10 Biggest WWE Creative Mistakes Of 2019 (So Far)
7. Rusev & Nakamura In General
Few WWE wrestlers have endured worse years than Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, both of whom currently find themselves lost in the abyss as the Wild Card Rule strangles opportunities for anyone outside the company's immediate main event scene.
Their 2019s began with a careless feud built around Shinsuke supposedly injuring Lana in the build-up. A dull-as-dishwater Royal Rumble match followed. 'The Ravishing Russian' was hurt again as Nakamura retained his United States Championship, seemingly delaying Rusev's payback for a later date. This didn't happen, and rather than chasing vengeance, 'The Bulgarian Brute' decided him and Nak should be pals instead, with the duo coming together to batter R-Truth.
Just... what?!
Things haven't improved since then. They were bit-parters in a SmackDown Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania 35, but have wrestled just four televised betweens between them since then. Rusev is now on hiatus and his partner hasn't been seen on SmackDown since April. Individually and collectively, they're deader than dead.
Thrown together tag teams rarely work, and Nakamura and Rusev are one of the finest modern examples of this. Let's hope they find something more interesting to do when Rusev returns.