6. The Demise Of Rusev
Poor Rusev. This time last year he was a top level heel in WWE, bringing credibility and legitimacy in spades. He was undefeated, he was the United States Champion, he was going to be a top heel for the company for a while to come. He was the runner up in the 2015 Royal Rumble, lasting longer than anyone else except Bray Wyatt and eliminating more people than anyone else (along with Wyatt and Roman Reigns). Fast forward to 2016, and the difference is as depressing as it is frustrating. Roman Reigns and Rusev started out the match this year because WWE loves symmetry, and the writing was on the wall for the Bulgarian Brute. A short flurry of attacks gave him a strong start, but you can get a good impression of his performance by how long he was in the match. One minute, 30 seconds. Tossed with ease, Rusev has been blunted irreparably.
John Bills
Contributor
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
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