10 Superstars You Forgot Competed For A World Championship On WWE PPV
9. Rusev – vs. AJ Styles for the WWE Championship (Extreme Rules 2018)
With AJ Styles cruising after besting Shinsuke Nakamura in a gravely underwhelming WWE Championship series, his title reign needed fresh opponents to sustain audience investment.
Boy, did he get one.
During his run with the merchandise moving ‘Rusev Day’ catchphrase, the Super Athlete developed into one of the most entertaining characters on WWE’s roster. Paired with Aiden English, the act proved wildly popular with crowds, as Rusev Day chants reigned down in arenas worldwide, despite Rusev technically still being heel.
In the lead up to 2018’s Extreme Rules event, WWE temporarily gave in to their audiences’ wishes, booking Rusev to face champion Styles, launching him into World Title contention for the first and only time on PPV.
Re-watching makes it all the more upsetting that Rusev never reached his true potential in WWE, but it’s worth it, because Rusev was in beast mode for this absolute blinder.
Both men had the WWE Universe in the palm of their hand, during an intense battle featuring strongly-sold injuries and a thrilling sequence of near falls, ending when Styles rattled the challenger with a blistering phenomenal forearm to retain his belt. It was a fantastic effort by Rusev, a match which should have further proved to management that he belonged in high-profile spots like this.
Oh what could have been.