WWE Superstar Taking Time Off

WWE Superstar and former United States Champion Rusev revealed in a tweet that he will be taking time off.

In Bulgaria they say The rest makes the champion. It's time to take time off working out. 30 days and counting.

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) February 28, 2017

As of now, Rusev is not advertised for any WWE events until a tour that starts on March 17. That means he will be gone for less than 30 days. However, if he is indeed taking 30 days off, that means he will be absent for WrestleMania 33, which is taking place on April 2, 2017.

If Rusev were to miss WrestleMania, it would be the first WrestleMania that he has missed since making his main roster debut in April, 2014, as he has been present for both WrestleMania 31 and WrestleMania 32.

Although he debuted at the 2014 Royal Rumble, Rusev officially joined the main roster on April 7, 2014, just one day after WrestleMania XXX. He quickly picked up an undefeated streak, defeating the likes of Zack Ryder, Sin Cara, R-Truth, Heath Slater, Xavier Woods, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella, and others, more often than not in matches that were less than five minutes. He set his sights on Sheamus’s United States Championship, and defeated him on a WWE Network special to claim his first singles title in the WWE. He was the first Bulgarian to hold a championship in the WWE.

Rusev held onto the belt for 146 days. He retained against Sheamus, Jack Swagger, and even in a 20-man battle royal. He outlasted Adam Rose, Cesaro, Damien Mizdow, Diego, Erick Rowan, Fernando, Goldust, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Justin Gabriel, Sin Cara, Stardust, The Big Show, The Miz, Titus O’Neil, and Tyson Kidd to hold on to his championship. He would eventually drop the title to John Cena at WrestleMania 31. It was at that WrestleMania where Rusev suffered his first pinfall loss.

After WreststleMania 31, Rusev entered a highly panned angle that saw him, Lana, Dolph Ziggler, and Summer Rae involved in a love quadrangle. The story was dropped when it was revealed that Rusev and Lana were engaged in real life.

In November, 2015, Rusev joined the League of Nations. Together he, King Barrett, Sheamus, and Alberto Del Rio feuded with Roman Reigns. In a December episode of SmackDown, the entire League of Nations lost a handicap match against Roman Reigns. At Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, the League interfered in Sheamus’s “Tables, Ladders, and Chairs” match to help Sheamus retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The stable was highly criticized as well, as many felt WWE was wasting four great superstars by feeding them to Roman Reigns. Wade Barrett said in an interview that the League’s main purpose was to help Reigns get over.

“The obvious answer is a heel group with a potential World Champion who had the Money In The Bank briefcase. You really want to be dominant along the lines of The SHIELD, The NEXUS or something like that… at least The NEXUS at first. We had a natural charisma together but it felt like we had very few segments to display that. The majority of the time it would be Sheamus coming out and talking while we stood behind him. I just don’t think that we focused much on trying to get over our natural charisma and natural friendship. It was just the storylines and I don’t know what we could have done. There were plenty of ideas thrown about but ultimately we were there as foils for Roman Reigns. We needed to help him with his WrestleMania push.”

Rusev would be back in title contention again in 2016, defeating Kalisto to become United States champion for a second time before dropping the title to Roman Reigns.

If Rusev is indeed taking time off, he does deserve it, as he has most definitely been working hard and is one of the more over superstars on Raw‘s roster.

[Featured Image by WWE]