Rusev is the *New* United States Champion

[Nate DaMac]

Well most people predicted this but I don't think very many had it penciled in for tonight. Kind of disappointed that it wasn't on television nor was it in front of a crowd who appeared to give a shit but it's a big move, nonetheless.

Most surprising is that Rusev got the win completely clean. Sheamus is someone the brass tends to protect an awful lot so Rusev getting a clean win is a sign that they're really trying to put him over the top. To me, anyway.

So where does this go from here?

 

[Navi]

Well most people predicted this but I don't think very many had it penciled in for tonight. Kind of disappointed that it wasn't on television nor was it in front of a crowd who appeared to give a shit but it's a big move, nonetheless.

Most surprising is that Rusev got the win completely clean. Sheamus is someone the brass tends to protect an awful lot so Rusev getting a clean win is a sign that they're really trying to put him over the top. To me, anyway.

So where does this go from here?

I watched it on the network after RAW went off air on Sportsnet. It was a good fight, and thought it could have gone either way for a few minutes.

The crowd problem is the same as every other Rusev match, they don't seem to care about him. No matter how many times this guy wins, or who it's against, they can't get into his character. He's boring.

 

[ABMorales787]

Sadly, the UK didn't get see it cause WWE delayed the Network. Way to go. I'll be honest, what a stupid experiment. You wanted to spike Network buys? Then fucking advertise it for Main Event! It's a show people already would watch. Why the hell air it after Raw with less than a day of advertising? Were they expecting people to sign up as soon as Raw ended and go straight into the match?

Not to mention the lack of build. They constantly build these elaborate stories for Rusev..... except when it was for a title. Just say he wants the shot, he gets it. In a post-show dark match main event. Brilliant.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

The whole having Sheamus lose to Tyson Kidd thing didn't help the build to the match either. I have cautious optimism they will do something with the belt now after lackluster reigns from Ambrose and Sheamus, but they did a horrible job with the build.

 

[TheICChampion]

Still, I have to admit it was a decent match. I'm going to give it a little time before sh*tting all over it or not. I do wish it would've been at Survivor Series, but I guess they gotta do something to bring up those buys.

 

[Trill Co$by]

What buys it's free this month.

When November ends, WWE Network will still be around. So giving away stuff like this for free is a way for them to hopefully bring in buys for December, January, February, March, etc. It's business strategy, and a smart one at that.

 

[ABMorales787]

...with a 6 month commitment.

Haven't you heard the news? The commitment has been dropped for everyone following the news of their subscription numbers. New and old. The month of November is indeed completely free. Survivor Series, NXT, Main Event, Monday Night War, all of it. You're free to drop the service by December. And this match was supposed to get you interested into buying it. Announced just hours ago to be broadcast under this convoluted method right before their failure to launch in the second largest territory of fans for WWE. Did I mention the champion somehow lost to the NXT enhancement talent on the televised show? And that the only hint of this match taking place was one promo on Smackdown with neither man ever interacting with each other? Oh, yeah. The interest for this was at a fever pitch, I bet. They just rolled in the subscriptions big time.

 

[kumarjtk]

actually i expect this match for ss and expect rusev to win. Wwe give ss for free, so they give today special match instead of ss. May be they give a rematch at next week raw. Bcoz rusev being a member of team authority. So sheamus is joined team cena. Randy may be surprised member of team cena.

 

[Reflection]

Where does this go from here? Rusev's road goes to John Cena (after he suffers another defeat at the hands of Lesnar and Rusev is done giving Sheamus his rematch) and then goes steeply downwards. Hulk Hogan is already begging for John Cena to defend America and take back its Championship, and with more demand from fans, this might actually happen. The only positive side I see to this scenario (if it happens) that the United States championship will be greatly elevated from its pre-Rusev status, at least for the duration of John Cena's reign.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

This was blatantly a UK Launch pop... to try and get people to subscribe on the night, but the very late withdrawl made it seem pointless and probably affected the booking of Sheamus... had the network launched I could see him squashing Kidd.

That it only fell apart 20 mins before launch means there was a game of chicken, WWE was gonna plough through and I am willing to bet the farm that Sky said "Launch it and we pull RAW..." As for Rusev, this is leading to either Cena or Angle in a shock return. They've pretty well telegraphed this all the way along.

