Rusev......Like It Or Not

[Mustang Sally]

I just got finished in the pay-per-view section talking about his match with Mark Henry and got to thinking about the number of folks in this forum who think Rusev is a bad performer. Personally, I believe he's headed a lot higher in WWE than his detractors would like.

It could be because there's a dearth of top-level performers in WWE right now, especially with guys like Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns on the shelf. Maybe Rusev is lucky enough to arrive at a time they need to fortify the upper echelon, and if they didn't, he wouldn't be receiving the push he is. It could be.

Either way, while his victory over Mark Henry isn't that noteworthy an accomplishment, I'm thinking Rusev is headed for a run near the top because of the manner in which he handled Henry. Yes, Mark is still Mark, a guy flirting with the end of his career. Yet, building him as a super patriot and having him hurl his disdain at the stinkin' Putin lover made us hope Henry might have one more big win in him. The pre-match push sure opened the possibility, no?.....if for no other reason than to prove America is the best!

Instead, Rusev won.....not by cheating, as we would expect from a heel, but by systematically taking Henry apart, answering every offensive thrust Mark brought with a hard, clean move of his own. He had answers to everything Henry threw at him, absorbing the big guy's blows and looking damn good in turning the contest to his favor every time it appeared Mark might be turning things around.

You would have expected Lana to hand him her shoe at some point in the proceedings to fortify her verbal commands with some good old-fashioned physical interference, no? Rusev would be on the ropes and a cheating tactic like that would give him the match......the fans could go home mad that the bad guy won, but not really having expected anything else. But it didn't happen that way and I think the reason for it is that Rusev is headed for even bigger successes.

Apparently, WWE management likes him. I do, too......he brings a lot more to the table than I originally thought he would. He's got a look and ring repertoire all his own, and I find myself enjoying his work more than I ever believed possible.

Any thoughts?

 

[Aquaman6686]

Once again a veteran with years of experience, multiple World Championship reigns, and every logical reason to be booked like a serious threat, is made to look like a completely inferior athlete and a total jobber. This was a feud that could have gone a few months and possibly produced some interesting matches, but WWE ruined that possibility by having Rusev completely decimate Mark Henry in their first match. There is literally no way Rusev could win any more decisively, so there's no reason for WWE to even consider a rematch. Rusev is still awful in the ring and will be jobbing on Superstars within a year, so just like Jack Swagger, Mark Henry has been jobbed out and made to look pathetic for no reason whatsoever.

 

[yourdamnluck]

He has the looks size and a perfect mouthpiece....
he should start wearing a shirt that glorifies communists and since he is from bulgaria he must stop using russia to get cheap heat and concentrate on glorifying the communist soviet he can easily be the top heal considering the people are cheering for all the other heels(lesner,bray,sandow, BNB)

 

[Pedigree1]

For one thing I wasnt happy that Rusev won,call it the american vs Russia thing i guess.. I have been critical of Rusev in the past but last night,he actually is quite good in the ring.. Very big and agile for someone of his size,and beating a former WHC in mark henry is a huge accomplishment.. He took Mark apart,piece by piece and just broke him down..

Lana is indeed the perfect Valet or mouthpiece for Rusev as we really havent seen much of his mic skills.. But again he is above average of your typical powerhouse he has moves. I guess next up would be the Big Show and that match i thinks will take place at HIAC

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Once again a veteran with years of experience, multiple World Championship reigns, and every logical reason to be booked like a serious threat, is made to look like a completely inferior athlete and a total jobber.

You're talking about Mark Henry, right? Up until a few years ago, Mark Henry was somebody who most fans had LONG since written off. Mark Henry's also 43 years old, meaning the best years of his physical prime and career are well behind him. The past few years, he's also been dealing with issues involving injury keeping him on the shelf for extended periods. WWE's focus, primarily, is on elevating younger talent and that's probably the best use of Henry. There's a good chance that Henry won't even be around in another few years, so using the credibility he's been able to mount in order to put over someone much younger is logical use of an aging veteran.

