The man to conquer Rusev

[matt_hud]

I think the best way to book Rusev is to continue having him destroy people who attempt to defend the honor of the US with each new person being slightly higher on the card... At the Royal Rumble this masked wrestler runs in (not an entrant, just a run in) and eliminates Rusev from the Rumble while he dominating the Rumble...

Over the build to wrestlemania this mysterious masked man keeps making life harder for a pissed Rusev, finally the match is signed for Wrestlemania Rusev vs. The Mystery Man....

At Mania Rusev makes his entrance and then we get a all out American Pride entrance for a returning unmasked mystery man named Kurt Angle the Ultimate American Hero comes back to defend the US...

__________________
Yours Truly,
Hud

 

[L@RISANO]

I'm thinking either one of; John Cena, the Rock or Daniel Bryan to be the first to defeat Rusev.


Kurt Angle is a long shot, that will give a great nostalgic moment as he suits the American Hero role perfectly.

I'd still love to see Cesaro put the Giant Swing on Rusev at some point before Mania,tho. It just seems to be a feel-good moment that shouldn't be passed up.


That said; with regards to the options I named;
John Cena - Because Hustle, Loyalty and Respect.

the Rock - After that segment he did in Brooklyn. The story writes itself going into Mania.

Daniel Bryan - IF he can't make it back in time for Rumble, but he can be ready at least for Mania. I think this would be a great welcome back programme for Daniel Bryan and the reaction it would cause overall(His Return, Defeat of Rusev, Duelling Yes! and USA! chants...). Would be epic, no doubt!

 

[GeneralKarim]

I'm just speaking for myself here because I'm really getting sick of everyone who has to fight against Rusev, they have to be way too pro american and sound really stupid on the mic. Also in late 2014, even the citizens of America kinda know that America isn't all that it's cracked up to be and that's putting it mildly. Now I'm not saying that they don't need to speak good of America, but they are overdoing it with the patriotism here, way way too much imo.

That's why I'm just gonna go with smth that will not happen for sure but what the heck, why just repeat what everyone else is saying cause there arent THAT many superstars that would be eligible to beat him, so we are talking about a tight group of people.

So, despite the fact that he is prolly not ready wrestling skill wise to be on the main roster, ( dat finisher doe ) I would love for someone like Baron Corbin to come. Because he just wouldn't say that much. "Your insults are really pissing me off"..or smth like that. Just come there and have a brawl. A badass who isnt overly charismatic and way, WAY too patriotic but hey, he lives in America and he's tired of these russkies' incessent verbal attacks on his home soil and so he has a problem with Mr.Rusev.

Dunno, maybe I just have a different mentality with this but I just deeply dislike exaggerated nationalistic behavior, so I'm kinda down on Rusev and his feuds atm. It would be horrying to hear a promo from Cena if it were him feuding with Rusev ( Rusev, in the end, will most likely be fed to Cena as a post-workout meal ). Also it would just be another sad attempt by WWE to keep Cena over by putting him against someone who actually has heat.

 

[snazzy]

Kurt Angle is the obvious choice but I think a program with a returning Ryback would be very good for both guys and it could be drawn out for a couple of PPVs.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Angle would be nice, but it doesn't look him coming back is going to happen sadly enough

Henry/Big Show/Cena/Lesnar gains absolutely nothing from it and it would be a waste going to any of them.

Sting I guess would start off his debut with a bang, but I rather pair Sting up against bigger names since I'm thinking the # of matches he'll have will be very small.

Which just leaves Swagger, which would easily gain the most out of that list. It won't bring him back to the World Champ status he once was but it would help get him higher on the midcard and possibly out of the glorified jobber role he seems to be settling into once again.

 

[Navi]

The biggest problem I have with Rusev is well........okay there are two big problems I have with him. First off I don't find him interesting at all. Maybe that's because I live in Canada and can't get into all the USA USA stuff, because quite honestly it's doesn't affect me here or really have anything to do with me.

And that's where they are making a huge mistake I think with him. His gimmick is a one trick pony, that really only works inside the US border. Outside of it, no one cares, cause most of them hate the US as well.

The second problem is, once he does get beat by whoever does the beating, what's left for him. Are we going to see him struggle against the American aggressors over and over again, until one day Mother Russia becomes victorious again. God knows where all that shit came just came from, but yea, what happens after he gets beat? I'll tell you nothing, he goes back to being a regular heel in the midcard, and Lana will go onto something bigger and better.

 

[RenegadeDX]

"WWE should stop having old guys come back and burying the new talent"
"Kurt Angle should return and beat Rusev"

 

[TheICChampion]

Honestly, at the end of the day, it's hard to get invested in the storyline, even if I were from America. They've painted Rusev into a corner, but let's be honest, has he ever really had a chance to begin with? I honestly don't care who he beats, I don't care who finally defeats him, I just want this over with.

