What this means for Rusev?

[CyberPunk]

I didn't see any topic on this, so I am making one. So this past Monday, we saw Rusev being confronted by non other than the Rock. It was unique in my mind seeing Rock's appearance completely unadvertised (not the first time this year, he did the same thing at Mania). We saw Rusev calling out Big Show but instead Rock showed up. No I believe that it was a one off thing and because Rock was there in the town, WWE might have approached him for an appearance. I don't know WWE's current rating trend but they might've been desperate to pull them up.

Anyway, instead of showing up in main event or at the start of the show, Rock shows up against Rusev. Sometime ago, we also saw Rusev in the *cough* main event slot of Raw against Mark Henry. It could be the MNF effect but what exactly does it mean for Rusev? Is he looked upon that highly by the management that he gets 20 minute segment with the Rock? Also, what does it mean for Rusev in the long term? I didn't mind what happened on Raw between these two though I was hoping against hope that Rusev beats down Rock. Think about the heat he would've gotten!

So what do you guys think? Does it lead towards something in the future, especially for Rusev?

 

[Mudlup50]

I definitely think they have high hopes for him, I mean really he's been on this streak for what half a year? They've fed him 2 former world champions, at least to my recollection(Swagger and Henry) and eventually the Big Show will be added to the list.

Then they use Rock showing up to help boost Rusev, and I thought it was done really well. If Rock dominated then Rusev would look weak and if Rusev dominated, Rock would look weak going forward toward Wrestlemania.

Maybe they'll feed Rock to Rusev at Mania even? This might be the first part of the feud.

Also, they should give Rusev/Lana a lot of credit. Right now in my hierarchy judging on reactions from crowds: Authority, Rusev/Lana, Lesnar/Heyman and maybe Miz? My point is, Lana gets the crowd riled up. Whether he's here to stay or not, I don't know.

I don't think this heat will last forever but I do feel that with the promos recently, Rusev might be able to work as a heel without Lana in the mercenary gimmick? I know the promos weren't great but I found myself interested.

 

[Navi]

Not a fans of Rusev's never was and probably never will be. He's good to go in the ring, but I just find him uninteresting as a wrestler. All the personality he has comes from Lana, and let's face it if she wasn't with him, he's be just another heel wrestler who's good in the ring but otherwise he's forgettable.

The only thing I enjoyed the other night was watching the Rock get the last word in, and props to Lana for holding her own against him. If anything ever happens to her though, Rusev is done, he can't get over on his own, and that's never a good thing. No matter how good he is a wrestler, he needs something to get people interested in him, and matches with Big Show, Henry and Swagger aren't going to do it for him.

 

[Ryan1025]

Not a fans of Rusev's never was and probably never will be. He's good to go in the ring, but I just find him uninteresting as a wrestler. All the personality he has comes from Lana, and let's face it if she wasn't with him, he's beavoidanother heel wrestler who's good in the ring but otherwise he's forgettable.

The only thing I enjoyed the other night was watching the Rock get the last word in, and props to Lana for holding her own against him. If anything ever happens to her though, Rusev is done, he can't get over on his own, and that's never a good thing. No matter how good he is a wrestler, he needs something to get people interested in him, and matches with Big Show, Henry and Swagger aren't going to do it for him.

A wrestler who isn't interesting without a manager? You mean like Brock Lensar?

I felt the segment kinda made Rusev look weak at the end. I would have ended it with Rusev really wanting to fight the rock not retreating. Have Lana call him off though "he's just a movie star, he's not worth it" etc. Rusev still looks strong but we advoid the rock getting hurt.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I felt the segment kinda made Rusev look weak at the end. I would have ended it with Rusev really wanting to fight the rock not retreating. Have Lana call him off though "he's just a movie star, he's not worth it" etc. Rusev still looks strong but we advoid the rock getting hurt.

