly timed tweet, Rush apologized for his comments, and as he recalled, he wanted to learn from his mistake, and accept his unofficial punishment — being taken off TV until the start of January.

"It was definitely a difficult situation. I’ve worked so hard and spent years trying to brand myself and to show the world that Lio Rush is a top prospect in the professional wrestling world. So it was a bit rough to see so many people turn on me for that, but I've owned up to my mistakes.”

RELATED: LIO RUSH DEBUTS IN NXT

These days, Lio Rush is arguably still feeling the effects of his tweet about Emma’s release, as he’s hardly on NXT TV, and is usually dark match and house show fodder for guys like Adam Cole and Roderick Strong. But he appears to have moved on from his social media faux pas, as he hopes to make a bigger name for himself, not only as a pro wrestler, but also in his budding rap career.