 

[Mudlup50]

I truly don't know, I'd imagine he won't be fed to Cena...I mean why should he? Sting serves no purpose. Angle is the obvious choice but it doesn't look like he's coming and even if, what does he gain from it? Bryan seems too over for it...I guess it just matters what they give him for the next 4-5 months. Big Show isn't a big deal to me, Swagger has been a loser for years now, Henry is a jobber now...he hasn't beaten anybody impressive yet.

If over the next few months he feeds on higher level talent and maybe the fans start biting again(just seems like less interest) then it'd have to be someone big...wait! IDEA!!!!

So on Raw if you didn't see, spoiler and skip to next paragraph. But Rusev kicked a soldier in the face. Now this is obviously just to increase the Big Show/Rusev match at HiaC but! There are 2 guys in the WWE who have played soldiers. Both of them might be storylineless after the PPV. Cena and Miz. Both played the main protagonist(I'm guessing here) in the Marine 1 and 3 respectively. So maybe what they do is have Rusev crush some lower tier guys and have Mizdow turn on Miz? Making him face so he can fight Rusev at TLC? Or have Cena feud with him after HiaC if Cena loses to Orton.

 

[rbv13]

I imagine it would be difficult for non American or even Russian fans to get overly invested in Rusev's to date programs. However he could easily move into a feud with any nationality. It is more about Russian supremacy over the world. They are getting ready for a Euro tour which would offer a great chance to see Rusev work with someone like Sheamus. His and Lana's act can easily work around the globe.

Eventually someone will drop his ass and most fans feel that will be it for his career but remember he is not "Russian." He could just embrace his own heritage and move in another dirrection.

 

[MartialHorror]

It will probably be Cena. Personally, I'd like to see Swagger do it because that has been the most compelling Rusev feud and a Swagger victory would mean something. A Cena victory would not because he tends to do this all the time.

Angle should not be the one to do it because he's retiring after 2015 and usually it's the other way around- the retiring guy puts the rising star over him.

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

I think the man to defeat Rusev should be BO DALLAS. What a push that would be for Bo. And it could work for multiple shows. Bo wins, gaining the love and support of the masses. Rusev is pissed because he lost to such a bum. Dallas keeps winning. If done right this could be the feud that makes both mens career.

 

[Navi]

Eventually someone will drop his ass and most fans feel that will be it for his career but remember he is not "Russian." He could just embrace his own heritage and move in another dirrection.

There is a problem with that in he and Lana and this whole gimmick is Russian vs USA. It's going to be hard to change horses in the middle of the stream, and it would kill his credibility. In the process what does Lana do, get another wrestler. Considering she's the one who controls him, and gets the heat, without her he's dead in the water.

I think the man to defeat Rusev should be BO DALLAS. What a push that would be for Bo. And it could work for multiple shows. Bo wins, gaining the love and support of the masses. Rusev is pissed because he lost to such a bum. Dallas keeps winning. If done right this could be the feud that makes both mens career.

They're both heels so are you proposing that we see a face turn with Bo Dallas? Even if that happens though, I don't think the is the feud that could make someone's career. Unless they don't plan on having a long one.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I voted for Kurt Angle simply because I'd mark huge for his return, but the person to beat Rusev is irrelevant because Rusev is irrelevant. He's a nobody. They can keep him undefeated for another five years and he'd still be a nobody. The "unbeatable monster heel" gimmick ran its course decades ago, and with the exception of Andrè the Giant (who was a face for the majority of his career), not once in the history of wrestling has it mattered who was the first person to beat any of those heels. Not once.

 

[MartialHorror]

Bo Dallas wouldn't be a good choice because of how it was set up. The majority of Bo's feuds have been based around his opponents failures to defeat Rusev. He gets heat for that, so it would seem kind of mean spirited to have him win.

Plus, would anybody buy that? Bo Dallas doesn't have a very impressive build and his wrestling techniques seem solid but unremarkable. I don't require total believability. I wouldn't mind Daniel Bryan beating Brock Lesnar as long as his victory plays to his strengths. But Bo doesn't seem to be any better on a technical level than Rusev. Furthermore, I don't have much faith in him as a face. From what I hear, he wasn't very well received as the good guy in NXT and his gimmick only works as a heel.

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

Of these choices, a returning Kurt Angle makes the most sense for logical reasons. That is what I voted. However, the chances of that are appearing to be slim to none due to the reports regarding that situation. I'm going to go with the unmentioned Ryback as my next choice. I feel he is coming back to hopefully a decent push at least in the mid-card level and WWE really kind of owes that to him for how much they screwed him over during his main event run. I think Ryback as the first to pin Rusev is logical and believable.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I'm thinking either one of; John Cena, the Rock or Daniel Bryan to be the first to defeat Rusev.

