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Rusev = Kozlov

As many predicted, the Cena feud has as usual killed all the work they did with Rusev. Now he's likely going to yell I Quit, lose his primary heat getter, Lana and then what is he and what's left?  No title, no push, no heat, no manager.  Now I read he's jobbing to Ryback at house shows!  He's essentially a more talented Vladimir Kozlov, and it's basically a matter of time before he's the latest member of a comedy jobber team like 3MB.  I know you defend Cena booking sometimes, but doesn't this pattern seem destructive to any long term booking?

​Let's not go crazy here.  Rusev is young and talented and the easiest character in the world to rebuild with a few more beatings of Jack Swagger. He's a midcard heel and they lose a lot in WWE, unfortunately.  Not to say it ISN'T destructive booking, because really we didn't need all four matches and really would have been fine with Wrestlemania and Extreme Rules, but I wouldn't write him off just yet.  ​

Comments

  1. I don't get why they've gone for a four match series. It's not as if fans have been clamouring for rematches, or the matches have even been that great to warrant any more. Two was more than plenty I have no idea why we need two more.

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  2. Perfectly fine with WM being the blowoff

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  3. Now the "split up the tag teams and do nothing with either guy" is spreading to wrestler/manager pairings too, I see

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  4. I'm seriously at a loss as to what they're gonna do with Lana.

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  5. Because they have no idea what else to do with Cena.

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  6. Wwe should have a 6-month plan for each guy once a feud ends. What is rusev really going to do after the cena feud? It seems like the plan was just to get him to cena and that's it.

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  7. How about a U.S. Title feud with a face like ziggler or build up another guy?

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  8. WWE is simply unwilling to create major stars anymore--face or heel. They also no longer recognize how little impact they have in what they actually do for characters. Whether it's them living in a bubble, or the inherent loathing they feel for the fans, they no longer put in the effort they once did to create a top star. If you asked them they'd say they've made Rusev into a major superstar. They had him ride into the stadium on a tank at WrestleMania, dammit! Meanwhile to the fans he's just another guy, barely more interesting than Fandango or Big E. Take away Lana, the big flag dropping from the ceiling to get heat, and Cena as his opponent... there's just nothing left. Simply beating Cena at WrestleMania could have changed that.

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  9. One problem with rusev is that he's just a generic foreign heel. What really makes him an evil heel? What evil stuff has he really done?

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  10. Even that wasn't much of a plan. Have Rusev remain "undefeated" by beating the same handful of jobbers over and over, then have them bump into each other after the Royal Rubble, thus engaging in a "feud". The sheer laziness of it all is why no one really cares.

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  11. She will be the female face of wwe of course

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  12. It's like what did swagger do after the feud? I have barely seen him in months.

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  13. So say they don't do this Cena storyline. What exactly is there left to do with the present incarnation of Rusev?

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  14. I think if reigns was champ be a b-ppv title defense against him

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  15. So after the cena feud, he will probably be in the mitb match for the June ppv. For the July ppv, hopefully his next feud starts from the mitb match

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  16. We have a large enough sample size of WWE booking to know that this character is dead. Honestly, there was nowhere for him to go anyway. Let's say he got the better of Cena in the feud. Where would he go from there? Back to Cena?

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  17. He would be the U.S. Champ

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  18. Rebuild him by having beat Cena at Payback. It won't affect Cena's tshirt sales one bit.

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  19. As long he has feuds and storyline so I personally could give less of a shit who eats the pin.

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  20. What evil stuff do any of the heels do anymore? That's another problem these days. They don't think beyond the character to come up with motivations for guys. Now with Rusev they at least had the idea that he was fighting to impress Vladimir Putin, but after awhile that's more gimmick than character.

    There are so many things wrong with WWE structurally. Maybe the biggest is just what is the point of everything? Why does the show start each week with guys coming out and delivering lengthy soliloquies? Why are the same wrestlers on every show for weeks on end? If a guy like Fandango loses, shouldn't he NOT be on TV the following week? They are so locked into their formulas for things that more and more fans eventually pick up on the realization that there's no reason to watch the show each and every week.

    Remember years ago when wrestling was only an hour, and if you liked a guy who wasn't a top star you maybe had to wait every 2 or 3 weeks to see them? Remember how wrestling was essentially this thing where there were a bunch of guys in it, and the ones you saw on TV were either the most exciting ones, or the ones on winning streaks, and everyone was trying to earn title shots, because winning a title meant you earned more money. And some guys fought fair while others cheated to win, and during the course of that two guys might run afoul of each other and suddenly things became personal. And there was a sense that all of this was happening every night, and if you went to a live show you'd get a taste of it, while the TV show was like wrestling's version of ESPN: it just showed you the highlights.

    Wrestling's lost so much of that. You just get faint echoes: little pieces of those past pieces used to dress up today's dull stage drama. Today I think we're supposed to believe the wrestlers live in the production trucks, and they are wheeled into the arena every Monday night, and they are all turned on with a giant switch. Just think of how many of today's "stories" don't make sense if you think about why none of these characters don't interact the other 6 days and 21 hours of the week when the camera isn't on and pointed at them...

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  21. Exactly. Cena could have lost EVERY match in their fued, and still came to the ring on a random RAW in June or July and book himself into a world title match like nothing ever changed

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  22. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMay 3, 2015 at 11:34 AM

    They really should feed Ryback to him for a couple months to rebuild him.

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  23. This sums it all up.

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  24. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMay 3, 2015 at 11:38 AM

    Remember when it was considered a "win" for the big bad heel to get a featured match with the top guys? King Kong Bundy didn't need to stay on top for more than a Hogan feud. It's not always the "booking"; sometimes it's just that there is too much TV/PPV. You can't keep anyone strong forever. At some point dudes lose and it doesn't mean a "burial". Rusev, Shield, Wyatt, Barrett's initial push, Sheamus's debut, Ryback's repackaging, etc all thrust a young commodity into the spotlight quickly. We said for years they needed to push young talent. I get that the booking usually ends up shitty, but sometimes we just have to be OK with the new star getting booked in high profile matches. They can't all be world champ and they can't all stay in the main event.

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  25. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMay 3, 2015 at 11:39 AM

    Exactly. That's kind of the problem with the Wyatt, Rusev, and original Barrett pushes: they shoot straight to the top for a feud with The Guy, then there is nowhere to go. I LIKE that they give young talent a shot on the big stage, but as characters there isn't anywhere to go but down. We learned that with Hulk Hogan's heel enemies too

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  26. Honestly, he never should've faced Cena. Now that Brock is a face, imagine an undeafeted Russian Rusev facing off with the Bionic Redneck Brock Lesnar.

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  27. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMay 3, 2015 at 11:40 AM

    He should decisively beat Ryback for a couple months and go after the world title. I would be perfectly fine with them building up Brock vs. Rusev for down the road

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  28. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMay 3, 2015 at 11:41 AM

    Shelton, congrats on the win last night. You were the better man. #TeamBenjamin!

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