 

[DCLXVI]

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I'm glad Sheamus lost the belt it was inevitable - the guy was doing nothing with it anyway... but I really expected them to at least build this feud up longer towards a PPV rather than just one confrontation on Smackdown - Big Show and Mark Henry got much better than that and weren't even holding belts. This concerns me because Rusev's gimmick has a limited shelf life and that would have extended it. It looks like he's going down the path to being fed to Cena and ruining the long, slow build he's had which is a shame.

I do think this "match exclusively on the WWE Network" is a good idea in the future. It gives people more of an incentive to have the Network instead of just old content and Monday Night Wars. Besides, RAW and Smackdown don't even air on the Network due to their TV deals. I understand it was probably something they were expecting to entice UK fans and their launch had problems... but in the future it would be cool to put more big matches exclusively on the Network from time to time I think.

 

[achromat666]

I wish I felt I had a reason to be more invested. Rusev himself isn't a character, even though he's finally starting speaking a bit more. He's a trope, a stereotype, and idea of a villain that Vince loves to play with to inspire the ever popular USA chant. There's no depth, literally the only thing he's hated for is speaking against the US and loving Putin.

This would have played a tad better back in the days of the Cold War (and was indeed handled better by Ivan and Nikita Koloff, Nikolai Volkoff and the like), but here comes off as tired, cliched and outright boring. A shame really as he's not bad in the ring.

Worse I sort of feel the same way about him than I have with most indestructible villain types over the years: when he's finally defeated (because it has to happen), regardless of who does it, what does it mean for him? When you build everything around a single dimension you very easily and quickly risk him becoming irrelevant when he finally loses.

It would matter far less if he had a character that mattered. Bray Wyatt is interesting and can suffer a loss and come back. Dean Ambrose is a unique presence that comes back from a loss and is still important because of the value he's built as a character. Rusev's entire character is built upon being unstoppable and hating America. The future for that has a very limited ceiling.

Being one dimensional and imposing will only take you so far. Ask the Great Khali, John Heidenreich or hundreds of other people that either don't matter anymore or stopped wrestling years ago because of limited character development.

 

[Navi]

I don't see where he's going to take this either. In my opinion he should have gone after this belt a month or more ago, then had feuds with Show and Henry to try and take it off him.

What's happened is Rusev has sort of run through a gauntlet of people and who else is left. According to reports the WWE aren't interested in Kurt Angle's idea of a deal. They want him to work full time, and he wants a legends contract. Cena is going after Lesnar for the WWE title. Ambrose is involved with Wyatt now, and he's already held the US title.

If Cesaro turned face I could see those two in a feud, and it might be a good one. Other than Cesaro's who's left in the upper mid card for Rusev to feud with, that deserves this title, as I assume Sheamus will lose the rematch.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I thought it was a good, solid match. As has been mentioned, this was done as a means of enticing some people to subscribe to the WWE Network. When the match was announced earlier in the night, I had a feeling that the title would change hands and while it would've been nice had the match & title change had a more traditional build, the WWE Network isn't the traditional way of doing business. As a result, sacrificing the traditional route in the hopes of generating some long term gain every so often is probably a sound idea. I think WWE went this route as an indicator that "anything can happen" on the Network.

I'm all for Rusev winning the title, I figured it'd happen but I didn't think it'd come about under the circumstances of last night. For the next couple of weeks, I'd imagine that WWE will be talking about the title change, the exclusivity of the WWE Network, etc. Sheamus and Dean Ambrose both had long runs with the title, but not much emphasis was put on them as champion. As usual, Vince has to be blamed for this because it's ultimately his call or the creative team has to come up with things without consulting Vince that they know for a fact Vince would prefer. Given that Rusev has scored clean win after clean win, here's hoping things turn around for the title.

 

[DCLXVI]

I don't see where he's going to take this either. In my opinion he should have gone after this belt a month or more ago, then had feuds with Show and Henry to try and take it off him.

