6 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (April 27th)

2. The Fall Of The Soviet Union?

When Rusev burst onto the scene a little more than a year ago, he had a beautiful Russian mouthpiece in tow, the lovely Lana. For the past year, the duo have been a nearly perfect team, with Lana riling up the fans by telling them to €œShut up!€ and laying into them while exalting Vladimir Putin. Gradually over time, Rusev began talking more and more, to the point now where we rarely get to hear Lana speak. And now, WWE appears to be teasing a split between Rusev and Lana, with Lana responding to fans€™ €œWe want Lana!€ chants and the Bulgarian Brute sending her to the back. If this is being done to simply rile fans and make them hate Rusev more, then it€™s working. But if WWE is hellbent on splitting the two up, then they are effectively breaking this solid team up and sentencing them to a lifetime of mediocrity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQVqmucbX3w The pairing works because of how they play off and complement each other. Without Lana, Rusev is every other Russian villain who has come before him €“ such as Nikolai Volkoff or Vladimir Kozlov. Without Rusev, Lana is a Russian ice princess without a purpose. It just doesn€™t feel like a smart move at all.