I was also thinking it would take a main event wrestler to finally defeat Rusev. Of course, a lot depends on whether WWE sees a real future for Rusev after he's exhausted his anti-American program. There's surely a possibility he'll become a jobber after they've taken this "Putin" stuff as far as it will go.

Also, I don't know that his push will take him so far up the ladder that John Cena will be needed to end the Rusev threat; if it happens, that would truly be a mega-push, no? I'm enjoying Rusev and Lana, but I'm not certain they'll ever rise that high in the rankings.

The Rock? Maybe. It makes me a bit uneasy to think the entire reason for Rusev's push is to be destroyed by Rock at WM31......yet, we've seen evidence it might be so. If it happens, Rock destroys the Russian menace.

I can't see any scenario on Earth in which Rusev beats Rock, can you? If Rock is going to act as an enhancement talent, it will be for someone at the level of a Cena or Punk......not Rusev, foe heaven's sake.

 

[L@RISANO]

I was also thinking it would take a main event wrestler to finally defeat Rusev. Of course, a lot depends on whether WWE sees a real future for Rusev after he's exhausted his anti-American program. There's surely a possibility he'll become a jobber after they've taken this "Putin" stuff as far as it will go.

Also, I don't know that his push will take him so far up the ladder that John Cena will be needed to end the Rusev threat; if it happens, that would truly be a mega-push, no? I'm enjoying Rusev and Lana, but I'm not certain they'll ever rise that high in the rankings.

The Rock? Maybe. It makes me a bit uneasy to think the entire reason for Rusev's push is to be destroyed by Rock at WM31......yet, we've seen evidence it might be so. If it happens, Rock destroys the Russian menace.

I can't see any scenario on Earth in which Rusev beats Rock, can you? If Rock is going to act as an enhancement talent, it will be for someone at the level of a Cena or Punk......not Rusev, foe heaven's sake.

Whether Rusev is able to get out of being a Foreign Heel at some point after being defeated is up for question, no doubt.


Should he defeat any of the 3 guys I mentioned? Nope. Not a chance. I don't think he has that high of a ceiling unfortunately.

Best case scenario for Rusev is as a Formidable Upper-MidCard Heel, say an eventual replacement for Alberto Del Rio(Of Course, difference in ability, but both are foreigners anyways, who don't seem to ever have anything that could make them engaging Babyface types)


I'm all for someone different and 'lower' defeating Rusev.
For instance, Rusev can easily be booked to win the 2nd AtG BR, and use that as material to show "Russian Superiority" post-Mania...cue Cesaro(1st Winner of said Battle Royal)... Cesaro putting a Giant Swing on the 2 would be brilliant and would give Cesaro a much needed babyface boost yet again like he had in the run up to Mania 30.


However, I see Rusev v a Top Guy as more of a possbility.
John Cena seemingly the most likely, tho, given the interaction with the Rock, I can see Rocky stopping him also for a feel-good moment(which is essentially what beating Rusev will end up being,lMO.)
Daniel Bryan should only face him if he can barely make it to Mania and there isn't enough time to build another engaging story with a Top Superstar. Him beating Rusev would be an Epic moment, I have no doubts about that.

 

[L@RISANO]

I think the man to defeat Rusev should be BO DALLAS. What a push that would be for Bo. And it could work for multiple shows. Bo wins, gaining the love and support of the masses. Rusev is pissed because he lost to such a bum. Dallas keeps winning. If done right this could be the feud that makes both mens career.

I always thought Bo was a possibility but I think given that he was defeated by Swagger in their rivalry, including tapping out multiple times...That scenario seems unlikely now.

Would have made sense if Bo's schtick was to initially jeer all who failed to defeat Rusev, and then end up doing the job by himself eventually. His gimmick of being an 'inspiration' suits it anyway.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I can't say that I'm particularly thrilled about most of the available options.

Of those offered, the one I'd be more interested in would be Jack Swagger. During their feud, which was much more entertaining than I think most was expecting in my opinion, they left the door open to possibly restart the feud. Even though Swagger lost, he either never tapped out to The Accolade or lost due to interference from Bo Dallas. If Rusev goes onto capture the United States Championship, I'd be open to the notion of Swagger being the one to take the title from him at WrestleMania XXXI. Give the fans a feel good moment, end the reign of a Russian sympathizer that's made a "mockery" of the USA by being WWE United States Champion and gain some measure of redemption.

Big Show has nothing to gain by beating Rusev. Show's at a point in his career where his best assets are putting over younger guys on their way up.

