Rusev is Doomed to Fall in WWE After Loss to Roman Reigns

With the loss of the United States Championship and a lack of a long-term plan, Rusev is doomed to fall in the WWE main roster.

There’s something to be said about planning for one’s long-term future. One of the common criticisms directed towards the WWE is how they seem to lack the ability to book storylines with a long-term vision. This can often lead to impacts on a character’s development and overall potential, someone like Rusev.

Rusev is someone who now finds himself with little direction and little hope to elevate himself up towards the main event spotlight in the WWE. Rusev is another powerhouse heavyweight who was booked strong to begin his WWE main roster run in 2014. Despite being a bigger wrestler, he was certainly agile and above average for someone his size.

It’s a big reason why Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him the Most Improved Wrestler of the Year in 2014. Rusev was also ranked in the top 10 of the PWI 500 ranking in 2015. Rusev was the perfect monster heel, especially when he was holding the United States Championship during his undefeated streak.

But just like many powerhouses before him, Rusev started to lose value after losing a match to John Cena. It felt as if everything the WWE had done to build him up was thrown to waste. Why would you put a champion on a tank for one of the better entrances if you weren’t planning on moving him into the main event status? You don’t just hand out tanks to anyone in the WWE. At least one would hope they didn’t.

Rusev isn’t the first to suffer after a loss to Cena. Just look at some of the following names of superstars who suffered at the hands of Cena. There’s Damien Sandow, Vladimir Kozlov, Wade Barrett and even recently with Bray Wyatt.

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It looked as though Rusev was heading down that path as he was feuding with Dolph Ziggler as they both wanted Lana. But Rusev was able to be built back up to being the dominant United States Champion that he should be. It’s a big part of what made him the best villain possible. When he was a Russian-sympathizer with Lana speaking for him, it was a great gimmick at the time.

It could have been brought back with a lot of global concerns involving Russian president Vladimir Putin. But the recent losses to Roman Reigns led to Rusev losing the United States Champion. Usually, the WWE would have something planned for a mid-card champion that shows the potential of being a main event superstar.