WWE: Rusev’s US Championship Win Was Long Overdue
By Brett Grega
On the Christmas Day edition of SmackDown, fans received a present when Rusev won the WWE United States Championship. Find out why this title win was long overdue for the ‘Bulgarian Brute.’
Sustained fan support is something special in WWE these days.
It’s hard for a superstar to continually get supported by the audience no matter what storyline they are drawn into or where on the card they end up. We’ve seen stars like Bayley or Dolph Ziggler’s support fade when they were pushed down the card or given poor storylines.
As Daniel Bryan would say, sometimes fans are fickle like that, which just makes what Rusev has accomplished even more impressive.
More from SmackDown
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
- Potential Challengers for Roman Reigns before WrestleMania
- WWE SmackDown Predictions: AJ Styles Will Help Randy Orton
- WWE SmackDown Predictions: Street Profits Will Dethrone Judgment Day
- SmackDown reminded us of how pointless the brand split is
Rusev has received consistent support from fans everywhere since his ‘Rusev Day’ gimmick was first created in mid-2017. No matter where you go in wrestling, or what match you’re watching in many cases, chants of “Rusev Day” fill arenas in support of the ‘Bulgarian Brute.’
Whether it was trying to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships with Aiden English or feuding against Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega, it seems Rusev has become one of WWE fans’ favorite superstars.
That’s why its surprising that WWE has seemed so reluctant in putting a title on Rusev.
Rusev has come up short in all of his title attempts since turning face, in spite of his obvious connection with audiences. Even when chants for him seemed to take over every WWE show on television, Rusev couldn’t come up with the gold.
Perhaps, it was due to the fact WWE figured it was more about the chant than the man behind it. After all, stars like Fandango have faded as favorites after fans grew tired of their chants in the past.
With Rusev however, its been clear for months now that a similar outcome would not befall him. Rusev’s oftentimes hilarious promos, combined with his solid in-ring work, has kept the ‘Rusev Day’ movement going strong for over a year now.
Fortunately, WWE seems to have finally realized this, and given Rusev a chance to shine on SmackDown.
After a thrilling match against Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev finally captured the United States Championship, ending his pursuit of a title reign that has eluded him for far too long now.
Now, Rusev has the opportunity to show what he can really do with his enormous fan following. It’s an opportunity to use this title reign, and the rivalries he has for the belt along the way, in order to propel himself into the main event scene on SmackDown where he truly belongs.
Next. 5 Possible U.S. Title Opponents For Rusev. dark
Hopefully, this is just the beginning of what turns out to be more than just a push from the audience for Rusev, but a push from WWE itself that finally matches the massive fan support he receives every night on SmackDown.