2017 WWE Superstar Shake-Up Ranked - From Worst To Best

9. Rusev

Rusev Randy Orton
WWE.com

How to judge Rusev? On the one hand, 'The Bulgarian Brute' is up there with Luke Harper in terms of under-utilised superstars. The man from Plovdiv has the size, the talent, the ability, and the charisma to be an absolute megastar, yet WWE seems reluctant on using him in any way other than as a gatekeeper heel.

If you accept that Rusev’s current position is also his ceiling, then he has been a fine acquisition for SmackDown live. His feud with Randy Orton wasn’t an all-time classic, but it allowed Rusev to form a partnership with Aiden English that gives the 'Drama King' a chance to grow. Rusev is making those around him better.

The prevailing feeling is that he should be in a more prominent position though. Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship run was boring at best, and it is easy to say that the same results (or even better ones) would have been achieved with Rusev as champion. With that in mind, its a thumbs up thumbs down sort of spot for the former United States Champion.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.