I am not sure about any of the other wrestling fans out there, but I am really digging Alexander Rusev & Lana. They are proof that sometimes the simple things are what work in professional wrestling. People can talk about how there are no more good guys or bad guys, but that is a load of garbage to me. I feel that there will always be a struggle between good and evil. Good versus Evil is the basis of just about any battle. Look at movies and comic books; Superman doesn’t have a shade a grey and neither does Lex Luthor. It is clear that Superman is good and that Lex Luthor is the villain. Now the gimmick that Rusev & Lana are doing is straight out of 1985, but the fans eat it up! It is like people still think that the Cold War is going on even though that ended when Rocky Balboa defeated Ivan Drago in that boxing match and Rocky made that speech about change. As most dedicated wrestling fans know, professional wrestling has always played off of America’s extreme Xenophobia and “patriotism”. We have seen evil Japanese guys, evil Middle Easterners, evil Canadians etc. etc. The most common evil foreigners that I noticed while watching wrestling in the 80s were the Russians like Nikolai Volkoff, Boris Zhukov, Ivan & Nikita Koloff, and other people who played evil Russians despite the fact that they weren’t really Russian. Now we have Rusev who is actually Bulgarian, and we have Lana who is actually American. Regardless of that, they both play their characters very well. When that music hits and Lana does that sexy ass walk before speaking to the fans to introduce Rusev, everyone pays attention right away. Sure she talks about how superior Russia is to the US and all that other stuff, but the crowd gets riled up hoping to see this guy finally lose. The question is who is going to be able to stop the guy? This is what everyone is waiting to find out. Rusev has been in a feud with Big E. I am wondering if Big E will get the win on Sunday since WWE likes to have guys trade wins. Rusev has mopped the floor with him thus far, so it could be Big E getting that win and ending Rusev’s dominance over all the minorities on the roster. Do you know what I would do? Now this I thinking outside of the box a little bit, but it makes sense to me. I would have Rusev continue to dominate until he runs into a “Real American”, and I’m not talking about Hulk Hogan. That’s right; I am thinking that Jack Swagger should be the one to get the win over Rusev eventually. Hear me out here! Zeb Colter has a hatred for anyone who isn’t a real American. There is this Russian guy going around beating up American people along with his Russian chick who stood out there in our nation’s capital dissing America and calling it weak. Doesn’t it make sense from a storyline standpoint for the people who stand for America to be the ones to take him on? I know Swagger and Zeb are heels, but who says that all heels have to like each other? Plus, Rusev losing doesn’t hurt him really, but for Swagger it helps out a guy who desperately needs a win. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind washing off the stench from losing to Adam Rose. No matter what WWE creative decides to do, I think they have done an excellent job with Rusev and Lana. I am hoping that he goes the way of a top Russian gimmick like Nikita Koloff, and that he doesn’t go the way of Vladimir Koslov to where he becomes a joke after starting off hot. What do you folks think of the Rusev character? How far do you think he can do in WWE? As always, you can hit me up on Twitter @whosantcox.
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