7 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE Extreme Rules 2018

2. Rusev Gets Cup Of Coffee

AJ Styles Rusev
WWE.com

Sorry for those hoping for a Happy Rusev Day, but there wasn’t much chance that the Bulgarian Brute was leaving Pittsburgh with the WWE Championship.

Still, Rusev had a nice title match with champion AJ Styles, hanging in there in his first world title bout and looking like a credible challenger, even if he was just the flavor of the month. An injured leg hampered him, especially when he went for the Accolade, and ultimately Styles nailed a springboard 450 splash and Phenomenal Forearm to retain the title.

Rusev might not sniff another title shot for a bit, but it was good to see him get the shot here. Every once in a while, a champ needs a “challenger of the month” to defend against, and if done correctly, it can make the opponent look more credible and boost his standing a bit. Hopefully, that’s the case here, as Rusev clearly has his fans and supporters in WWE.

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Contributor

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.