10 WWE Heels Who Were Actually Babyfaces In Disguise
5. Rusev
There’s a strong argument to be made that Rusev is the most valiant babyface in WWE today. Big and mean he may be, but everything Rusev does is with the intent of defending his wife’s honour. The Bulgarian Brute has been routinely belittled, mocked, and bullied by WWE’s apparent “good guys” for several years now, and the trend shows no sign of reversing.
It started with John Cena, who squashed Rusev into oblivion in 2015, and continued with the disastrous Summer Rae/Dolph Ziggler angle. In 2016, Rusev encountered Roman Reigns who, among other things, ruined his wedding ceremony for absolutely no reason, and WWE compounded this by expecting fans to boo for the guy when Enzo tried to sleep with Lana.
Rusev should theoretically be one of the biggest heels in the company. USA vs. the world storylines are tired and overdone, but he was drawing heat like nobody’s business a year or two ago. He and Lana have been able to survive their poor booking thanks to their skill as performers, but few current WWE superstars have more right to feel pissed-off than them at the moment. Almost everything they do is a response to someone else’s bullying, and there’s little reason to actually boo them at the moment.