What's happened is Rusev has sort of run through a gauntlet of people and who else is left. According to reports the WWE aren't interested in Kurt Angle's idea of a deal. They want him to work full time, and he wants a legends contract. Cena is going after Lesnar for the WWE title. Ambrose is involved with Wyatt now, and he's already held the US title.

If Cesaro turned face I could see those two in a feud, and it might be a good one. Other than Cesaro's who's left in the upper mid card for Rusev to feud with, that deserves this title, as I assume Sheamus will lose the rematch.

Hopefully they keep the belt on him for a while, especially considering everyone else is wrapped up in other things and it's too soon to throw him in the Cena woodchipper even if Cena didn't have Brock going on. The only guy I can see that isn't tied up being a threat, would be Ryback... and he has only squashed three low card guys so far and hasn't had near enough time or build. If he was just fed to Rusev and lost it'd ruin his "second chance".

 

[hatehabsforever]

It's damned if you do, and damned if you don't, isn't it? How many people on here complain incessantly that the WWE has become boring, too predictable, that every occurrence is so over analyzed and so dissected that there is never any shock value, any surprise, anything that deviates from the norm. So they do something different, and have the title change hands, exclusively on the WWE Network, and people complain anyway.

Sure, Rusev winning the US title in and of itself was not real shocking. However, having it happen on the WWE Network, rather than on RAW, SD, or PPV, was different. During a period of time when they are in a bit of a lull, on a month when they are giving the network away for free, and on a night that was supposed to bring the WWE Network to the UK, I thought it was not a bad decision at all.

Years ago, during the Attitude Era, the Monday Night Wars, etc., pro wrestling was must see. You had to tune in because if you didn't, God knows what you might miss. This could be at least an attempt to bring this must see attitude to the modern day. People on the fence about purchasing the Network may be more inclined to do so if it is pushed as something which could bring something they otherwise may not get.

The key here is, what do they do with this storyline now that they have gone down this road. Ask ar as I'm concerned, WWE has far more pressing concerns these days than simply what they air on free TV versus the WWE Network. The product itself is in dire need of a shake up and if this doesn't happen and soon, it's not going to matter where they choose to air their storylines.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

After a three hour fifteen minute wrestling show all I can think about is signing up for something to watch more wrestling. Vince was using kid friendly booking (the Russian taking the US title) to get people to sign up for a Network at 11:15pm EST. It doesn't make sense. I'm really losing faith in WWE's handling of this Network.

Congrats to Rusev for his inevitable title win. I hope he does something interesting with it.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I don't see where he's going to take this either. In my opinion he should have gone after this belt a month or more ago, then had feuds with Show and Henry to try and take it off him.

What's happened is Rusev has sort of run through a gauntlet of people and who else is left. According to reports the WWE aren't interested in Kurt Angle's idea of a deal. They want him to work full time, and he wants a legends contract. Cena is going after Lesnar for the WWE title. Ambrose is involved with Wyatt now, and he's already held the US title.

If Cesaro turned face I could see those two in a feud, and it might be a good one. Other than Cesaro's who's left in the upper mid card for Rusev to feud with, that deserves this title, as I assume Sheamus will lose the rematch.

They each join a team at SS. This delays their rematch until TLC. Rusev wins that match. They're both booked in the RR so it keeps them busy for that PPV. After RR, Rusev begins his feud with Cena that will culminate at WM31. It's logical. Doesn't mean it'll happen, but it's logical. And if you really want to roll the dice, you could predict Angle takes Cena's place.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

They each join a team at SS. This delays their rematch until TLC. Rusev wins that match. They're both booked in the RR so it keeps them busy for that PPV. After RR, Rusev begins his feud with Cena that will culminate at WM31. It's logical. Doesn't mean it'll happen, but it's logical. And if you really want to roll the dice, you could predict Angle takes Cena's place.

Hard to see them feuding Cena with Rusev at WM. Then again it was harder to see Cena feuding with Bray at WM. But what is really odd in this scenario is having Cena sniffing the US Title.

Unless Cena dethrones Lesnar and this is WWE title v US title.

.....Nah.

 

[Mustang Sally]

On one hand I'm glad Sheamus lost the belt it was inevitable - the guy was doing nothing with it anyway...

