WWE: 5 Underutilized SmackDown Live Stars

2. Rusev

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Rusev. It really is. When he debuted on the main roster in 2014, Rusev was a destructive force who went undefeated for over 4 months, and had a high-profile match at WrestleMania against John Cena for the United States Championship. After suffering his first loss to Cena, “The Bulgarian Brute” seemingly lost all momentum, and was later in Vince McMahon’s doghouse for “ruining” a storyline after announcing his engagement to his real-life girlfriend, Lana.

After suffering a shoulder injury earlier this year, Rusev was set to return to SmackDown Live as part of the Superstar Shake-up, and sent out numerous Twitter videos demanding that Shane McMahon award him a WWE Championship match. Not only did Rusev not receive a title match, but since returning, he lost to John Cena at Battleground, and mostly recently, to Randy Orton in a 10-second squash match at SummerSlam.

It is astonishing how much WWE have seemingly lost faith in Rusev as a top star, and yet, he still remains popular with wrestling fans. Nevertheless, he can still put on an excellent match, and is entertaining as hell when he picks up a microphone. What more could you want?