This was a feud that could have gone a few months and possibly produced some interesting matches, but WWE ruined that possibility by having Rusev completely decimate Mark Henry in their first match. There is literally no way Rusev could win any more decisively, so there's no reason for WWE to even consider a rematch. Rusev is still awful in the ring and will be jobbing on Superstars within a year, so just like Jack Swagger, Mark Henry has been jobbed out and made to look pathetic for no reason whatsoever.

I think you're greatly overestimating Mark Henry's star power as a whole. The past few years, as a heel, I think Henry's been great. I've wondered why WWE didn't do what they'd been doing with Henry circa 2011 a full decade or more earlier when they could've possibly gotten the most out of it. However, I don't think this is a feud that could've been sustained in the same way it was with Jack Swagger. Swagger's damaged goods as far as a main event run is concerned and Henry probably is as well. If you don't like Rusev, more power to you, but it sounds like your dislike of him is the real reason you're upset because, as I said, Henry's star power as a veteran isn't exactly on the top tier.

As to where Rusev will be in a year, who can say? IF they wind up putting Rusev up in a feud with John Cena in the next few months, then I'd say the odds of Rusev ending up as a mid-card jobber by the middle of next year go up dramatically. Personally, I'd like to see Rusev in a US title feud. The USA vs. Russia thing has gotten over, to the surprise of just about everybody, so few things would draw as much heat as having the "hero of the Russian Federation" capture the United States Championship.

I like Rusev, I think he's much better than some of his detractors are saying and he's better than I was expecting. I wonder how much of the hate towards Rusev is genuine dislike and how much is prejudice because he's someone with big muscles. After all, it's not uncommon for wrestlers with big muscles and/or well north of 240 pounds to get hate from a good number of internet fans.

 

[chuckmdubya]

If you don't like Rusev, then maybe you are thinking of him all wrong. Other than the boss, the arrogant foreigner is probably the best heel character in wrestling, and Rusev plays it better than anyone since the Iron Sheik. He also has the advantage of Russia being a long term geo-political foe. What that means is he doesn't have t worry about PC people in the media shutting him down, like they did Muhammad Hassan. People have been used to not liking Russians for over a half century now. They have the same skin color and religion as Americans so it is still Politically correct to verbally attack them.
Rusev has a time tested gimmick, that he will be able to keep without "offending" anyone, a hot manager, excellent in ring talent, gets a huge reaction from fans, and it looks like creative has faith in him.
This guy is good, and it wouldn't surprise me if he wins the Rumble or is Main Event material by Summer Slam.

 

[MCMG]

He definitely has potential but I'm worried about longevity. The Russian, anti-American stuff and only work for so long and eventually the audience will get tired of it.

His ring-work is good and I really want to see what he can do with more varied names. Give him someone like Ziggler or Ambrose and let's see what he can truly do. Lana is a wonderful mouthpiece but it is clear she needs to get involved in the match a little more. Not a lot but enough to notice she is there.

Ultimately, I'm a Rusev fan. The gimmick works and I, on the whole, enjoy his matches. Sure some of the promos get a little tiresome but there is still obvious quality. A World Champ? Probably not but I could see him being a good feud for Reigns/Ambrose in a year or so.

 

[SD619]

It could be because there's a dearth of top-level performers in WWE right now, especially with guys like Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns on the shelf. Maybe Rusev is lucky enough to arrive at a time they need to fortify the upper echelon, and if they didn't, he wouldn't be receiving the push he is. It could be.

I don't think Reigns and Bryan being injured has much to do with Rusev's push. Both these guys were top faces before being injured, and Rusev does not look to be heading for a face turn anytime soon.

He should be in a few good mid-card feuds (helped of course by Lana) for the next few months. Other than that, I don't see him being involved in any top feuds, considering Brock Lesnar and the Authority will be the top heels, at-least till next Wrestlemania. A feud for the US Title may do him good and keep him occupied for the next few months. Who Rusev eventually loses to and how he is booked after that could go a long way in establishing him (or otherwise).

 

[GeminiGarlord]

Really hope they put him in a feud with cena, so I'll have to skip only one segment instead that two at each raw.

