Dolph, Lana, Rusev & Summer Rae

[MCMG]

I'm not into this at all which is weird. I like Ziggler, I like Rusev and both Summer and Lana are hot so I should be. The star in this feud is Rusev. He has been fantastic and some of his one-liners are priceless. I also love his tracksuit.

The injury has definitely hampered Rusev's momentum and they are doing the best in a difficult situation while trying to keep him on TV. I'm not sure when he is meant to return but a feud with Ziggler is a good one. They will have decent matches and Rusev will win.

The Ziggler contract situation is interesting. What if he doesn't resign and Rusev isn't healthy to wrestle him? Then this would all be a massive waste. Indeed, if Ziggler does leave, I'm really looking forward to a loser leaves town match. Would be a great story.

Summer's inclusion might suggest Lana has been training in the ring but that is unlikely. Where Lana goes from this is difficult to predict but I'm not a fan of her and Ziggler together. I suppose she may end up back with Rusev.

 

[kadroan]

Personally, I thought last night's segment featuring these four was easily the low point of Raw. There's just so much wrong with this segment that I'd normally say that it'd be easier to list what's right, but the problem is that I couldn't find anything right, at least not from my perspective.

For one thing, I got no sense of chemistry between either of the two "couples" and it makes the whole thing feel extremely awkward and the whole thing just screams of the sort of segment that Vince finds extremely entertaining. For another, and this possibly gives me the impression of it being Vince's baby more than anything else, is the stereotypically outdated way in which Lana and Summer Rae were depicted. Essentially, you had a couple of attractive women in very short skirts getting into a cat fight, with Lana's skirt being so short & tight that any sudden movements causes the hem to essentially bunch up almost to her waist. As a red blooded heterosexual male, I've got no problems with attractive women wearing clothing showing what they got but, as a wrestling fan, it irritates me to see them essentially portrayed as though they have nothing to offer than all sorts of aesthetically pleasing features and curves. The segment did seem to get a pretty big pop by the time it was all finished, though I'm thinking it had more to do with the sight of two hot blondes rolling around on the canvas while one's skirt was so short that any quick movement caused it to be hiked damn near up to her neck.

Another problem I have is that they've essentially turned Rusev, who was, aside from Brock Lesnar, the most "feared" heel on the roster for over a year, into a whining, sniveling 285 pound pussy. Rusev's portrayal, along with the storyline as a whole and the women cat fighting, screams of a horrendous soap opera inspired angle, though even this is tacky, cheap, awkward and just flat out nonsensical even by soap opera standards.

I get where you're coming from. I wish they could redo the angle back in 2003 when Austin made Kane turn back into a monster after losing his mask. I guess the way they could do it in present day WWE is probably have Kane or HHH try to motivate Rusev.

 

[Navi]

The worst part of this whole thing is as someone else said, Rusev has lost all the momentum he had, and is now coming off looking worse than an embittered ex-wife. Men think this angle is ridiculous, women are rolling their eyes, and kids either don't understand it or care.

The biggest issue the WWE will have is, when Rusev returns to beat the shit out of Ziggler for stealing his woman, no one is going to care one way or the other. The story line is so bad it's turning everyone off. The more it goes it the worse it will get not only for all involved but the fans as well. This smacks of Vince getting his paws on it. This kind of crap is right up his alley.

 

[chicagokmc]

This angle had one major benefit...it kept both Rusev and Lana relevant during a period where Rusev could not wrestle. I really don't know how else you could keep him around when he clearly couldn't wrestle. He did seem kind of pussy-ish at times but last night was a clear step in bringing back to being a badass. I'd rather have seen this than some "peel back the curtain in-depth" interviews with Rusev that we've seen recently with wrestlers like Ryback and Reigns.

 

[laodaron]

The biggest issue the WWE will have is, when Rusev returns to beat the shit out of Ziggler for stealing his woman, no one is going to care one way or the other.

I think that the Chicago smark crowd would disagree with this assessment.

 

[Just Do It]

stealing his woman

Women aren't property, they can't be stolen.

 

[laodaron]

Women aren't property, they can't be stolen.

They can be in kayfabe, so don't be pedantic.

The angle is that Dolph convinced Lana to be with him instead of Rusev.

 

[SJ5522]

They can be in kayfabe, so don't be pedantic.

The angle is that Dolph convinced Lana to be with him instead of Rusev.

