7 Times WWE Used Wrestlers To Capitalise On US Foreign Policy

In the post-Hogan years the WWF experienced a noticeable downturn in business and the controversial use of the Gulf War was often sited as a reason why viewers turned off at the beginning of the nineties. Throughout the rest of the decade and and the early noughts foreign heels were not tied as obviously to foreign policy. The booing of foreigners and chants of "U-S-A" they received were more of an institutionalised response due to years of conditioning by the WWF. That changed with the Rusev storyline in 2014.

The Russian annexation of part of Ukraine caused tensions between the East and West to reach their highest since the end of the Cold War. WWE and McMahon saw a chance to recapture the formula that worked in the eighties with Volkoff. This saw Rusev change from a "Bulgarian Brute" to the "Hero of the Russian Federation" over night and suddenly he and "the Ravishing Russian" Lana cut promos underneath a massive Russia flag and dedicated his matches Vladimir Putin.

However the story line cut too closely to the bone when Lana appeared to allude to the attack on Malaysian airlines flight 17 in which 298 people died. Marissa Payne of the Washington post called the angle tasteless and the modern WWE audience, who were now more aware of the backstage workings and story line creative, rejected the concept.

WWE was forced to deny any link between the promo and the real life event. The Rusev character did continue with the pro-Russia gimmick but it was noticeable less pronounced. Rusev he faced John Cena, the Hulk Hogan of the twenty-first century, at WrestleMania in 2015. The throwback American Hero versus Russian villain and the predictable win for the pro-American John Cena was met with a lacklustre fan response due in part to the controversy but the response also shows the audience had simply grown tired of the use of US foreign policy in their wrestling.