Over the paste few months, a number of WWE superstars have suddenly found themselves looking for new ways to make money. For many of those superstars, their respective releases came on Black Wednesday, a day when several WWE talent and staff were let go. One of the bigger names on that list was Rusev, the Bulgarian Brute. When he and Lana made the jump from NXT, Rusev looked like the next big thing but creative problems plagued his main roster run. WWE made a lot of mistakes that essentially tanked their own push of the talented superstar.
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10 Villainous Foreigner
The most overused heel trope in all of wrestling is that of the villainous foreigner, and it's one that WWE seems to absolutely love. Whether it was Rusev's idea or WWE's, the company certainly leaned into it. Rusev definitely made it work with the help of Lana as they became a duo comparable to Ivan and Ludmilla in Rocky IV. Without her, the Bulgarian Brute character would not have worked at all. The gimmick is old school in the wrong ways and was difficult to keep from being stale.
9 Leaving NXT Too Early
One of the biggest mistakes the company made with Rusev was moving him to the main roster too soon. Rusev's time in developmental had been plagued with injuries. He and Lana didn't have enough time to work the kinks out of their gimmick before leaving the black and gold brand behind.
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A few more months in NXT would have done them both a world of good, and given them some more time to get the fans behind them as legitimate heels.
8 Not Making Him NXT Champion
Kevin Owens made an incredible main roster debut, due in no small part to the fact that he was the current NXT Champion when he showed up to face John Cena. Finn Bálor, Drew McIntyre, Shinsuka Nakamura, Big E, Seth Rollins, Bobby Roode, Samoa Joe, Andrade and many more all made the jump after being the NXT Champion. Rusev was a wrestler who also needed that kind of momentum behind him, another reason he should have stayed in NXT longer.
7 Undefeated Streak
Once Rusev finally got his feet under him on the main roster, he went on a fantastic undefeated streak. It was by no means a record breaking one but it was integral to his character.
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Unfortunately, losing a streak like that often drags careers to a screeching halt. Rusev's streak came a brutal end with three big pay-per-view losses and losing the United States Championship. He was able to pick up wins and the US Championship after that but his mystique and energy was gone.
6 Ziggler/Lana Storyline
Rusev's partnership with Lana was absolutely key to his success. But WWE eventually went the Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth route, breaking them up after Rusev became jealous of her popularity. Lana started dressing in all denim and hanging out with Dolph Ziggler. Rusev turned Summer Rae into a Lana clone and made her his manager. The storyline eventually came to an end after fans were shown to be mostly bored by it.
5 The League Of Nations
When the WWE doesn't know what to do with a wrestler, they throw them in a tag team. In the case of The League of Nations, this was done with four villainous foreigner wrestlers.
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Rusev, King Barrett, Sheamus and Alberto del Rio became a faction together based on the fact that they were not Americans and WWE couldn't think of anything better to do with them. While they were four solid heels, the group never really had any chemistry and came to an exceedingly unceremonious end.
4 WrestleMania 32
WreslteMania 32 might have actually been the lowest point for The League of Nations as a faction. They successfully defeated The New Day and were celebrating in the ring when Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin moseyed down to the ring to beat the crap out of them. While the audience pop for the legends was huge, it completely undercut any momentum The League got from defeating one of the greatest tag teams of all time on the grandest stage of them all.
3 Botching Rusev Day
Once again, creative was at a loss on how to book Rusev so he ended up in a tag team with Aiden English who had also been in limbo since The Vaudevillains came to an end. They started doing a bit where every day was celebrated as a holiday called Rusev Day with English signing Rusev's entrances.
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Fans absolutely loved the act, buying the merch like crazy. Naturally, WWE figured the best thing to do with an incredibly popular act like Rusev Day was to utterly destroy it, a move that benefited no one.
2 Lashley/Lana Storyline
Depending on who you ask, this horrible storyline was either unwatchable garbage or so bad that it was actually somehow good. Either way, the insane story that saw Lana leave Rusev for Bobby Lashley did absolutely nothing for the careers of anyone involved. Even worse, it was derivative of the Ziggler story Rusev and Lana were involved in years earlier. Unfortunately, this was Rusev's last major story in WWE before his release. At least The Good Brothers got to be part of the Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36.
1 Never Got A Legitimate Shot At A Big Belt
Possibly the worst part of Rusev's WWE run was that he was never considered a legitimate contender for either the WWE Championship or the Universal Championship. He was a skilled in ring competitor, had an excellent manager and had fan support, particularly during Rusev Day. But WWE didn't see fit to make Rusev Day tag team champions, let alone making Rusev the Universal Championship. He easily could have been a main event player but WWE just didn't pull the trigger.
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