10 Times WWE Punished Success

8. Rusev

Rusev Day
WWE.com

Congratulations for reading this article on 'Rusev Day'. What a blessed day it is. Buy the t-shirt from WWE Shop. Hell, buy a couple of the things, but don't dare overshadow others by treating the man who invented it like he's a bigger star than he is during episodes of Raw and SmackDown. Don't dare.

That was the attitude towards Rusev and his mock holiday when the Bulgarian's comedic routine resonated with fans in 2017. Oddly, the gimmick was born from a legit event; Rusev returned to his hometown of Plovdiv and was handed a key to the city by the mayor. This is something WWE rightly decided to capitalise on by showing footage.

Then, they decided to "machka" his push when fans ran with it.

Rather than giving Rusev a thumbs up for making something out of nothing and creating merch dollars aplenty, the promotion's top brass decided this whole 'Rusev Day' thing was a nuisance. They squashed the potential for a hot babyface run quickly because it didn't fit into plans to keep Rusev as a midcard heel.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.