10 Times WWE Totally Dropped The Ball On Rusev
4. Anticlimactic Return And Feuding With Bobby Lashley
Rusev was gone from WWE TV for many months in 2019 before finally returning on Raw one night removed from the Clash of Champions pay-per-view where it was teased that he was the father to Maria Kanellis' soon-to-be-born baby.
You'd think Rusev would have come back with more fanfare after such a long layoff, but apparently WWE thought otherwise.
Although that angle was quickly scrapped, he instead entered in an equally atrocious storyline soon after once Lana returned to Raw alongside Bobby Lashley. The segments that followed with Lana doing everything imaginable to spite Lashley were nothing short of dreadful, segments that have since become a staple of Raw every week.
What's worse is that the wedding of Lana and Lashley that took place on the final Raw of the decade drew a much larger Raw rating than usual, which will justify it in the mind of Vince McMahon and lead to it being dragged out as long as possible.
The argument that this rivalry has helped get Rusev over as a fan favorite couldn't be any more false. The former United States champion was already incredibly popular and he's simply made the most of what he's been given to the best of his ability.
With no end in sight, this storyline will continue to hold Rusev back from ever being taken seriously again.