WWE NXT prospect Alexander Rusev: Case of old wine in new bottle?

What can Alexander Rusev add to the WWE roster?

There’s no doubt that NXT is home to some of the most talented wrestlers and performers. The future megastar of the WWE is somewhere in the midst of that talent pool and with some little help from Creative, they can certainly make a lasting impression. Just like last year, WWE made an NXT performer debut in a PPV. Alexander Rusev’s entry was followed by a very exuberant Michael Cole announcing his credentials and dubbing him as the “Bulgarian Brute”.  How did he fare in this debut, of sorts?

Last year, Bo Dallas was part of the Rumble match and even though he lasted for quite sometime, he did not stick in the main roster for much longer given his lack of attracting positive attention. Bo Dallas is now one of the best characters on NXT. With his exclamations like “UnBOlievable” has given him a very Justin Bieber like character which turned out to be an instant success as far as heels go. This year, Alexander Rusev made his way to the Rumble match and even though he did not eliminate anyone, he was still made to look like a powerhouse and it took four men to eliminate him.

Rusev actually signed with the WWE as early as 2011 but several injuries like a torn anterior cruciate ligament, a broken neck, a paralyzed arm among others suffered at different junctures of his WWE career, kept him from making it to the main roster and prevented his character from developing. He is trained in Muay Thai and in his early days in California he was trained by Rikishi and Gangrel.

He dominated his part of the session inside the ring and garnered chants of “U-S-A” and “WE THE PEOPLE” which is quite an indication for any character that they’ll be better off as heels. This is also a chain reaction whenever a foreigner enters the WWE landscape. A foreign heel and a larger than life persona was huge during the 80s. Rusev inhibits both these personas but wrestling is not as novel as it used to be in the 80s. It takes something else to control the attention of the crowd. If power was all that a superstar needed to get any attention with the crowd, Ryback’s character would have crossed milestones.

Rusev’s entry in the Rumble was an indication that the WWE believes in him enough to bring him to the main roster but if not handled properly by Ceative, his character might end up being dormant like the Matadores. His performance in the Rumble was good but not unforgettable. If WWE is attempting to show him like a force to be reckoned with, they would need to give him more material to work with than squash people on the mat and grunting away.

His character needs to be developed more and NXT needs to be the place where it should be done first. Characters look more promising in NXT than RAW. In the past one year The Shield, The Wyatt Family, Big E Langston and Antonio Cesaro have built quite a following. For Rusev to get there, power might not do the trick.