That's pretty much how I felt when it was all said & done. Rusev's been tearing through anyone put in front of him, yet it's The Rock who sends him off. According to reports, The Rock coincidentally happened to be in New York to meet with executives from Warner Bros., I forget about what exactly thought it may have had to do with finalizing some things for The Rock to portray Black Adam. I'm wondering if they didn't want Rusev to lay a hand on The Rock because they didn't want even the slightest risk of him being injured in some way. If that's the case, then it kind of annoys me a little because if nobody wants to risk Rock getting hurt, then don't have him get physical at all.

Reports also suggest that WWE feels that by not having Rusev take the Rock Bottom or People's Elbow, they were keeping him from looking weak. While I agree that having Rusev take nothing more than punches did help, I still think he came off looking a bit weak.

I think Rusev's stock must be pretty well up there for him to be paired up with The Rock in that segment. All in all, it was a good use of The Rock's ability on the mic to confront Rusev & Lana over their continuous running down of America and definitely gave the crowd a feel good moment.

 

[Wald]

I think it means good things for Rusev. Think about who the Rock gets paired with when he makes appearances. It has been top draws like CM Punk, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan or John Cena. Putting Rusev in there with the Rock elevates the guy instantly to close to the main event and gives the guy kudos for a future program with Cena, Bryan or whoever.

I don't think Rusev lost much by taking a few punches either. I would have preferred Rusev to get some offence in before the Rock cleared him from the ring but at least he didn't take a people's elbow. Arguably having Big Show knocked him out made him look a lot worse. I also think Lana looked good going at it with the Rock on the mic and further strengthened their claims as a top drawing act.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

I think they obviously had to shoe horn the Rock into the show somewhere. There was no point putting him in any segments to do with Ambrose/Rollins/Cena/Authority as it wouldn't have made a lot of sense.

Take out the Divas and the only real options would have been for Rock to run down Slator Gator or The Miz.

I think it was just a case or right place and right time to fit in with Rusev and Lana.

I really like Rusev, and I think if he went over Rock it would be huge but I don't see it happening. I can't see Rock tapping out to him at any point.

 

[Mudlup50]

I don't see how Rusev looked weak at all? He took what 2-3 punches and rolled out of the ring. Lana calls him off, showing once again she's the brains of this outfit and that's 100% fine by me. Why should Rusev attack the Rock? Because he insulted him a few times? They both look fine and this should hold up well for if the Rock returns later this WWE year to put over Reigns or to fight Lesnar

 

[laodaron]

I thought it was easily the best Raw segment in months. Watching the Rock, its impossible not to realize just how far superior he is to even the best on the current roster. That's not a slam on the current roster, that's a mad promotion for the Rock.

The Rock made his PERFECTLY timed promos against Rusev and Lana, Lana AND Rusev came across as being able to hang with Rock during promos (at least they weren't embarrassed by him, like Kevin Nash was embarrassed by CM Punk 3 years ago), and then Rusev got to be cleared out of the ring by The Rock, Rocky Miavia, The People's Champion. I mean, come on, if anything, it makes Rusev look like MORE of a great wrestler because The Rock wanted to go out and promo on him. If he didn't, he would have just opened the show.

To me, this was the biggest thing to happen to Rusev since he's been on the main roster.

Edit - Obviously, Rock v. Rusev would stink to all hell, and feeding Rock to Rusev is horribly stupid. Rusev is a pretty good upper midcarder, forever, which is a very respectable place to be. But Monday night, if only one time only, Rusev got to stand toe to toe with The Great One himself.

 

[kadroan]

I just think it was a creative gamble by the writers. I see the higher ups really believe in Rusev. It goes to show how high they look on him.

It makes him look like a credible threat. The Rock just don't get in the ring with anybody. I don't think The Rock vs. Rusev will ever happen but i'm sure it'll make the casual audience respect Rusev even more as a potential main eventer

 

[#hamler]

I could eventually see Rusev facing Rock in some type of capacity if The Rock ever decides to make any sort of comeback. With the way things ended on Monday, it leaves the book wide open if The Rock ever decides to do a program with Rusev. If not, no harm done. Rusev even being in the same ring with The Rock will drastically increase his status as a top player in the WWE. So no way in hell Rusev looked weak on Monday. It's The Rock, bro! The man who beat Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and John Cena in WrestleMania main events and the only man to do so.

