10 Monster Pushes That WWE Totally Wasted
7. Rusev
Rusev is one of Raw’s most pointless wrestlers in 2017.
Having spent the year’s first few months teaming with Jinder Mahal, Rusev now looks set to feud with the lowly former 3MB member. He hasn’t won a match on Raw since he and Jinder overcame Big Cass in a handicap match on January 2nd, and much like Umaga before him, Rusev’s run near the top was all too brief.
Debuting in the 2014 Royal Rumble, Rusev made an immediate impact. It took four wrestlers to eliminate him, and it didn’t take long for his and Lana’s pro-Russia/anti-USA gimmick to get over. It was a hokey gimmick, but it absolutely worked, and by the time he had defeated Sheamus for the United States Championship, Rusev was one of the biggest heels in the company.
He was backing it up with his performances, too. Rusev has been a tremendous wrestler from the moment he arrived, and his character work has improved to a surprising degree. He’s currently one of the most impressive all-round performers on Raw, but he can’t buy a win at the moment. His push is dead and gone.
It ended when he ran into John Cena at WrestleMania 31. Rusev lost two further matches to Cena afterwards, and has been on the slide ever since. From the Summer Rae/Dolph Ziggler angle to the League of Nations, Rusev’s post-Cena bookings have been disastrous, and his monster push feels like a distant memory.