RAW aftermath: Rusev is your New United States Champion

Raw started in typical fashion with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon making their way to the ring. But the one pleasant surprise was the man walking in front of them. Vince McMahon returned to WWE television.

All of this might have hogged the limelight and attention as it was supposed to. But one announcement before Raw kicked off in a typical fashion was made. It might have not really been regarded as something serious but it should have been.

The announcement entailed that Rusev will be taking on Sheamus for the US Title. It did not really make a splash because it wasn’t going to be aired live on air, instead it will play out on the WWE network. Another thing being that after conquering many American heroes, he was set to face an Irishman. Rusev was suddenly put in a match for the title.

Why it should have been expected

Here’s why it should have made a splash and got the fans excited. Sheamus hasn’t had a good storyline to be involved with in a long, long time. Sure, he had a great match against Cesaro but Sheamus is a regular on the ‘Creative has nothing for you’ chapter of the WWE. He has been involved in many a breathtaking matches but they can only take you so far. He has fans, maybe bot the hardcore fans, but he still has fans who like him, would break into a chest bumps and shrieks and ‘Brogue’ chants.

But now he faces a man who hasn’t really lost ever since he made his debut. He’s defeated Big E, Swagger, Big Show and Mark Henry. The feuds with Swagger being his best till date. He has a very interesting gimmick and his manager happens to be one of the most interesting characters on the roster, thanks to her promos.

Sure, he got humbled by that one appearance of The Rock but that only got more attention on his character and atleast people who tuned in just to watch the Rock or played back the video on Youtube, saw Rusev and got to know who this guy was.

Rusev has conquered everyone who came by his way. So going by that record he had a very good chance of beating Sheamus and become the new United States Champion. There is speculation that he might just rename it the Russian Championship but anyway it is quite poetic to see that he has conquered every American Hero and now he is the US Champion. It’ll be strange to see him carry that titke with pride. Or maybe, he’ll just the rub the fact in that a Russian rules America because he has the US title now.

Possibilities

It’ll be interesting to see where WWE takes this storyline. But being conquered by Rusev, will only be the start of something better for Sheamus. He actually has a kryptonite.

So, these were the possibilities. Yet, there were fans who believed that it was redundant to have a championship match that does not even air on television. Many thought that thetitle won’t change hands and this is just to hype a future feud. But if WWE really wants to hype up thenetwork, why won’t they have a title change?

WWE made a statement and had Rusev defeat Sheamus. Rusev ended the night as the new Champion. Sheamus is hence no longer the US Champion.

Can Rusev’s involvement bring some spotlight back to the US Title? Sure, this title was never an equal to the Intercontinental title but it’s still a title that WWE has to be won as an achievement.

The best moment it had was probably when Zack Ryder won after singlehandedly bringing himself on the map with his show. That was the crescendo of his WWE career before his spectacular downfall.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Rusev is your new United States Champion. He really did go on to CRUSH Sheamus.