Ranking All 15 WWE Debuts & Returns From 2025
8. Rusev
Similar to Aleister Black, Rusev left AEW and returned to WWE after a five-year hiatus and immediately stationed himself in the Raw midcard for the bulk of the year.
His return was underwhelming, spending weeks cutting pre-tape promos and squashing Alpha Academy, before he began a feud with Sheamus. The rivalry featured your typical “hard guys who hit each other hard” fare, but they did managed to put on an entertaining Good Ol’ Fashioned Donnybrook match at Clash in Paris.
From there, Rusev became embroiled in a feud with Penta and Dominik Mysterio over Dirty Dom’s Intercontinental Championship, though neither man could wrest the title from him. Most recently, Rusev unsuccessfully vied to be John Cena’s final opponent in the Last Time Is Now tournament.
After an uneven start, Rusev found his lane, playing more to the crowd and going bigger with his in-ring persona. While no one is pointing at him as a future world champion, he’s firmly entrenched himself in a Raw midcard that is full of capable wrestlers and is a likely challenger and even a legit candidate to wear IC gold in 2026.