10 Wrestlers Who Deserve A Big Push After WWE Royal Rumble 2018
1. Rusev
In terms of crowd reactions, Rusev is SmackDown's hottest wrestler at the moment, and it's not even close.
The Rusev Day gimmick is fantastic. The chants dominate every show, and they were particularly loud during the Rumble, with fans breaking into them throughout the big man's 30-minute run. It's the same every single week on SmackDown, too, and on top of this, 'The Bulgarian Brute' recently topped the company's merchandise sales chart, proving his worth as a marketable commodity.
We always knew the talent was there, as he's a guy who specialises in taking some of the worst ideas to ever escape a WWE creative meeting and making them gold, but the past few months show the crowd connection is there too. Not capitalising on this surge would be the company's loss, but sadly, they do have prior form - just ask Daniel Bryan.
Regardless, WWE must take full advantage of Rusev's popularity while it's still there. The fans are firmly behind him at the moment, but if their enthusiasm isn't reflected in a push, they'll eventually give up, as we've seen countless times before. Give him a big pre-'Mania singles push leading into an eventual WWE Title program, and all will be right in the world.