WWE Battleground 2017: Ranking John Cena vs. Rusev Matches

WWE, credit: wwe.com

Breaking down the matches between John Cena and Rusev during their 2015 rivalry in WWE.

From February until May of 2015, John Cena and Rusev battled in a series of different matches over the United States Championship.  For Rusev, it was a major step up in competition and his first feud that brought major prominence to the young Bulgarian.  As a new face on the main roster, Rusev was in need of the exposure and a chance to run with a 3-month long story line with one of, if not the most successful WWE superstar of all-time was a chance that very few get in the wrestling business.  Unfortunately for “The Bulgarian Brute”, the program ended with Cena at the 2015 Payback pay per view via tap out and he seemed to fade back into the obscure land called the mid-card.

About a year later, Rusev got a chance to get back in the U.S. title picture and did in a big way by defeating Kalisto at the 2016 Extreme Rules.  But after a 4-month reign, he dropped the belt to the only other more universally annoying guy, Roman Reigns.  Much like the first time around, Rusev turned back into a ghost as his TV time was virtually eliminated.  Then in March of 2017, he took some time off for shoulder surgery and on July 4th returned to confront Cena.  This all leads to Battleground where the duo will rekindle their old rivalry in a flag match.

So with that match looming, it’s time to take a look at how the matches played out in their initial feud and to decide whether this time around they could do better.  Although the writing is clearly on the wall for a John Cena versus Jinder Mahal SummerSlam match, making this is probably a one-and-done situation, it’s still okay to have some fun.  Ahead we rank the John Cena/Rusev 2015 matches.