What's Next for Lana and Rusev?

Lana at Wrestlemania 31

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well. With Wrestlemania season now over, the WWE are living the aftermath of the biggest event of the year and with such a mind blowing, hectic, high rated, Wrestlemania, it sure is one big aftermath. In today's blog post I'm going t be taking a look at the fallout of on of the championship matches that took place on the night, John Cena VS Rusev. The outstanding match up saw the undefeated Rusev become defeated and John Cena become the new United States champion. After going a year without being pinned or submitted this a huge step in the careers of both Rusev and Lana. Today, I'm going to be talking all about what is next for the two stars. Who will suffer the most of the two? Will Rusev go down on the roster and enter the stages of jobber mode? Will Lana step in the ring and compete or stay in her current role? Hopefully, by the end of today's blog post I would of answered all those questions and more. As always, you can let me know what your opinions are on the hot topic of the day by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria. Finally, I will leave all the links bellow to any recent posts including my Wrestlemania Review and Reactions. Right, let's get into the post.

At the two thousand and fourteen Royal Rumble Pay per view we saw NXT star Rusev make he's first main roster appearance and even though he entered with an almost silent crowd reaction he left with everyone wanting to know more about him. The young star may not have lasted long in the Rumble but he sure did make an impact, making everyone know he was someone to keep an eye on in the future. Having an early dominate performance and taking down the superstars already in the ring competing, it took a handful of those superstars to eliminate him. A thew months later after building him self up more down in the WWE's developmental territory Rusev made he's main roster debut alongside the ravishing Russian (well sort of) Lana during the RAW after Wrestlemania show. From that point onwards we would see Rusev dominate the mid card section of the roster. During the early stages of he's time on the main roster he would take on the likes of Zack Ryder, Big E, Kofi Kingston and many more, dominating each and every match getting better and better each time. However it wasn't just he's in ring talent that was getting everyone talking, it was what he and Lana preached during almost every episode of RAW that raised some heat and really helped elevate he's career.

The WWE took Rusev and Lana and came up with a great idea that was bound to be a success. The anti America gimmick grabbed everyone's attention and Lana's weekly promo's bashing the US and hyping Russia was a huge hit. If there is one thing that can help elevate careers, it's propaganda gimmicks and the idea of a Russian hating on America in well, a rather passionate way was always going to be a good business move.  The thing with these gimmicks and storyline's is that it will always work. It's the perfect way of adding some serious heat to a new star and the best way to put over a new baby face also. Rusev and Lana knew this, and used every single part of their gimmick to push their careers and really get them started in World Wrestling Entertainment.

I think it's more than safe to say that Rusev would not be wear he is right now at all if he didn't have Lana by he's side. I think the gimmick had and still does have so much potential and allows him to be do so much but the addition of Lana brings a whole new feel and complete's the whole thing. Very early on she was the one providing the heat. Her promos would be so strong, so well executed, and so convincing that without them none of Rusev's storyline's and matches would of been half as good as they were. Lana's mic work allowed her to really shine while at the same time not over shadowing Rusev (witch by the way is very easy considering Lana is probably the hottest diva the WWE have hired in quite some time) she also proved to be one of the best female speakers in WWE history. I think it's important to note that she puts on a very convincing performance as a "Russian"  and her accent is almost perfect. Lana's whole image and role in the WWE has been such a huge hit and trust me it's not often I complement WWE and it's creative team but they did a good job with her and even adding her to the whole thing.

The turning point in Rusev's career was when he won the United States Championship. He had an outstanding match against Sheamus that I had not a single bad word to say about and I still consider to be one of the best matches we have seen from Rusev as of yet. It was then we had a whole new change. He's matches were longer, the feuds were stronger, and he got much much more time. The feud that really kick started it all was with Jack Swagger. Now, you guys will all know how high my expectations for this match was and so you will know just how disappointed I was with what we actually got. Personally, in my opinion, I think where the WWE went wrong was right from the start. If Jack Swagger was the one holding the title first and then Rusev won the title from him it would of worked much much more. I still think it's ridiculous that with the gimmick Swagger has he hasn't held the United States Championship. Anyway, this feud was the moment we started to see much much from Rusev. It was here that he's matches grew longer and more interesting, also, this was the first full on feud that had a strong story to it and a lot of potential. The feud didn't live up to those expectations but we did see some great work from Rusev in the ring and with he's character. With the help of Lana this became one of he's best feuds and the winning streak was looking good. When the WWE began to highlight the fact that Rusev had never been pinned or submitted everything began to take shape and he became a top star on the roster. When he main evented Survivor Series in the traditional survivor Series elimination match. He may not have had the best of performances but it was dominate and the WWE was careful in making sure he's elimination was done right.

