The wrestling world collectively raised their eyebrows when WWE announced Rusev as The Undertaker‘s opponent for the Greatest Royal Rumble. But we all scratched our heads when he was yanked from the match only to be put back in days later.
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We never received much of an explanation for Rusev being replaced by Chris Jericho. Rumors of a Rusev tweet and a TMZ misquote and objections from The Undertaker’s wife were cited as potential reasons why WWE pulled a bait and switch.
However, in during his appearance on WWE Network’s Ride Along, Rusev explained what really happened.
“Remember when Vince told me I was going to face The Undertaker and I laughed at him? And what I get for it? I got pulled out [from the match].
“And then the Prince [of Saudi Arabia] called and he told me Rusev Day is coming to town baby.”
ProWrestlingSheet originally confirmed that a simple changing of Vince McMahon’s mind was why we went back from Jericho to Rusev. Rusev’s accounts partially verify that report, but this new detail of him being a personal request of the Saudi Prince marks the continuation of a trend.
The Prince of Saudi Arabia asked or for WWE to bring Yokozuna and the Ultimate Warrior. WWE couldn’t make that happen for obvious reasons, but they could grant the Rusev’s wish with ease.
Rusev would lose the match but was still one of the biggest opportunities of his WWE career. From there, he and Aiden English’s Rusev Day phenomena would climb to the forefront of the company. At the July Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Rusev had his first ever one-on-one match for the WWE Championship. While AJ Styles beat him in unceremonious fashion, it still served as Rusev’s high water mark as a WWE Superstar.
However, Rusev’s days as WWE championship contender look to be done for a while. AJ Styles has already moved on to Samoa Joe and it looks like their feud may run all the way to Survivor Series. With so much backstory to work with WWE is going to be anxious to squeeze every drop of from out of the old TNA rivals.
WWE has never been shy about putting Joe in big spots. Now that he’s healthy, consider him likely to pin Style for the WWE Championship sometime this fall. then again we thought the same thing about Shinsuke Nakamura who went out toe else four straight championship matches to Styles. If this speculation has taught us anything, its that WWE won’t budge of AJ Styles until they believe they have a better option.
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]
