Make no mistake: Regardless of his position on the card at any given moment, Rusev is always in the main event of the collective heart of the With Spandex staff. Since entering WWE via NXT back in 2013, we’ve watched him throw a fish and drive a tank and hold a gun and — man, is there anything Handsome Rusev can’t do?
Now, he’s reinvented his character with three simple words: Happy Rusev Day. His merch is flying off the virtual shelves of WWEShop, and arenas across the country are cheering him more than ever before.
So of course, it’s worth checking in with Sweet Baby RuRu to see if he was surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reaction he’s been earning recently. Wrestling Inc. did just that, and here’s what the Bulgarian Brute had to say:
“No, no, it didn’t take me by surprise. I mean – yes and no. It’s because they think I’m more than [a foreign heel]. They think I’m more than a stereotypical guy from a country that speaks broken English. They see more than that. They see my passion and connect with me, and I connect with them. That’s why, now, instead of boos, you hear the Rusev Day chants. So, I’m still Bulgarian, and I’m still speaking, and I haven’t changed anything. But it all happened organically, and that’s how the best things happen.”
Rusev’s right: While he was first built up as the evil Russian Bulgarian that John Cena had to slay at WrestleMania 31, he has developed a more nuanced character since then, and has avoided many of the classic “evil foreigner” stereotypes that have plagued pro wrestling as a whole for decades. Here’s to a lifetime of Rusev Days, each one happier than the last.