Every time that Lana and Swagger/Henry open their mouth the only thought that goes to my head is "yup, that's why everyone hates americans"

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I think a majority of the hate comes from the fact that he is portrayed as a monster heel, yet he doesn't look that physically imposing. I've heard people say he was a great seller and I didn't really notice until a few weeks ago. Very agile and has a good mouthpiece in Lana. The next logical step would be to win the U.S. Title to give his future victories more meaning. The U.S. Title has been devoid of any interest for most of its WWE tenure. If they aren't planning on unifying the titles anytime soon, Rusev winning and having a decent reign would be the best.

 

[MERPER]

I think he's either going for Lesnar now or Cena...

 

[flipdeep]

Typical monster heel being fed to the top face like the likes of Umaga/Koslov/Giant Gonzalez/ Great Khali etc. Though Rusev himself is pretty decent, a shame Cena/Reigns or whoever gonna squash him down a few notch.

 

[Slash-LN]

I can't get past how he looks. There's literally nothing about his look that makes me have any interest in him. I think it puts blinders on for me.

If any says I'm being too serious, immature or narrow minded I will 100% agree with you. But I'm not going to pretend to like something that I don't.

Maybe that's why I don't see much in him. Take away the anti American gimmick and Lana what does he have? Is he going to be the anti America guy his whole career?

 

[MERPER]

well, I think we can forget about Lesnar, who isn't being booked for any events in the "forseeable future" which makes it highly unlikely he is at Hell in a Cell...

thinking more USA vs. Russia with Cena now making a play against Rusev...

 

[Terry Silver]

His look is of a fat piece of shit with mannerisms adult men dont do.

Hes a waste of space and money.

 

[MERPER]

I think he actually has a good skill set.... power mixed with some good kicks and submission moves... but the USA vs Russia stuff combined with feeding him nobody opponents (including Mark Henry) is getting real old real fast... either push him or let him fall back to the middle of the roster and disappear with guys like Cesaro

 

[Navi]

I can't get past how he looks. There's literally nothing about his look that makes me have any interest in him. I think it puts blinders on for me.

If any says I'm being too serious, immature or narrow minded I will 100% agree with you. But I'm not going to pretend to like something that I don't.

Maybe that's why I don't see much in him. Take away the anti American gimmick and Lana what does he have? Is he going to be the anti America guy his whole career?

I have to agree with the above quote. I'm not a fan of Rusev, never have been. I agree you take away Lana, he has nothing, she is the only redeeming factor in the whole gimmick.

While I agree that he is good in the ring at time, that Godzilla type walk of his bugs the crap out of me, and once he starts that, I'm outta the room. His matches are all the same as well. He does a few kicks, a couple of holds, Rusev selling stuff, a bunch more kicks, and then the Accolade. And the flag waving the bloody flag waving. Oh God I just want to see someone take that flag and belt him with it.

The anti-American gimmick only plays well in the US, the rest of the world doesn't give a shit, cause as lot of them are anti-American as well. Is he a one hit wonder, I have no idea, but this whole gimmick is getting old quickly. You see the crowds react to him which is nothing, so the first person to beat him will either be hailed as a conquering hero, or you won't even know it over the sounds of people yawning.

 

[rerun406]

I think this thread was made a bit prematurely, give it another 4 months or so.

As for Rusev, I find him pretty boring, but sign me up for giving him a run with the U.S. Title, and bonus points if Rusev placed a sticker of the Russian flag on the belt, like Lance Storm with Canada in WCW.

 

[MeisterMan]

I'm actually a Rusev fan. And I thoroughly believe him and Lana could dominate the heel scene for the next decade if they are handled well and right. Of course he will have to move away from the 'USA vs Russia' concept sometime down the line. I can see him adopting a 'Bulgarian Destroyer/Crusher/Annihilator/Beast/etc' persona while going away from the Russian Flag and Vladimir Putin (I'm actually surprised some group of idiots or politicians haven't caused some stir yet bout the whole Putin).

He has a unique skill set that most people his size and weight couldn't do, not to mention a match between him and Daniel Bryan, CM Punk (even though it's out of the question), John Cena, and anybody else who has a striker/technician type move set would prove to be match of the night candidates

 

[enviousdominous]

You know what, I'm "allowing" myself to be in the "like-it" category.

