Every year at Xmas time I allow our Facebook followers to vote on the best wrestlers in specific categories. This is my third year
creating the photo album, and I wanted to add something extra. The
categories we have voted on included:
- Best World Champion – CM Punk (2012), Bully Ray (2013)
- Best Technical Wrestler – Daniel Bryan (2012, 2013)
- Most Charismatic – CM Punk (2012), Daniel Bryan (2013)
- Best High-Flyer – Jeff Hardy (2012), Chris Sabin (2013)
- Best Tag Team – Bad Influence (2012), Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns (2013)
- Best Female Wrestler – Gail Kim (2012), Cheerleader Melissa (2013) Paige (2014)
- Best Newcomer – Ryback (2012), Dean Ambrose (2013)
The second edition of this series is a tribute to the newly voted “Best Newcomer”. Rusev is the first European wrestler to win any of the categories.
It was a close poll, Paige lost out by a single vote. As far as male newcomers are concerned, the “Super-Athlete” has impressed the most this year.
Rusev Domination
The 28 year old Bulgarian known as Miroslav Barnyashev, received a major push following his début. He has put in the work to become one of the most hated heels of 2014. He uses the old school feud between the USA and the Soviet Union to his advantage. Back in the day, it was common for the WWF to make patriotic American wrestlers take on Russian and Iraqi sympathizers. Rusev is a throwback. He could travel back in time and fit right into the 1980s. The gimmick between Rusev and Lana was originally compared to the characters from Rocky IV, Ivan and Ludmilla Drago. They have moved away from that, and formed their own identity.
We witnessed Rusev make his main roster début at the Royal Rumble. There was no doubt he had an immediate presence, and it took four wrestlers to eliminate him. Rusev started wrestling on the main roster, dominating wrestlers all year. He made his way through Zack Ryder, Xavier Woods, Sin Cara, R-Truth, Heath Slater, Big E, Santino, Rob Van Dam and Jack Swagger. He always finds a way to get the upper hand.
Some Super-Athlete GIFs!
The Ravishing Russian
His lack of mic skills has gone unnoticed because of his manager Lana. She has done a great job at getting the crowd riled up before every match by dedicating Rusev’s success to Russia and Vladimir Putin. Her dedication to Russia has created a nice dynamic where almost any American WWE superstar can easily get the crowd behind them. Many have taken up the American flag only to be dominated into submission. Rusev and Lana have become inseparable, it would feel wrong to split them up. Lana rarely interferes in matches, making Rusev look strong as an athlete. Normally you would see heels cheat to garner heat, but Rusev doesn’t need to do that because of Lana. And while Rusev is a monster with a face only a mother could love, Lana is pretty nice on the eye.
The Rock confronts Rusev
The confrontation showed how much belief there is in Rusev when WWE had him work with The Rock. It was random, The Rock wasn’t advertised, and out of nowhere we got The Rock fighting for the good ol’ U.S of A. The Rock got the upper hand on the night, but Rusev can look back at 2014 and see it as a special moment in his career.
He would soon become the United States Champion after feuding with Henry and Big Show simultaneously. I would not be surprised if he went on to hold the title for a record number of days. WWE will build him for a long time, meaning whoever beats him will get the loudest reaction. Rusev and Lana bring this to the table, the “us against them” mentality. The reactions will only get louder over time.
Thanks for reading everyone! Part 3 coming soon. You can vote by liking our Facebook Page.
