Its very obvious that WWE has high expectations for the Bulgarian Brute, bringing him up slow and strong with squashes over midcarders with established names. Whats also obvious is that the fans couldnt give less of a s**t about him. Part of a recent crop of NXT call-ups that have already debuted or will do so soon, Rusev is a very athletic big man with a stoic attitude and built like a coke machine. Hes thus far undefeated in singles competition but his matches have garnered zero crowd heat. Part of the reason for this is that, much in the same vein as Paul Heyman did for Ryback and Curtis Axel, Rusevs manager and real life love interest outshines him in every way. The Ravishing Russian (Floridian) has become a big hit with crowds, with Lana being the source of the only real interest in the foreign menaces appearances. Her business attire, ridiculously toned legs and sultry fake Russian accent has all eyes on her, and once her charges match begins the crowds quickly lose interest. Creative has even resorted to using Vladimir Putin for some cheap heel heat. The problem is that the idea of big foreign heel doesnt really work in 2014 the same as it did in 1984. Hulk Hogan made a career of vanquishing the nefarious outsider, but it doesnt play as well today. If WWE were to go a different direction with Rusev, they may be able to get something more out of him, but the likelier scenario is that he ends up in a comedy role alongside Santino or a "wacky" tag team with Fandango.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
