What is going on with Rusev?
Rusev has been one of the most over characters on WWE ever since his main roster debut in 2014. He went on a rampage on the main roster defeating Xavier Woods, R-Truth, Big E, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Big Show, Sheamus and John Cena, just to name a few. These were all marquee PPV bouts (Sheamus was on a network-exclusive Raw for the US Championship). This streak ended at WrestleMania after being defeated by the man he beat at Fast Lane 2015, John Cena.
Even though Cena didn't get a clean win (Rusev was distracted by Lana), Rusev never became the same again. We can't attribute that to Cena, because every winning streak comes to an end, and you need to have someone like John Cena to end it, because he is one of the only believable characters to beat it. However, what WWE did with Rusev after his program with Cena is the root cause of all our problems.
Rusev was put in a horrible quadruple love angle with Summer Rae, Lana and professional heat killer Dolph Ziggler. This angle was absolutely dreadful, but real life events made it 10 times worse for Rusev. After Summer Rae had proposed to Rusev in storyline, TMZ reported that Lana and Rusev got engaged in real life, even though they had split on television. After Lana confirmed this on her Instagram, WWE had Summer Rae verbally eviscerate Rusev's character, as you can see in the video below.
Rusev has been in the doghouse ever since, working the tail end of 2015 and start of 2016 as Roman Reigns's personal whipping boy as part of The League of Nations. At WrestleMania 32, a bunch of retired wrestlers came and destroyed the stable for a cheap pop. After that, the stable soon disbanded.
Things seemed to improve, as Rusev became a dominant US Champion again, but that dominance did not last long. Rusev got introduced to his old friend Roman Reigns again, and dropped the championship to him at Hell in a Cell 2016. Rusev did nothing of note after that reign, getting put in a mindless feud with Enzo Amore. He eventually went off TV to nurse an injury.
He returned on Smackdown via video segments, where he demanded a WWE Championship match on his return. That request was never granted. His return happened against John Cena at Battleground in a flag match, which he obviously lost to 'Big Match John'. After a 10 second loss to Randy Orton at Summerslam, Rusev looked to be dead in the water.
Rusev, in this rivalry against Orton, got a new ally in the form of Aiden English, and ever since that, Rusev has been one of the most over guys in the company. His 'Rusev Day' gimmick has garnered a lot of traction and Rusev is one of the most consistent merchandise sellers in WWE. His Rusev Day calendars and shirts are almost regularly sold out on WWE Shop, and this demand led to him being inserted late into the US Championship match at WrestleMania. However, he took the pinfall in the match.
So why is Rusev had such a topsy-turvy WWE career, and should WWE push him now for his Rusev Day gimmick? The answer is yes and no.
Rusev may be one of the most entertaining characters, and he definitely deserves a much more prominent spot than the one that he had currently, but how far up the card can we put him? Can we believably have him in the main event with the likes of Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe? All are elite workers and protected characters. Even at the top of the midcard, we have the perennially-over Jeff Hardy and newly-promoted Andrade 'Cien' Almas, whose NXT run in late 2017 and early 2018 could be argued to be one of the best in company history. Along with that, Rusev is fighting off competition from the repackaged Big Cass, whose promo on Smackdown Live has revitalised interest in him. Can we put Rusev Day on top of this list?
Even if Rusev deserves a push, he needs go through a rebuilding phase, because his character is flaky at best. He (in kayfabe terms) is not a consistent performer anymore, because he loses matches. WWE has given him 50-50 booking which has been failing him. Ideally, he goes on a tag team run with Aiden English, but with The Bludgeon Brothers at the top of the card, how do they become the next big team? Even as a singles wrestler, how exactly can we make him the undefeated brute again?
Even though Rusev is one of the best characters WWE have stumbled upon, this writer can't see how to capitalize on his popularity apart from keeping him at a consistent upper-midcard level. The Smackdown roster is too loaded to have Rusev reign atop them as a bonafide main eventer. Of course, he is someone that can be slot into that role with ease, but can we imagine Rusev dominating Samoa Joe? Do we see Rusev reign above the likes of AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan? Should he even be ahead of them on the card? That is a question that many people will have different opinions about, but this writer does not see that happening. WWE won't do it, and there can be an argument made that they shouldn't do it.