10 Times WWE Totally Dropped The Ball On Rusev
2. Suffering His First Loss Against John Cena
Being broken apart from Lana in 2015 was the latest nail in the coffin of Rusev's WWE career, but the first was his feud with John Cena earlier that year.
Based off how he was portrayed as the ultimate evil foreigner throughout 2014 and ended the year as United States champion, it couldn't have been more obvious that he was headed for a rivalry with Mr. USA himself, John Cena. Of course, it was a major spot for Rusev to be in as he closed out his rookie year on the main roster, but how he looked coming out of their WrestleMania match was imperative.
It was one year earlier that Bray Wyatt lost to Cena at WrestleMania for no reason at all, so it wasn't a stretch to think that Rusev would suffer a similar fate. Sure enough, he was on the losing end of their one-on-one outing and went on to lose the next two pay-per-view rematches as well.
Unlike his rivalry with Roman Reigns over the star-spangled prize, at least Cena's time with the title was well spent. Rusev, on the other hand, spiraled down the card following his string of losses and never truly recovered.