I emphasize the word "allowing" because I think that sometimes we get too analytical for our own good. For me, I'm just going to watch and react in a world of kayfabe and let it be the Rocky story it'll hopefully turn into.

Is Rusev a bad performer? I'll tell you after I read your book on what it takes to be a good performer. He takes bumps, he calls spots, he plays his role to a T and he obviously has the respect of his fellow performers if they're willing to sell to him so damn vividly. I think people are just bored of the act because hearing Lana extol Putin's superiority is getting a little old and does little to hype Rusev's potential.

I'm watching what he does in the ring. Like Mustang said; he's apparently being hyped as a dead serious fighter whose focus allows him to strategically break his opponent down. I sincerely hope that they don't give him the Brodus Clay treatment or that he go the route of Nikolai Volkoff. Obviously a face turn is damn near impossible unless he sells his soul like either of those two men, with enough luck he might be able to pull off a Nikita Koloff angle and end up having such an epic feud with an American (Daniel Bryan) that even he's willing to acknowledge that America has some gifted athletes.

 

[Bockwinkel's Class]

If Rusev is a heel and people DON'T hate him then he's not doing a very good job at being a heel lol. Heels are supposed to make the fans hate them. That's their job!

That being said, the problem as I see it is that the WWE has a sufficiency of top-level heels right now but not enough top-level faces (thanks in part to injuries, and in part to riding the Cena train for too long and not developing any). They really need to be getting some faces over instead of building a second monster heel. Every face that puts over Rusev is a face that's no longer a viable candidate. That's ends up seriously limiting the WWE's options at least in the short-term.

 

[Headman]

They're building Rusev for nothing. The time for him to lose would have been Summerslam but now it's too late. There is nobody else who's going to get as hot as Swagger playing the "USA" card. Swagger could have been solidified as an upper card talent. Not a Cena type player, but somewhere in the Sheamus area. But they blew it. Now they've got this guy who they keep building but for no reason. I'm assuming that eventually he'll probably end up turning face and becoming a jobber to the stars like Big E.

 

[MERPER]

They're building Rusev for nothing. The time for him to lose would have been Summerslam but now it's too late. There is nobody else who's going to get as hot as Swagger playing the "USA" card. Swagger could have been solidified as an upper card talent. Not a Cena type player, but somewhere in the Sheamus area. But they blew it. Now they've got this guy who they keep building but for no reason. I'm assuming that eventually he'll probably end up turning face and becoming a jobber to the stars like Big E.

Might as well have Cena go at him, with Cena's patriotism and all the work he does for the troops.

I mean they can't go Cena/Lesnar again unless they just don't care about the rest of the calendar year.

Cena/Orton? Boring.

Cena/Rollins. No, that's still Ambrose.

 

[ultramattman]

Know who Rusev reminds me of? Yokozuna. Agile big man, disrespectful foreigner, barely spoke and depended on a manager to draw the heat. Yokozuna's act had a limited shelf life and his main event run always felt a little forced. You know, just like Rusev.

 

[MartialHorror]

I personally think Rusev will have a limited appeal as the villain. He most likely will have a pretty good run, feud with Cena and lose, where suddenly he will start losing a lot more...like most of his kind. Lana won't stay with him forever and while he might have more of a personality than he's showing, I can't vouch for that until I see it. Eventually people will stop reacting, so he will enter a fun loving routine like his predecessors.

Yet despite this, I actually do kind of like Rusev. His matches with Swagger show that at the absolute least, he can be carried in a strong match. He does have a better moveset than people give him credit for and his wrestling psychology is unusually good for his character type. I really dug how he continued to sell his ankle injury long after that match and unlike Swagger, he came across less like an idiot for it (Swagger's Swagger bombing with injured ribs was dumb and I didn't buy it as instinctive, whereas Rusev relies more on kicks so I was fine with him making that mistake).

Honestly, it will come down to what they do with Rusev after the anti-Russia hate dies down. Will he start talking? Will he have more of a character? Above everything, will his feuds continue to be as well written as they've been for him so far? It all depends, but I think he has potential to be something more...but I've learned not to always trust WWE in these matters...lol.