Alexander Rusev officially debuted after Wrestlemania and has been extremely impressive this year. The foreign heel is a tried-and-true method of generating heat, and Rusev has taken advantage of it. It certainly helps that his manager (and real-life girlfriend) is Lana, who is extremely easy on the eyes and a big part of why his act is so over. Theyve basically been playing off the U.S./Russia friction over the past year. The only problem isRusev isnt Russian. Hes Bulgarian. Bulgaria is located 300 miles away from Russia. He debuted as the Bulgarian Brute, and that would have been enough for him to stay over as the foreigner heel. But much like WWE didnt think that fans would cheer a Canadian in 2004 and made Chris Jericho hail from Long Island and Chris Benoit hail from Atlanta, creative didnt think that Rusev being Bulgarian was enough. They said he moved to Russia and fought for Russia, and the Russian flag would fly after each of his victories. It was really bad timing for WWE, because these storylines were done in extremely bad taste. Earlier this year, there was intense clashes in Europe after Russia invaded the Ukraine, and thousands of people lost their lives. It looked like once again, WWE was capitalizing on other peoples suffering.
