WWE SummerSlam 2017: The Odds of Rusev Defeating Randy Orton

Rusev and The Apex Predator, Randy Orton are set to do battle at SummerSlam this year.

Ah, I could see it now! Rusev standing ever so smug over a battered and defeated Randy Orton just moments after his big win at SummerSlam, the Brooklyn, NY crowd booing him as he waves the Russian flag around the ring to incite even more hatred and heat. He goes on to feud with some of the biggest names in the WWE and eventually becomes a major threat to the WWE or Universal Championship, with the fans tuning in to see Smackdown Live each and every week, hoping that none of these things above ever comes to fruition.

This, of course, may won’t be the case. Orton will probably beat Rusev within ten to fifteen minutes, the Super Athlete’s next opponent will probably be someone who just got picked up from WWE NXT, Rusev will then cut a scathing promo comparing something about the USA to the WWE superstar he’s feuding with, the guy comes back with a pretty snappy counter and then at the next pay per view, Rusev gets squashed in like 5 minutes, becoming a jobber shortly there after.

Where in the world did it all go wrong? Since his arrival on the main roster, Rusev was made to look like a serious problem, or a very big deal. He was undefeated for several months, defeating the likes of Mark Henry, The Big Show, Sheamus and even John Cena, who would eventually go on to defeat The Super Athlete a month later at WrestleMania 31. Some say losing to Cena at WrestleMania led to The Bulgarian Brute’s downfall, others say that while Rusev was buried that night, he was still taken seriously and very few say it was a good decision to have him loose.

I say that while it wasn’t enough to stop his momentum at the time, that wasn’t the nail in the coffin. So yeah, I agree with opinion No. 2 basically. Despite the fact that Rusev was defeated, his momentum didn’t completely stop. The League of Nations… was a fail. He was going to participate in an Elimination Chamber match… before he was sidelined with an injury. He started a program with Dolph Zigler, Summer Rae, and his real life wife Lana … which was canned and ultimately was a fail.

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Still, that doesn’t mean Rusev wasn’t a success after getting “buried” by Cena. That also doesn’t mean Rusev can’t pull out the victory over Orton at SummerSlam either. I think he has the potential. I just wouldn’t bank on it.