The WWE higher ups definitely see something in Rusev and who can blame them? In a time when pushes are dropped suddenly, Rusev has managed to keep his momentum going steady for the better part of his time on the main roster. If he can trump over a few more world champions and keep his push going, I'd love to see him face The Rock somewhere down the line. Not only does it show an incredible amount of trust from WWE management, it'll be Rusev's biggest moment to shine. In fact, The Rock is THE perfect foe that can make Rusev (Lana) shine better than anyone else on the current roster.

 

[Navi]

Actually thinking more about it, it might not have been for Rusev's benefit alone. After the bringing down of the flag, and the apology from the WWE and the Big Show towards the Russian people, maybe this was another way to circumvent another "We hate America" speech by Lana.

Who else better than the Rock to come out and put a stop to that, and draw the attention away from the whole incident. It was coincidental that he was there in New York at the time, and what better way to use him. He's one of the best promo artists around, not only that he's now a Hollywood A lister. The WWE lost face with what happened, but regained it back with the Rock. Just a thought.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

To be fair, Rock probably had a big say in what he did if he showed up and there are clues.

He put Lana over strong... He doesn't often compliment Diva's on their beauty... but he did with her.. unless he was trying to get her digits of course...but he played to her strengths, didn't call her out on her sour face as he would with others etc...

He used a comedy phrase that got over quickly... last time he did that was for his cousin Umaga with the "shrivelled up monkey penis" line... on the surface it's detrimental but if the Rock makes up a zinger like that about you it shows you're on his radar and thus VERY important in the WWE. The Rock making fun of you gets you over QUICK.

The promo was one of his best, no phoning it in for a cheap pop, even the meandering tale of his long ass day led perfectly into the set up for the Finally line...

When the phyisicality came, it was what was needed... this is The Rock after all, the top, top man in the business, even ahead of Brock in terms of importance... the one guy who is gonna make even a Rusev turn tail... He didn't back down, Lana was having to "stop him" from going back in so he didn't lose anything.

Think about the timing of the segment... you had the intro music pop about 3 minutes before the hour, so there was time for Twitter to explode and people to turn over... the segment was long enough to keep a lot of people until the main event, where Ambrose came in and got the double whammy... Ratings wise it didn't help as the early part of the show was so dismal, but there would have been a spike and that would have been the plan. They spent upward of half an hour on it, even showing Rock going back to hug the kid with Downs at ringside... that's a lot of lens time if it's a one off... more likely Dwayne has the itch/a window and wants a payday...WWE needs the boost as so many talents are off the table so it's a win/win for a short stint.

I made a thread about a possible Survivor Elimination match involving the two and do thing that is where they are gonna go... Rock is ring ready, he was HUGE... Survivor Series is a PPV he likes to work and has done so for the last several years in the main... He can do a 5 man tag and take a full pay day for 20% of the work and WWE gets a huge main event if they're not using Brock.

From Rusev and any other younger guys in the match, just sharing a PPV main event with The Rock will be gold to them... great experience... Just as if they made it a Tag Team main event with Batista and Rock, the two Hollywood guys teaming... whether DC and Marvel would let that happen is another matter.

At the end of the day it was done for Rusev and Lana first and foremost, it got the Rock back in front of the crowd and re introduced the concept of "anything can happen". In reality a lot of people expected him to show up on Smackdown for the anniversary, so probably not as "shocking" as it could have been but literally no one saw it coming in terms of who he'd work with and that it would be that good... so fair play to all concerned. THAT's getting the rub!

 

[mkw1962]

I don't think the confrontation with Rock hurt Rusev any it was just a feel good moment for Raw, they needed to do something it has been the same old thing on Raw lately but that is another story. Rusev will finish with Big Show and than start a feud with Sheamus. Rusev will take the title from Sheamus and keep it til Wrestlemania when he is finally beaten. The new U.S. champion John Cena and the first to take down Rusev.