Nah, the angle is that she grew so tired of Rusev and his abusive ways that within 15 minutes, she just had to turn up during Ziggler's promo and randomly kiss him with no hint of a story. THAT's why people thinks it's such a shitty angle. Well thats why I think it's a shitty angle anyway. Then weeks later, cos Summer Rae takes a shine to lovely polite Rusev (cos why wouldn't you hey? having seen him order his ex about like he did.. seeing that he clearly isn't over his ex and how out of control he can get) so now she's stuck to him like glue, and she supposedly enjoys being talked to like crap (A Common Female Trait in WWE land).
Maybe WWE could take the opportunity to make a serious point about domestic abuse that would serve to educate the younger viewers who don't know what the hell is going on, but will they fuck
If this wasn't bad enough, a real genuine couple had to on-screen "split up" to facilitate this. Just the purest drizzling shits.
This is what I talk about when I say most the women in WWE are either given no personality or they never had one, so either come off as Generic Bitchy Diva or just a complete hanger-on to some man (and then some other man 4 seconds later). This nearly single-handedly sums up why I make no attempt to try and get my friends into wrestling.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

They might as well just release Rusev or turn him into a rosebud instead of just delaying it. The guy never had a chance after being introduced as a foreign heel monster. The second someone beat him he would drop almost all steam and never recover. For reasons unknown to me, the first guy to beat him 3 times happened to be Cena of all people instead of Idk Balor or someone debuting that could have used a rub.

This story is awful and screams of creative's intents to keep Rusev however relevant they can before they realize foreign heel monsters who were already made to look like fools have a practically non existant shelf life. Im surprised at anyone who didn't see this coming for Rusev.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I know this angle has been a pretty big drag and an insult to everyone's intelligence but last night's segment was terrific. I thought Rusev's injury was going to drag on for a lot longer so I felt genuine shock by not just the initial beat down but by the removal of the boot. The crutch shot to the neck was icing on the cake and actually made me feel like for the first time that Ziggler's overselling was perfect.

Even the spot where Lana tried to step in and Summer Rae caught her and threw her (panties exposed) out of the ring seemed perfectly timed and executed.

Now I hope Lana and Dolph continue the story by coming out angry and a little humble when they return instead of continuing to be the cocky couple with no chemistry.

An image of Lana taping her fists before a commercial would keep me glued to the TV for a full commercial break.

Never mind, Vince will probably just have Ziggler go out and make a joke about how Lana would never let Rusev "Putin" her ass.

 

[PeterSellersSTL]

When during any point during this angle has Rusev failed to get a reaction and heat? You don't like the angle fine, but considering he was nursing an injury Rusev has done a tremendous job of moving his character forward and staying on television and now he's back. Back, to get it ALL back.

Even after Cesaro's two tremendous matches back-to-back I'd rather be Rusev right now. They're teasing a Cesaro push but until I see it, he's in limbo.

I would rather be Rusev than Ambrose. I'd rather be Rusev than Orton. I'd rather be in Rusev's spot than Ryback's. Ryback is just barely keeping the IC title warm. As bad as some of you think Rusev's angle is ask yourself would you rather have Ziggler vs Rusev for the IC title or Ryback Big Show and the Miz?

He's trending up more than Wade KOTR Barrett. He has more direction than a lot of people on the roster. What's Neville doing? Losing to Jericho - wait - tapping to Jericho in Japan.

Rusev doesn't tread water, he keeps moving forward, he can move into any title scene and shake it up overnight. Ziggler doesn't even know if he wants to sign his contract - this feud has been the Rusev show.

The man delivers.

He's a big time player, he's a guy you can trust to challenge himself and re-invent himself. His psychology, his acting, his ring work, athleticism. He's the real deal.

A lot of people credit Cena with reviving the US title but Rusev had a huge part to play in getting the title to Wrestlemania for the first time in 9 years. The man delivers. Cesaro held the US title for 239 days, anything memorable?

 

[MartialHorror]

I've found this angle to be awful. Ziggler and Lana have no chemistry and it feels like a girl and her gay friend are pretending to be a couple in order to make the ex jealous. I'm not insinuating that Dolph is gay, but he doesn't even seem to be attracted to Lana. I can't even say it seems like he's just trying to get laid, because he always looks so bored during these 'couple promos'.

Instead of being a story about a repressed girl breaking free and finding love, it seems like they're just trolling a guy who can't fight back until he's crippled- until it turns out that he's no longer crippled. At least Rusev isn't sympathetic either, which might make this better than the awful Fandango love triangle.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Maybe Rusev isn't "in love" with Lana, but wants her back so he can push her around again.

They are playing Rusev as very possessive. This reminds me of heel Randy Savage and Elizabeth, where he told her where to stand etc.

This segment would be like if Elizabeth dumped "Macho Man" for someone who treats him better. Meanwhile, Savage hooks up with Sherri, and Sherri and Elizabeth fight. Now, this actually happened, except that Liz didn't hook up with Ultimate Warrior during the feud.

However, in today's society, you couldn't have Rusev bully Lana without her standing up to him. It would scare off too many female viewers and sponsors.