10 Bad Habits WWE Must Kick In 2017
7. Bullying Rusev
At this stage in his career, Rusev should be one of WWE’s biggest heels. The anti-USA schtick is easy heat, and he’s a big, dominant power wrestler who excels at bullying his opponents in the ring. He and Lana have drawn monstrous heat at various points in their career, and while the John Cena feud and Dolph Ziggler love triangle angle harmed their momentum, they made a full recovery earlier this year.
Rusev is a tremendous all-round performer, but he isn’t really a heel anymore. The Bulgarian Brute is continually picked-on, bullied, and pushed around by WWE’s so-called babyfaces, and it has created a huge disconnect with the character’s alignment.
Recent months have seen Roman Reigns ruin Rusev and Lana’s wedding ceremony for no good reason whatsoever, then treat the former United States Champion like dirt en route to their Hell In A Cell showdown. Enzo Amore, meanwhile, thinks it's completely acceptable to parade around completely naked in front of another man’s wife, and when Big Cass lays his hands on Rusev, we’re supposed to see it as punishment due.
Luring Enzo into a hotel room beatdown was shady, but Enzo probably deserved it. At this point, Rusev is actually one of WWE’s most valiant characters. Every action is driven by a desire to protect him and his wife’s honour, and he has done almost nothing wrong over the past few months. Rusev is a victim, not an aggressor, and that must change if we’re to take him seriously as a heel again.