10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Rusev

10. Praising Vladimir Putin

They toned it down as the year's progressed, but Rusev and Lana's initial main roster act saw the duo presented as a couple of Russophillic anti-Americans, planting them firmly in textbook "evil foreign heel" territory. Though Bulgarian, Rusev was referred to as a 'Hero Of The Russian Federation,' and with Lana as his mouthpiece, he spent his time locked in nation vs. nation power struggles.

The duo would constantly cut promos trumpeting Russia's apparent superiority, which had its ups and downs. The gimmick made people boo them, but it supposedly brought Rusev legitimate heat in his home country, and Lana's reference to the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash in 2014 attracted bags of negative press - as did their constant praise of Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president often cropped up in their work, with his image projected onto the Titantron as a means of drawing heat. This always felt a little cheap, but given the controversy surrounding Russia, Donald Trump, and alleged election hacking years later, WWE would do well to scrub it from history.