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Why WWE Must End Love Storylines After Rusev and Lana Debacle

By Rob Wolkenbrod

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WWE has used love storylines for years but it’s finally time to end them after the mess that Rusev, Lana and others were involved in.

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WWE decided to end the love rectangle between Rusev, Lana, Summer Rae and Dolph Ziggler on the recent Monday Night Raw after a real-life engagement was revealed. After months of dating, Rusev proposed to Lana and it got leaked to TMZ. WWE would decide to acknowledge this on Monday and align the two in storyline. This was done by the announcement, a 30-second Dolph Ziggler interview, and a short segment with Summer leaving Rusev in the ring.

WWE had wanted to end this love storyline but doing this with kayfabe broken in the process? It doesn’t seem right and it’s part of the reason romance angles should be removed from WWE TV.

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Kayfabe no longer exists in WWE. The “fourth wall,” as CM Punk once put it, has been smashed to pieces. We’ve seen this from WWE acknowledging Superstars and Diva’s pasts outside of the company, what goes on behind the scenes and the love lives of their talents. The former has included Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella’s marriage be integrated into TV. Now Rusev and Lana’s engagement can be included in this.

When the storyline involving Lana breaking away from Rusev escalated in May, fans knew they were actually dating due to photos being posted online (most notably at sport games) and news that they bought a house together. It made Lana’s alignment with Ziggler and Rusev’s with Summer hard to believe. However, we went through months of these two pairs being together. It made for an unrealistic storyline, even if they are supposed to be “larger than life.” This was even more so after Summer proposed to Rusev a few weeks ago.

There’s also that these storylines have become silly and repetitive over the years. The formula has always included a controversial swerve like the woman bouncing from one guy to the other. This nearly happened with Summer and Ziggler. The Show-off himself has been involved in one of these programs before. He was involved with AJ Lee in 2012 and briefly with Summer in her split from Fandango last year.

These love angles go all the way back to the early WrestleMania era where “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth were involved. How about the famous Stephanie McMahon-Test-Triple H story? You can also go back to the Chris Jericho-Christian-Trish Stratus angle that played out during WrestleMania 20. These programs were all entertaining and fit their era. One could say the Rusev-Lana story fit the PG era, but not when it dragged on for as long as it did and included some ridiculous angles in the process.

There’s also that multiple characters in this storyline were ruined.

WWE destroyed the “Ravishing Russian” persona of Lana’s. She was always this tough woman who could stand up for herself but as the summer progressed, she looked like an 80’s rocker chick who couldn’t talk—she only had cat fights that WWE executives have loved to insert into Divas stories.

Remember when Rusev was this intimidating monster heel when he debuted in 2014? Well he’s gone from squashing his foes and being protected to the highest degree to the one losing in minutes to Ryback, who he never lost against. This was due to losing to John Cena multiple times and looking like a fool in this love rectangle that turned his character into an unintentional comedian.

Summer never had great standing in the minds of WWE fans, so she’ll likely go off camera for a while until something is created for her.

Ziggler will be fine from this. He’s been established for nearly a decade and seems like he’ll move into a program with John Cena for the WWE United States Championship if he’s given a rematch.

There’s too many factors here in support of getting rid of love storylines. They’ve become silly and only damage those who are involved. WWE has shown they do not learn from their mistakes, however, so we may not be done with these programs.

You can follow Rob Wolkenbrod on Twitter @RealRobWolkey. If you would like to send a report from a live event, email us at robert.wolkenbrod@gmail.com.

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