The past few days have been tense ones for the many fans who have helped make “Rusev Day” a thing in the WWE. Rumors of The Bulgarian Brute, Rusev, leaving the WWE have been swirling in the days since the company enlisted Chris Jericho to replace him in his Casket Match against The Undertaker at the Greatest Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia. With Rusev also having unfollowed WWE on his social media accounts and even gone as far as to leave an email for independent bookings on his Instagram, fans have been wondering whether the 33-year-old former United States Champion is indeed on his way out of the company.
Fortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case, according to Figure Four Online’s Daily Update for Friday, April 13. At the moment, it seems that the rumors suggesting Rusev will be leaving WWE in the coming weeks are all part of a storyline, though it’s not clear what the payoff would be.
Separate from Figure Four Online , Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina also tweeted on Friday that Rusev is not leaving the WWE, adding that he had spoken to WWE representatives about the issue. According to Traina, Rusev will still be competing at the Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27, though he didn’t specify if he will be taking part in the titular 50-man main event now that Jericho has replaced him as The Undertaker’s Casket Match opponent.
BREAKING: The #Undertaker will now battle @IAmJericho in a #CasketMatch at @WWE Greatest Royal Rumble on Friday, April 27! #WWEGRR https://t.co/Qk4B4jxovh
— WWE (@WWE) April 12, 2018
In recent weeks, Rusev has been in contention for the United States Championship but has not had any luck winning the belt he had previously held on two occasions. At WrestleMania 34 , which took place on Sunday, April 8, Rusev was pinned by Jinder Mahal, who became a first-time U.S. Champion in a four-way match that also featured erstwhile titleholder Randy Orton and Bobby Roode. Two days later on SmackDown Live , Rusev and Roode both lost to Orton, who won a Triple Threat match for the right to face Mahal for the U.S. title at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
At the moment, it’s not sure what WWE has in store for Rusev going forward. But if he’s really “working” the fans by hinting that he’s leaving WWE, it won’t be the first time for him to do such a thing, as a cryptic tweet sent late in October also had the WWE Universe worried that he might be walking away from the company , as previously reported by the Inquisitr .
