5. Establish The Alexander Rusev Invitational
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EtY_ugS_4Q While his in-ring style is a great selling point, one of Rusev's biggest strengths is his manager, Lana. With her Russian accent and carefully crafted business attire, she and Rusev invite comparisons to Ivan Drago and his wife in Rocky IV. They even lift the term "super athlete" directly from that film. Did you like Rocky IV? So did I, so I say milk that gimmick for all its worth! Rusev probably isn't going to make a big impression in time for a match at Wrestlemania, but his vignettes imply that his TV debut is imminent, so here's a tried and tested idea: Every week, him and Lana come out, and he stands in the ring while Lana issues an open challenge to any in the locker room. This has been done before by the likes of Rodney Mack with the White Boy Challenge and Chris Masters with the Masterlock challenge, so granted, its not exactly original, but it DOES work. She can go on about the Bulgarian spirit of competition to help sell it if necessary, it doesn't really matter, but the point is, it gets Rusev on TV every week. More importantly, by making his way through strings of jobbers, it gives Rusev a winning streak and establishes him as dominant. Another advantage of this "open challenge winning streak" scheme is that, eventually, someone has to break it. And that gives Rusev his first feud, ready made. So here's the idea.... a few weeks before Wrestlemania, Alexander Rusev issues the Invitational Challenge every Raw and Smackdown, every week. He can either make his way through local talent, regular jobbers, it can be used as part of someone else's storyline (IE, Roman Reigns and The Shield are feuding, Roman takes part in the Challenge, Ambrose comes out and costs him a victory) and eventually a week or two after Wrestlemania, someone like, ooooooh...... lets say Dolph Ziggler beats it through pure luck or Rusev making a mistake. Angry at being beaten, Rusev sets his sights of "breaking" Dolph Ziggler. Which leads me neatly to my next point...
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Stephen Maher has been a rock star, a bouncer, a banker and a busker on various streets in various countries. He's hung out with Robert Plant, he was at Nelson Mandela's birthday and he's swapped stories with prostitutes and crack addicts. He once performed at a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras by accident. These days, he passes the time by writing about music, wrestling, games and other forms of nerdery. And he rarely drinks the blood of the innocent.
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