We all knew that at some point in Rusev's career he would have a storyline with John Cena, it was just a matter of when. January saw the feud we all saw coming, come. I will be the first to admit that I was not looking forward to this feud at all, I never was but the turning point in this feud was Fastlane. At the Fastlane pay per view John Cena and Rusev went one on one for the first time and the match was outstanding in my opinion. Of course I initially wasn't expecting much from the match. I thought it would be fairly short and all round pretty predictable. However, this turnt out to be Rusev's best match to date and highlighted him as a top WWE star. The build up for their Wrestlemania match was pretty strong and it really worked. It wasn't over or under done and so effectively no one was bored of it and no one was puzzled as to what would be going on. At Mania the two had yet another great match and one that will be remembered in Rusev;s career despite the fact he lost the much. But to be fair loosing  to a fifteen time champion in John Cena at the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania, your first Wrestlemania in fact, is nothing to be ashamed of at all. But what is next for the former United States champion? Will he continue to climb up the ladder on the main roster? Or will he find himself go back to the beginning? And what about Lana? Will we see her debut as an in ring competitor any time soon or will her and Rusev continue to be a force too be reckoned with?

Whether you love him or hate him, you cannot deny that Rusev has worked he's butt off this past year. He has spent the past twelve months proving to the WWE, the fans, and himself that he is a top talent. With such a diverse move set, clear strong wrestling talent, good speed and serious strength, and a kick ass gimmick, Rusev has become almost a must see star and a stand out on the WWE main roster. Personally I think he's loss at Wrestlemania will benefit him more than anything else. Now that he is undefeated Rusev's storyline's can be much more interesting and less predictable. It means they can go on for longer and more names can step in the ring with him without being forced to put him over fall a loss to him. I do think he will struggle a lot this year, not because of he's loss at Wrestlemania, or the fact he doesn't have the United States Championship any more but because over the past year the WWE have done a lot of with Rusev's gimmick and finding something that will keep him relevant while not being boring and repetitive will be extremely difficult within in the next month or two. Creatively the WWE have done quite a bit with Rusev in the past year and the question of whether or not they have done too much too soon will become clear. One thing the WWE did really well at Wrestlemania and with Rusev is how he lost. I predicted that Lana would be the one to cost him the match and she did. Before the biggest match of he's career, Rusev was left alone for two weeks to complete the build up for he's Mania match on he's own as Lana was away filming a movie. Now that mania is done Lana is back to filming. I think time for Rusev to shine on he's own s vital and the best root in my opinion the WWE could go down is a destructive Rusev root. The whole point of Lana being with Rusev is almost to control him. To keep him guarded. For a year she was the driving force behind everything Rusev did and now without Lana there there's no rules and no limits for Rusev. The best way to keep Rusev interesting in hot feuds in the future is by carry on proving he is a dangerous dominate force and proving Lana plays a bigger role than re expected. As if she stopped him from unleashing the real him.The more dangerous Rusev. If the WWE spend weeks of him getting DQ'd for going too far and scoring huge wins they could easily bring Lana back during one of he's matches to stop him from going to far. With so many new NXT stars set to debut this year on the main roster it opens up huge doors for Rusev and if the WWE play it right, he could easily go on to be one of the top stars of the year. With how much he has already proved himself I don't think the WWE can afford to go wrong here. It would be extremely easy for him to slip down to the jobbers section of the roster but give him time and effort and he could easily go up and really succeed as a top star.

As for Lana, she is the perfect example of a passionate women in the business. I have done a couple of other posts on her before witch I will leave some links to bellow for you to check out if you haven't already done so. Over the past year she really has grown and become one of the top female characters in the WWE. She is by far one if not the best female speaker on the roster and comes across as someone who has been doing this for years and years. The thing with Lana is that she is not a one trick pony and the WWE know this. In case you were not aware Lana can really wrestle and even though she has not been put in the ring yet on TV the fact she can move in the ring means there is always something else for her to fall back on and getting her in a storyline witch forced her to step in the ring wouldn't be hard at all, all they had to do was an angle where she angered the wrong diva or

said the wrong thing to a female talent and she was challenged to a match. I've already done a post on why Lana will be a success with or without Rusev and that will be linked bellow. I do think that Lana has the potential to be the next big thing when it comes to managing and I do think she could really go one to be a seriously successful manager. I've said that from the beginning. In my opinion Rusev is just the start of her managing career, there are so many other superstars or even divas that Lana could go on to manage. She has the look, skill, voice, passion, mic skills, and everything else needed for the job. When she does return her role with Rusev will be vital in both there futures with the WWE, and they really will put a heck of a lot of effort into building her return and what her role will be storyline wise.

I think either way, both Lana and Rusev have huge careers ahead of them in the WWE and Wrestlemania and twenty fourteen was just the start.You can let me know what you think on this topic by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.