By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)

5/10/2018

Rusev beat Daniel Bryan on Smackdown Live.

I gotta say…that was quite a shocker for me. Rusev getting the, somewhat, clean pin on Daniel Bryan. I mean, it was as clean as it was gonna get with Aiden English at ringside and Daniel Bryan recovering from injuries. But Rusev walked away victorious on a night that seemed destined to let Daniel Bryan begin his journey to the main evet scene and a highly desired separation from Big Cass.

As much as I want to do the old fashioned wrestling fan “thing” and whine about poor Daniel Bryan, I won’t! I want to celebrate Rusev Day and all of the splendor that comes along with it!

I mean, it was only a few months ago that my brother, Mike, was writing an article about how badly he wanted to see Rusev make his way up the card. And let’s not forget that Rusev was placed in the “dog house” because of his social media posts from his wedding a while back. Completely ruining WWE storylines and bringing a feud with Dolph Ziggler to a screeching halt.

Even after that evisceration of kayfabe, Rusev continued to perform at a high level. He took all of his gimmicks thereafter in stride. We’re talking jobber roles, the League of Nations, and a loss of his “Bulgarian Brute” tough side. Despite all of those attempts to sink him, he has always been a top notch performer. And what I believe was a “let’s see what we can make out of this chicken sh— “, Rusev was teamed with Aiden English for the next attempt to goof up his persona through the Rusev Day faction. However, his ally in Aiden English was and is absolutely spot-on. It’s so perfectly ridiculous that the crowd immediately fell in love and begged for more Rusev Day and their insanely, crazy, “over” characters.

Rusev, though he found success with the fans, was finding it difficult to get matches in Pay-Per-Views, be a contender for a WWE title that already had 5 different superstars fighting for it, and wasn’t even on his own brand’s list of top superstars (in the Smackdown Live top 10). He was becoming a jobber for a bit and seemed to be a good fit for any feud that need an off week or an extra nudge to the next big show. While in those weeks Rusev would be entertaining and the fans would jump to their feet, Rusev and English were nothing more than a side show, eventually getting beat down by the “star” of the show.

I correctly predicted that Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles were going to use Rusev Day (the faction) as a means of stimulating a “difficult to write” feud, leading into WrestleMania. Why would this happen? Well, the stars of the feud were top faces: Nakamura and Styles. And Rusev Day provided the fire and heel juice necessary to make the episodic plots feel more emotional. This of course was before Nakamura and Styles were using each other’s sacks as punching bags.

Rusev had worked the gimmick to perfection and earned the respect of the fans, in spite of the fact that he was being held down by the creative team and choices from the top of the company. Everyone has their time and their day, but it felt like we were getting more of a 3MB situation than the creation of a top heel based on the fan’s reactions. We do, after all, have to submit to the WWE’s tendencies. While they preach that they listen to the fans and their reactions, fans are subjected to a  main event scene that most recently emptied an arena, induces “boring” match chants, and the “go-away” heat has become stronger than ever. But I digress…

Rusev beat Daniel Bryan. While this was only a qualifying match for Rusev and the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, it is a definite sign that things could be headed in the right direction. Make this match a win over a “mid-card” wrestler and it means they just needed to fill out the Money in the Bank and the match card for Smackdown. Make it Aiden English and then we’ll know that the WWE is sick of their “goofy” gimmicks getting over. Make it Daniel Bryan...one of the top faces in the company and is sure to find his way on fans’ Wrestling Mount Rushmore’s, and you’ve at least given hope to legions of Rusev Day advocates that his time has come.

This will hopefully lead to more victories too. Rusev could definitely lose all of his matches leading into the Ladder Match and then lose the Money in the Bank. Thusly rendering all of his efforts meaningless and cementing his spot as a lower-mid-card-wrestler. But we here at Brothers of Discussion like to take these opportunities to applaud the WWE when it looks like they are doing something right…obviously…before it all turns into a complete disaster. Here’s to taking a chance on the Bulgarian Brute and celebrating…once again…a beautiful and glorious Rusev Day!

Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt on Twitter)

@BODPodcast for Twitter and Facebook