8 Amazing Wrestling Gimmicks That Died Too Soon

After an initial run that included facing John Cena at WrestleMania 31, Rusev found himself a 'Bulgarian Brute' without any discernible direction. Losing three PPVs in a row to Cena didn't help his trajectory, and his stint in the doomed League of Nations faction began two years of mid-to-lower card nothingness that saw him essentially become nothing more than a jobber with a generic foreign gimmick.

That Rusev would constantly deliver flourishes to his character, even while clearly being out of favour with the creative team, was a very irritating frustrating state of affairs. The zenith of this unfair dichotomy came when the Bulgarian delivered his masterpiece with Rusev Day. Declaring every day as Rusev Day, he nailed wrestling fan humour perfectly, especially when delivered with a stoney-faced seriousness that only highlighted the comedic silliness of the whole thing.

Former member of the Vaudvillains, Aiden English, was added to the mix, but the whole package's enormous popularity with fans was never translated into the kind of push that it deserved. Considering this constant ignoring of how over the catchphrase was, it was no real surprise when WWE let Rusev go, no matter how unjust it felt.