With Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live for the main roster and NXT constantly growing, some feel as if WWE may honestly be getting too big. There is only so much time that can be devoted to different superstars each week and only a handful of titles for more than 20 times the number of wrestlers. One former WWE United States Champion says this is a big reason that the majority of those in the company feel as if they are overlooked.
Rusev has won the U.S. Championship on three different occasions and he’s been involved in feuds for world titles, but he’s never been able to capture one. He has become one of the most popular WWE superstars in the world, but he hasn’t received nearly the amount of television time that the fans would like for him.
During a recent interview with Express , Rusev and Lana discussed the progress of the “Bulgarian Brute” since he’s been in WWE. Seeing as how they are a real-life couple, they may have a bit of bias but they also speak a lot of truth.
Lana believes Rusev “should be champion” and that he deserves more than what he’s getting. She feels as if he has truly earned more opportunities as “he’s been there six years and he’s had one title opportunity. I had three.”
Lana said that the first time she had a singles match in WWE, it was for a championship and she’s not sure why Rusev doesn’t deserve more chances like that. As a matter of fact, Rusev actually believes that the majority of the roster deserves more opportunities than they are given or that are even out there.
“It’s not just us, 99.9 percent of the roster feels overlooked because we’re all so good and we’re all so passionate.”
The WWE main roster is absolutely huge and there are only so many different titles to go around. Not everyone can be involved in a program for a title, and Rusev realizes that there has to be something that sets you apart from the rest of the crowd.
“Everybody wants to be a champion and everybody can be a champion because we’re that good. It’s just that there’s only so many titles. You gotta find what sticks out, you gotta be different.”
For quite a while, the former U.S. Champion had a great gimmick that was extremely popular with the fans. They loved chanting “Rusev Day” and talking about how every single day of the year should be celebrated as such.
When it comes to moving up the WWE ladder and fighting for a championship, though, Rusev believes that there is much more needed than a popular gimmick.
“It doesn’t matter if [we hear] Rusev Day or Lana Day chants or whatever it is, the most hyped thing doesn’t make you a champion. There’s so many moving parts to become a champion, it’s beyond my head.”
At the age of 34, Rusev’s wrestling career is far from over, but is he ever going to jump out of the mid-card? Right now, he’s been teamed with Shinsuke Nakamura in a very weak tag team division on SmackDown Live . He may one day rise to the top and have what it takes to be WWE Champion or WWE Universal Champion, but Rusev says that “only Vince McMahon knows” the things it takes to be one.
