Rusev: His realistic future in the WWE
 

If they want to push him and capitalize off the face reaction Lesnar will get from beating Cena they should go with Lesnar/Rusev at one of the throwaway ppvs between summer slam and survivor series.

100% right

I don't know about that.

Survivor Series is too generous

Honestly thought he was going to be fed to Cena at Battleground to make him look strong going in against Lesnar. I guess maybe the RAW after Battleground they will have him do it.

Is 15 minutes too generous?

what

He's gonna get the Ryback push. The one where you are made to look like a monster and then get buried because you aren't a big enough boy in reality for Vince.

holy shit this is hilarious

I usually fast-forward through all Rusev's stuff beyond Lana parading her stuff around. I have no problems with the guy, I am just not interested in that type of character in 2014. That being said, the segment with Jack Swagger on RAW was fucking great. I'm worried that the WWE are going to miss the boat on face Swagger and just use him to keep putting over Rusev, however. I want to see Rusev lose and then go on a quest to regain power. Have him be the guy who writes off RVD. And then let him work with Ziggler en route to having another match with Swagger.

I didn't really get behind Umaga until long after everybody else did too, however. So maybe I am missing out on just how good Rusev is.

Rusev looks like he'd move like a fridge, but he's very agile. That fucking kick he does just looks devastating.

I find Rusev to be rather bland and unentertaining. Essentially, he's like a white Big E.

But with less expression. He honestly looks bored every time he does the Accolade.

But if Big E keeps with the black preacher-ish type speech, he can piss off too.

I'd like to see a Big E, Rusev, Ryback stable.

It is hilarious because of how true it actually is.

Rusev is growing on me. Dude can go.

He is very talented for a big guy.yes he's short but I think if they build him like taz a human suplex and submission machine they may have something there

I think the problem in cases like this, is that WWE think that they "pull the trigger" on guys like this when they really don't. A string of wins over Big E and Zack Ryder is not enough to put this guy over.

If they want him to stick, he needs to go over someone BIG at Summerslam. Ryback was the same, built momentum and then didn't get that big win over anyone and his fire just went out.

If they want some of these guys to work, they can't be afraid to put them over their big stars. So far, they haven't done that.

I wanted to see a Rusev/Ziggler feud around Payback. Dolph's not really doing anything and would be a sympathetic foil for Rusev to beat up. Even better would be Dolph somehow beating Rusev (again, referencing his NXT win over Rusev) and antagonize the Bulgarian Brute. Dolph could try and seduce Lana or something. Gives Rusev an actual personal rivalry that isn't just based on crushing.

* Swagger beats Rusev at Battleground.

* Rusev responds by crushing RVD on RAW and writing him off.

* Swagger and Rusev have an I Quit Match at SummerSlam or something, which Swagger wins. Because America.

* Rusev is super-pissed and misses out on Night of Champions, because you'll have a card packed with title matches.

* Hell in a Cell sees Rusev move into a feud with Ziggler. Dolph wins the first match.

* Survivor Series sees Rusev and Ziggler on opposing teams in an Elimination Match.

* Rusev and Ziggler have a Chairs Match or something at TLC. I know people might think I'm jobbing out Rusev a lot, but I think you could safely put over Ziggler here with him using an abundance of steel to clobber Rusev.

* Royal Rumble time for Rusev.

* Maybe Rusev gets his shit together in time to qualify for the Elimination Chamber?

* Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal time.

Just elaborating on what I had up there.

Fitting, because he often looks like he's moving a fridge. Bland bastard.

But they instead went with a gimmick that is very 1981.

I agree with the people talking about his ability vs how much meat is on his bones moving around the ring... but this whole pseudo-Russian deal trying to draw heat and Lana being the new Vickie Guererro to draw heat has a limited shelf life on top of barely working to begin with. It's boring to watch, and I don't care to even GET to seeing him in the ring if the whole presentaton bores the pants off of me. Then, on top of that, HE looks like he's not into being in a match.

Like tXt said, he should be built like "human suples and submission machine"... only they should start it off like they did when ECW dropped the whole Tazmaniac gimmick and he came back as Taz. Drop the "EVUL FURNER", refusing to speak English, Putin picture trolling, and just be a badass bully. Like Taz.

Then work on the fact that he looks like he's resigned to a menial task for the next 10 minutes.

I find this guy's gimmick cringeworthy from what I've seen on youtube.

Just another excuse for some wrasslers to wave the American flag around.

Seems pretty realistic to me. He's being built the same way as so many big guys before him - The Great Khali, Bobby Lashley, Umaga, Ryback - all of which were eventually fed to John Cena and then dropped down the card. Interestingly, two of those four have the same kind of "foreign monster" gimmick that Rusev is using now. Not so interestingly, all four of them are just as charisma-free as Rusev.

