8 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 18)

6. God Bless Rusev

Rusev Christmas
WWE

Rusev, like the star he is, cut the sort of characterful promo that serves to remind us that some acts are immune to wasteful booking.

He’s barely won a match of note in an age, but when he referred to himself as a “handsome” man—a “hunk”!—he put a smile on people’s faces, which, apparently, is what Vince wants from the millennials he so obviously despises. You can’t not smile when Rusev is in such rich comedic form. Immune also to awful pop culture references, Rusev referred to upcoming opponent Shinsuke Nakamura as “Sonic The Hedgehog”. A useless reference in the mouth of virtually anybody else, Rusev’s Bulgarian brogue put it over as something actually funny.

Later in the night, Shinsuke Nakamura ran a highlight reel of Rusev’s organic Total Divas comedic brilliance. This was actually fresh, as opposed to 2000-style A McMahon In Every Corner Of WWE Programming.

Usually, comedy drives too many Championship programmes; here, Nakamura portrayed Rusev as a clown in order to put forward the idea that he doesn’t belong anywhere near gold.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!