10 Current WWE Superstars That Belong In Another Era
4. Rusev - 1997 WWF
WWE were given a free pass from the Philadelphia crowd when Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy bizarrely collaborated on Rusev's elimination from the 2018 Royal Rumble match. 'Rusev Day' remains the most organically over act on the show at time of writing, despite WWE's careful attempt to stifle it without triggering a Daniel Bryan-sized backlash. That this sort of nonsense even goes on flies in the face of one of the company's all-time audience acknowledgments.
Believe the hype behind the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin at your peril - Austin 3:16 signs weren't dotted amongst the Monday Night Raw the night after King of the Ring 1996, nor was he at the top of Vince McMahon's agenda despite melting the screen with his searing indictment of Jake Roberts and the company at large.
But he was by the end of the year, and had anointed himself the undisputed next top babyface by WrestleMania 13. There was no stopping his rise from then - McMahon would have been silly to ignore the adulation.
As he is today, and as he was in 2013 with the 'Yes Movement'. Rusev Day shirts could sell by their millions, but if the 'Bulgarian Brute' isn't the guy, he's not the guy. If he was getting those reactions in 1997, he'd have been giving Mike Tyson an Accolade by 1998.