10 Things You Learn From Boycotting WWE For One Year

9. They Dropped The Ball With Rusev (As We Knew They Would)

Rusev was one of my favourites this time last year. Even though it was completely obvious where they were going with his storyline, and even though the undefeated streak is a dangerous card to play (see Goldberg, Bill) he was the epitome of what was positive about traditional wrestling booking. He was a big Bulgarian (sorry€€™Russian€™) who celebrated Putin, wrestled in bare feet, and stomped all over the American wrestlers he faced. It was both hilarious and entertaining. Lots of fans were worried that when he inevitably had a confrontation with Cena it would end his streak, and his character would become a joke. Seeing him in a lame stable called the League of Nations not only annoyed the historian in me (the League of Nations might have been a failure but they were the good guys regardless) but it also immediately made me worry that those fears had come to fruition. I did a little bit of searching and sure enough Rusev is now dead. I found that Lana had broken Kayfabe, which was for some reason unforgivable in this case (which I assume means we don€™t have to be force fed Stephanie and HHH€™s sickening exploitations of charitable causes from here on out) and that basically after losing to Cena at WrestleMania his stock had declined rapidly. All that build was done and dusted, and all those other guys that lay down for him were now worth even less. Such an easy selling property was wasted with one match €“ and after the shock of seeing Reigns over, this seemed more like the WWE I was familiar with.