WWE SmackDown Top 5 Segments: The Usos Still Have Teams On Lock

Rusev and Bobby Roode’s Selfie Promos

WWE started showing these selfie-style promos in several weeks ago. Some have been better than others. The quality of the promos often boiled down to the dialogue the wrestlers had to work with. Unfortunately, many of them recited atrocious lines, making some of those brief segments tough to sit through.

The quick promos improved this week, thanks to amended material from the creative team. Rusev and Bobby Roode’s promos weren’t newsworthy, but the snippets conveyed their characters’ motivations ahead of their U.S. Title match next week. “The Bulgarian Brute” said that next Tuesday would be Roode’s “swan song” as champion. Immediately after that, Roode circled Rusev Day on a calendar and used that to spell “GLORIOUS”.

The promos had their shortcomings. Both champion and challenger felt like one-note characters rather than fleshed out human beings. We still don’t know much about Roode other than his catchy entrance music. Rusev wants a yearlong celebration of him. Outside of that, there isn’t much substance.

With that said, next week’s title match should be plenty of fun, particularly the crowd reaction. Fans relish chanting for both men, so the atmosphere will be intriguing. As I stated earlier, a title change seems unlikely. Despite the favorable audience responses, the WWE higher-ups appear reticent to get behind Rusev. He’s probably a stop-gap option until Dolph Ziggler is ready to challenge Roode.