10 Things That Made Us Embarrassed To Be Wrestling Fans In 2016

Rusev and Lana have developed into two of WWE’s most enjoyable performers, but they had a pretty rotten year. As United States Champion, Rusev looked like he was en route to finally recovering all the momentum he lost through feuding with John Cena in 2015, but Roman Reigns came along and ruined everything. Now, he finds himself locked into an equally tedious feud with Enzo Amore & Big Cass, where he, once again, is the victim, and the “faces” are the aggressors.

Enzo’s interactions with Lana have been particularly terrible. For some reason, Amore, when shut out of his locker-room, thought it’d be perfectly acceptable to parade around the corridor naked and try to flirt with Rusev’s bride. The Bulgarian Brute rightly kicked his ass for this transgression, but the feud rumbles on, and it got even cringier the following week.

Rusev and Lana set a ruse for Enzo where they’d exploit Lana’s allure to goad Enzo into what he thought was a lewd hotel room rendezvous. It was the most obvious set-up in the world, but Enzo fell for it, and Rusev predictably beat the snot out of him. An embarrassing angle all-round, and not just for Enzo’s rank stupidity: WWE’s hamfistedness and completely lack of subtley with romance angles is alive and well in 2016, and this is the evidence.