WWE WrestleMania 33: 8 Stars That May Not Get the Spot They Deserve

7. Rusev

There’s a reason you’re going to see a good bit of reference to the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in this piece, and it’s simply because the annual slugfest has become WWE’s way of showcasing each star on the roster at WrestleMania, whom otherwise wouldn’t have even been considered for a spot on the line-up.

At the top of that match are the upper mid-carders that would’ve hoped for something more, but unfortunately come up short in pursuit of a decent program. This year, Rusev is looking likely to take one of those spots.

It’s not the end of the world, make no mistake about that, but given how his career took off with Rusev facing John Cena at WrestleMania 31, it’s difficult not to yearn for something a little more for “The Bulgarian Brute”.

The lackluster feud with Enzo and Cass has sullied whatever dignity Rusev had left, after losing the US Championship to Roman Reigns last fall. His poorly-explained alliance with Jinder Mahal is so forgettable that it’s sure to end with about as much buzz as it began with – zero – and his broken nose suffered prior to the Royal Rumble is just another unfortunate chapter in the story of Rusev’s degradation.

At this stage, the best he could hope for at WrestleMania 33 is to be one of the final remaining competitors in the Battle Royal, which is certainly plausible as he’s one of the most physically dominant stars in the WWE.

Still, given how promising the man was starting to look again just last summer before Roman Reigns completely derailed his US Championship push, you can’t help but feel for Rusev as he attempts to pick up the scraps that currently make up his career.