This is one of those live television moments that can make or break a program. During Rusevs celebration after beating up Erick Rowan, the explosion that typically accompanies the unfurling of the Russian flag sounded, but the flag didnt fall as planned. Instead, only a small section dangled while the rest remained encased. That sort of mistake could have resulted in Rusev and Lana standing there like geeks. Instead, both started yelling angrily, while the announcers immediately speculated that John Cena had something to do with it. Rusev quickly grabbed the Russian flag at ringside and waved it furiously, successfully covering for the error. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUF--wioITA Its entirely possible that WWE has rehearsed this reaction as a fallback option if the flag malfunctions, in which case, thats just smart planning that paid off. But if this was improvised, then everyone deserves credit for rolling with the punches. Either way, the moment added to the program rather than taking away.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
