10 Awful WWE Clichés That Refuse To Go Away
8. Foreign Heels
The “foreign villain” character trope has been prominent in wrestling for decades. It has, in fairness, birthed some of the all-time greatest heels, and the likes of The Iron Sheik are rightly revered and celebrated for their ability to draw heat. Its time has come and gone, however, and while “I hate America” used to be all you needed to get a heel character over, it’s not enough anymore.
There’ll never be another Iron Sheik or Nikolai Volkoff. The sport has evolved, lazy character archetypes have largely been left behind, and fans demand more from their gimmicks. The generic, stereotypical “foreign boogeyman” act doesn’t work anymore, but that hasn’t stopped WWE from perpetuating its use.
Rusev stands as a strong example. He’s one of the best performers in WWE today, but he didn’t start peaking until he and Lana started dropping their characters’ more cringeworthy aspects. They still don’t like America, but they’ve stopped waving Russian flags and displaying Vladimir Putin’s visage on the Titantron. Now, they’re over primarily on the strength of their characters, not their adherence to outdated stereotypes.
Jingoism doesn’t work anymore, and it's borderline insulting that foreign performers are still pigeonholed into such roles.