That's true, isn't it? The thing is, Sheamus is going to present the same either with or without the title.....he doesn't need it to remain effective and maintain his crowd-pleasing style. I've never seen a match of his I didn't enjoy, but it has nothing to do him with defending a title....especially the U.S. title, which is.......meh.

As for Rusev, I find this victory a logical progression in his march toward the main event. Someone pointed out he won fair & square....and it's true; the same thing applied to his match with Big Show. Many folks don't realize the importance of that; usually, beating Show requires some sort of underhanded tactic on the part of his opponent, the idea being that there are few who could defeat him cleanly one-on-one. Well, Rusev just did....breaking down his opponent piece by piece.

I'm really liking Rusev; all he needs is himself to win his battles. Yes, he has Lana, but she's yet to do anything to interfere in his matches; eventually, she will. But Rusev needs no one else....and that's one of the things I like best about him.

Of course, we should appreciate the irony of him holding the United States championship. I mean....c'mon now.

He'll reach main event level....and whether or not he winds up losing his series to John Cena or Randy Orton.....won't particularly matter. It's what he does to get to that position that counts, and I'm enjoying the ride.

 

[TDFG]

It all seems a bit rushed, I thought they could have held off until SS to build the feud up a bit, and the whole thing with Sheamus losing to Tyson Kidd, I don't no what that was all about, it was anything but good.

Where does Sheamus go from here, I'm not sure, looking at the heels in WWE, they could do with one or two at the top of the card, a heel turn might work.

 

[MCMG]

It was time for Rusev to become champ. They did a good job of building him up and, while some of it wasn't entertaining, it was ALL effective. The feud with Swagger was really good. Big Show/Henry were a bit meh.

It's interesting to see where his title run goes. There isn't a huge list of guys he can defend against. Swagger again, sure. If Kofi, Big E, Christian are alive then them too. If Rey is ever going to return the least he could do is get thrown around by Rusev.

The best thing (potentially) about this reign is that they are forced into a corner with Rusev. With Ziggler we know he can lose every week. We know he can lose the title at any given PPV to any random opponent. That isn't the case for Rusev so it will require creativity and new ideas. I think that is something really exciting because, right now, there isn't a man on the roster who can conceivably take the belt away from him.

 

[chuckmdubya]

Well, this seems like kind of a quandary here. It was predictable and basically a needed course of action, every foreign villain has to have the US title at some point.
But it would seem that Rusev is bound for much greater glory than defending the US title in midcard for the next several months. No big star is after the US title, its practically meaningless now.
So, the first loss he has will probably be losing the US title. It will take a big star to defeat Rusev, and the defeat would be meaningless if Rusev keeps the US strap.
I think they've backed themselves into a creative corner here, unless of course the plan is to have Sheamus win it back. But that would be dumb because he's not American.
Quite the situation now.
P.S. - I love how Rusev and Lana take their orders straight from Putin, The Kremlin, and Mother Russia now. lol that's funny.

 

[MWRedskins]

firstly, i loved this win, but i felt it was too rushed. i know some will not like this as they feel the title is too meaningless for him, but i think this is the BEST way to build it up and bring prestige to it. the fact that Rusev actually WANTED the title shows prestige there and now he will hold the title until someone beats him, my HOPE is that it's Ryback who does it, but i think the best move for him would be to hold the title until a rising star takes it and then it will help not only rise the title's prestige, but it will help elevate the young guy who takes it from him. i could see Rusev facing various mid carders for the title (and beat them) while Lana cuts great promos about how they have America's Championship in Russia and how that shows they are better than America...so i like the move to give him the title, but i think they should've waited until the Survivor Series PPV to have him lose the title.

 

[kadroan]

The biggest win of Rusev's career - defeating a former WWE/WHC champion, Royal Rumble winner, King of the Ring and US Champion.

I expect the US title to get more prestige since they actually prioritize Rusev looking strong.

I'm guessing he'll face Sheamus in a rematch on RAW to give next week's RAW a big match feel. Then, join Team Authority and become the survivor.

I guess he defeats the returning Christian, another former world champion he could beat (Swagger, Sheamus, Henry) at TLC and costs Cena his rematch against Brock at Royal Rumble, leading to their inevitable match up at WrestleMania.