If the reports on Angle are true, he won't be in WWE anytime soon. Allegedly, Angle was offered a full time deal by WWE and turned it down. In my opinion, and that's all it is mind you as I have no proof on anything, I don't believe WWE was too interested in bringing Angle back anyhow or they'd have offered him a part time gig as he was hoping for. They know Angle's getting older, he's not what he used to be and that he most likely can't handle the physical strain of a full time WWE schedule. If they were interested in bringing Angle back, he'd still have to be medically cleared after undergoing WWE's numerous medical tests. Since he wasn't medically cleared by UFC to participate in the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter back in 2009 and with WWE's strict standards, Angle might not be given clearance to wrestle in WWE.

As for John Cena....Hell no. The last thing Rusev's career needs is for him to be offered up as another in a long line of sacrificial lambs to the resident Superman of professional wrestling.

As far as Mark Henry goes, not a chance. He's already beaten Mark Henry decisively in two matches, forcing him submit to The Accolade. Like Big Show, Henry's best days are behind him and while I wish WWE would've started doing with Henry a full 15 years prior to what we saw in 2011 C'est la vie. His best use is to ultimately put over younger guys.

Brock Lesnar's much, much too expensive of a commodity to be used to decimate a guy that's, currently, a mid-carder. Brock Lesnar's deal is structured similarly to what we saw and what we see of a lot of MMA fighters in that he competes only a small handful of times a year. Lesnar's payout for his entire MMA career is as follows:

Dynamite!! USA - vs. Min Soo Kim - $170,000
UFC 81 - vs. Frank Mir - $250,000
UFC 87 - vs. Heath Herring - $450,000
UFC 91 - vs. Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship - $450,000
UFC 100 - vs. Frank Mir for the UFC Heavyweight Championship - $400,000
UFC 116 - vs. Shane Carwin for the UFC Heavyweight Championship - $400,000
UFC 121 - vs. Cain Valasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship - $400,000
UFC 141 - vs. Alistair Overeem - $400,000

So, for fighting 8 times in mixed martial arts, Brock Lesnar made a total of $2,920,000. That's not counting what he made from various endorsement deals. I'd be willing to bet that Lesnar makes somewhere in the mid six figures for every match he works in WWE. It's too expensive to use Lesnar against someone on the level of Rusev at this point in time.

As far as Sting goes, take the stuff I said about Angle's injury issues and apply them to Sting. Besides, you know how bad that'd make Rusev look. No matter how you slice it, no matter how much you might be someone who loves nostalgia, there's NO FRIGGIN' WAY that a wrestler can job out to another wrestler that's 27 year's his senior and not look bad. If you want Rusev to look like a complete chump then, by all means, have his first big loss be against a senior citizen.

 

[suleman09]

I think the best way to book Rusev is to continue having him destroy people who attempt to defend the honor of the US with each new person being slightly higher on the card... At the Royal Rumble this masked wrestler runs in (not an entrant, just a run in) and eliminates Rusev from the Rumble while he dominating the Rumble...

Over the build to wrestlemania this mysterious masked man keeps making life harder for a pissed Rusev, finally the match is signed for Wrestlemania Rusev vs. The Mystery Man....

At Mania Rusev makes his entrance and then we get a all out American Pride entrance for a returning unmasked mystery man named Kurt Angle the Ultimate American Hero comes back to defend the US...

__________________
Yours Truly,
Hud

Not bad at all I actually kind of love the idea but I would change one thing. Reveal that it's angle much earlier. In a business aspect you would need to reveal that Angle has returned to get more hype and buys for WM31. I think he should do as you said, run in at the rumble in mask and keep ruining his matches until the chamber ppv. I would announce early January and have a big time video package hyping the return on angle, then at the chamber reveal that it is Kurt Angle then announce the mania match so ppl get interest and hopefully more ppv and network buys, think about if kurt angle is announced to return ppl will start watching a lot more angle related material on the network too so you get more activity on the network

 

[OYDK]

I would say the most logical choice, and my personal favorite on this list, would be Jack Swagger. WWE has not really been able to re-capture the magic that the Rusev and Swagger angle had since that feud ended, despite going with the same formula in the Rusev/Mark Henry/Big Show feuds. I believe Swagger and Rusev could pick up the same momentum they had in their previous feud and Swagger would easily benefit the most out of everybody on your list. Also, this angle still holds some intrigue to me as I would like to see Jack Swagger get some sort of push sometime soon.

How I would go about booking this feud would be to have Rusev win the US Championship from Sheamus at Survivor Series, defend it in a rematch against Sheamus at TLC, and have him maybe feud with Bo Dallas for a month. At the RR, have Swagger eliminate Rusev which can re-ignite their rivalry, and then Swagger can win the strap at Mania 31. This benefits everybody. The US title finally sees an intriguing program, Swagger would get a well needed change in scenery by winning the US title, and Rusev would finally be able to move his way out of the mid-card.