Is it a big loss? I don't think so. Maybe he'll get a re-packaged deal after this runs out and come back better than before (ala Bray Wyatt). Or maybe he'll just disappear to that place called TNA.

He reminds me of this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kozlov

It took me ages to remember his name. I suspect in five years time I'll be thinking the same of Rusev.

His ceiling is not nearly as high as his floor is low. He might have a token bad guy run with a mid card title or even the big belt, but with his character and moveset it will be short lived and unimpactful. Without major character development he can find himself in Khali-Santino territory by Summerslam 2015.

The difference is that Russia wasn't really in the news as a threat/powerhouse when Kozlov was there. It was seen more of a throwback to the old USSR gimmick. Now that Russia is in the news it's more relevant.

He'll never get the big belt(s) with this gimmick. Not gonna happen. Even when the titles were split, seeing Rusev win the WHC would've been considered a long shot.

It's too bad. My girlfriend is Bulgarian/Russian and kind of looks like Lana, which makes me inclined to try and like the couple. But I don't.

I thought she was Peruvian?

Hes about to be feed to reigns

Yeah, I really have a feeling they're gonna waste Rusev's first loss on an episode of Smackdown. Kinda like they did with The Shield.

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New entrance video + theme for Rusev.

This is how I see the booking meetings going from here on out:

"Lets get Rusev over!"
...
"Rusev is over now, how to we push him to the top?"
"Have him go over in a program with Cena"
"Ok but remember we have to make Cena look strong too"
... (Present Day)
"Rusev won by cheating last night, and Cena didn't tap out but only passed out"
"This is not good, now people think Rusev can beat Cena."
"Your right, lets have Rusev lose at the next PPV, but have him look strong."
"Ok, He will lose after 2 AAs"
...
"Cena and Rusev are 1-1 now"
"Should we book Rusev to beat Cena at Backlash?"
"No that's not good, we can't have Cena lose twice, it will make him look bad, especially since Rusev has a submission win over him"
"Right lets book Cena to Go over Rusev, but have Rusev look strong"
"Yes in a submission match, Cena will win with the STF"
...
"We don't really have anything for Rusev to do now"
"Lets create a comedy Tag Team with him and Sandow"

#POTY - tagging because MENTOK THE MINDTAKER

rusev look like slicky tricky damon if std weren't ratchet

it is sad that this is most likely what will happen

I'm a fan of Rusev's after Fastlane. I see him losing to John Cena at WrestleMania, but I hope an Attitude Adjustment from the second rope does it. That being said, I kind of want Bo Dallas to "inspire" Cena, and then toss in the towel for him at WrestleMania, moving Cena onto a program with Dallas and freeing up Rusev to go elsewhere. But that will not happen.

Would still love to see a Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler feud, with Dolph trying to seduce Lana.

Rusev wins Rubles in the bank and cashes in on Lesnar at Summerslam to win

Lana is a star in her own right. When Rusev loses his streak and fails to win back the US Title, I hope Lana actually ditches him, allowing Rusev to tear things up on his own, face or heel, and for Lana to get a new client.

I'm thinking that the WWE would be best to do John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, since Cena and Bryan are essentially in the same boat at the moment. Plus, they would have a great, emotionally-charged match. That leaves Rusev without an opponent. Bring in The Rock. He apparently asked to work with Rusev, because he heard he was from Rikishi's school. There is an unresolved and memorable issue there. Imagine if The Rock tapped out to The Accolade at WrestleMania...would be HUGE!

I can imagine the hype video for the match too. Lana doing a voiceover with quick cuts between her and Rusev looking serious in a dark rooms, talking about her mission and the beast she found to represent Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation. He wasn't born in Russia, but he was born in conditions that sculptured him to be the best. She staked her reputation on his reputation; her success on his success. No one can beat her super-athlete...

Cue The Rock showing up and making the challenge and with clips of some of the ways Rock makes fun of Lana and Rusev.
"Rusev has beaten the biggest..." *clips of Rusev beating Big Show* "The strongest..." *clips of Rusev beating Mark Henry* "And he has beaten the greatest WWE Champion..." *clips of Rusev beating John Cena*

They cut to a sit-down interview with Lana and Rusev with an off-camera interviewer.

INTERVIEWER: But is Rusev ready to beat the most electrifying man in sports and entertainment?

LANA: What does that even mean? Is he getting electrocuted or something?

It cuts back to Rusev's path of destruction, with the Lana voiceover talking about how Rusev is not intimidated by The Rock. He walks on red carpets, hands out awards, and has his million dollar smile -- but Rusev comes from a place where that dream was unobtainable. Rusev fought his way out, and Rusev fought his way up...to immortality.