10 Times WWE Used Major News Events In Questionable Taste
3. Malaysian Airlines Flight 17
The WWE isn't one to let petty details like the fact two countries are different from one another get in the way of a juicy booking idea. Rusev was billed as 'the Bulgarian Brute' since his time in NXT and even had a Bulgarian flag tattooed on his biceps. When relations between the US and Russia deteriorated in 2014 the WWE realised they could slap a Russian gimmick on Rusev to increase his heelability. He and his valet Lana began dedicating victories to Vladimir Putin, whose image was enthusiastically booed by the crowd, and flaunting the Russian flag whenever possible.
Prior to the Battleground PPV that year, Lana railed against how Americans "blame Russia for the recent current events," a clear reference to the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine on 7 July. All 298 people on board died, a fact the WWE probably should have taken into account before using the event to scavenge some cheap heat for a psuedo-Russian wrestler and his Rocky IV-themed valet.