8 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Sept 23)
4. Rusev Return Falls Flat
First, it’s great to see Rusev back on WWE programming, as his last TV match before last week was in April. (We’ll overlook his spot in the 50-man battle royal at Super Showdown in June.)
However, Rusev returned last week – without wife Lana – as the announced father of Maria Kanellis’ unborn child. That likely is a ruse, but it was left hanging last week. A married man was declared to be the father of another wrestler’s wife’s child. Wouldn’t that be something more?
Monday, Rusev returned to action against EC3 (who was in his first “match” on Raw since May, which was the inaugural 24/7 Championship bout). Rusev came out, sans Lana, and the announcers (unless this writer completely missed it) never mentioned the Maria Kanellis baby angle. If they did, it was barely a blip.
The match was just bland, a basic squash seemingly with no purpose other than to re-establish that Rusev can wrestle. Spoiler: We already knew that.
Oh, and “Rusev Day” – one thing that really got fans to rally around the Bulgarian Brute – appears to be no more. Here’s hoping they can give Rusev some real direction soon.