WWE: Lana Increases Progress With Recent Push
Lana has been a side character since the start of her career. WWE’s recent push of the Ravishing Russian has moved her progress from a dead stop to potential superstar.
Lana’s likability and reputation has always been on the fritz. Her character development has been controversial and stereotypical, and her wrestling has been generally panned by critics. Regardless of her lack of pure physical experience, WWE has decided to push her to the near top of the Women’s Division.
Her progress has been anything but swift. Lana started her career in NXT on Oct. 23, 2013 scouting Alexander Rusev, later becoming his “social ambassador”. Using a Russian accent, she pushed her character’s “outsider” persona, focusing on her character’s college career in foreign affairs, business, and social media marketing.
Lana rode Rusev’s coattails to WWE, debuting on SmackDown on Jan. 31, 2014. She acted as Rusev’s manager, dedicating his matches to her “hero”, President of Russia Vladimir Putin. WWE strongly emphasized Lana’s anti-American and Russophilic gimmick, sometimes creating backlash.
WWE continued to struggle with ideas on how to push Lana’s career forward. Creative focused on inter-relational story lines, by conjuring up an affair with Dolph Ziggler, focusing on the very real engagement to Rusev, and her alignment with various groups, like Team B.A.D., and her connection with Tamina as her manager for a brief moment in time.
After being drafted in April 2017 to SmackDown with solo status, she resumed in-ring competition under her new, less Russian-focused gimmick at NXT live events. It was presumed that WWE was taking Lana seriously, and that she would get her shot at solo matches.
Despite the increase in training, Lana had unsuccessful attempts with a budding feud against Naomi and at various pay-per-views. She failed at an attempt to compete in the first women’s Money In The Bank ladder match, was eliminated by Becky Lynch at Battleground, eliminated by Michelle McCool at Royal Rumble as the 13th entrant, and was eliminated in the second round of the WWE Mixed Match Challenge by Bobby Roode and Charlotte Flair.
Photo source: WWE.com
It wasn’t until defeating Billie Kay for a shot at this year’s Money In The Bank ladder match, did she show her strengths at solo matches.
The focus for Lana is still her presence and charisma. Though she’s teamed up once again with Rusev and his new partner, Aiden English, the focus is on how she is wedging between the two. The idea is seemingly to transfer some of Rusev’s recent gold to Lana, which could result in the push for Rusev to soften; an obvious mistake.
It’s clear that WWE sees Lana as a blank slate, simply building on her strong persona that’s existed over her five-year career. She’s appeared in multiple movies, in WWE2K15 through WWE2K18, is a regular on WWE’s reality show Total Divas, and as a history of excellence in the entertainment business.
If the company is serious about building Lana to a serious and successful talent, they need to increase the push even harder. According to CageMatch.net, Lana has only performed in 37 matches this year; peanuts compared to other women superstars. Her progress shows improvement, especially after showcasing her Hammerlock sitout spinebuster and sitout facebuster, as well as dropping the fake Russian accent.
WWE wants to repackage Lana, drifting away from a Ravishing Russian, to a serious contender. After she told E! Online that she was considering quitting the business altogether, WWE pushed her stardom harder.
Next: Lana's Money In The Bank Profile
Lana is already reaching the top of the age in which female wrestlers stay relevant. If WWE wants to build a successful Lana franchise, they need to continue to push her solo character to a respectable limit, with a focus on physicality.