10 Quick WWE Fixes To Save Rusev
Brute Force
Poor Rusev.
Just over two years ago, he was an undefeated United States Champion, entering his WrestleMania match against John Cena in an actual tank. The Russian national anthem played on the 'Show Of Shows' for the first time since Nikolai Volkoff had belted it out three decades earlier, with Lana resplendant in glory as she sashayed to the ring flanked by soldiers carrying his adopted flag.
It was camp, it was bombastic, and it was big.
And why not? 'The Bulgarian Brute' was, unequivocally, a big deal. A big deal, a big man, and most importantly, a big star. It was his night to lose, as 'The Champ' took his sideways step with the US Title, but the loss wasn't likely to derail the phenomenal momentum he'd built up with a character that shouldn't have even worked in the modern age.
That farcical festival may prove to be Rusev's lone WrestleMania moment.
Depressingly trackable, his decline since that point has been steep and unrelenting. A rotten love square storyline with Lana, Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae destroyed the remainder of his 2015, before his involvement in the incomparably dreadful League Of Nations stable did the same to his trajectory the following year.
He began 2017 shambling about on Raw with Jinder Mahal as his sidekick. How times quickly and inexplicably change. An April move to SmackDown Live! was yet another false dawn. With no more budget for tanks, what weapons do WWE still have in order to rehabilitate this once-prodigious talent?
10. The Head Of The Snake
The ten second annihilation of 'The Bulgarian Brute' at SummerSlam 2017 by Randy Orton was paradoxically the very best and worst thing about the sprawling supercard.
One on hand, audiences were spared a draining 'Viper' contest on a show that ideally should have had about three matches less than it actually did. The last the thing the six hour supershow needed was a 15 minute festival of chinlocks wedged between the hideous Big Show/Big Cass calamity and the mildly disappointing Sasha Banks/Alexa Bliss title switch.
However, Rusev was the unfortunate victim made to suffer the indignity of yet another humbling pay-per-view loss. The former United States Champion barely got a sniff of SmackDown Live!'s supposed 'opportunity' during his Battleground Flag Match with John Cena a month earlier, but he was at least permitted to last longer than it ordinarily takes the sprinting 'Champ' to make it from the ramp to the ring.
It was another glum attempt at 50/50 booking from the company in allowing Rusev a before-the-bell barrage to get his heat back before he actually lost it. Naturally that failed in its aim completely, and Orton's insta-RKO made him look a complete fool. Only a complete reversal of fortunes and finishes could fix the foible.
In a pay-per-view rematch, Orton should again go for his early finisher, but meet a reversal from Rusev that leads to a quick, deadly and decisive Accolade. Submitting Orton in such a fashion would immediately reestablish the brow-beaten Brute as a monster threat.