Rusev in Need of Image Repair After Suffering Another Loss in John Cena Feud

Rusev limps away from his feud with John Cena as a monster with dulled fangs, the invincible made vulnerable after three straight pay-per-view losses.

At Payback, WWE protected Rusev to a degree. He didn't actually quit despite being in an "I Quit" match. And he certainly did his share of damage to Cena.

The fact remains, though, that he lost this rivalry, and it wasn't close.

A feud that could have elevated him has instead stripped him of his fearsome aura. He went from undefeated to being in the midst of a losing streak in a hurry.

WWE's focus should now be on resuscitating Rusev's image—making him appear formidable once again and putting him in a story where he is destroying rather than losing ground.

With a ring rope wrapped around his face, Cena atop his back and Lana screaming into a microphone, Rusev earned his latest defeat. That marked his third loss in as many pay-per-views. 

Credit: WWE.com

The Cena feud took a knife to his win-loss record.

Before Cena, (not counting the Royal Rumble) Rusev went 7-1 at pay-per-views. That sole loss came in tag team action. Once he became entangled with the current United States champ, he went 1-3.

Cena was dominant. Cena was portrayed as the far superior wrestler.

The Russian hero gave everything he had, and it wasn't enough. Rusev couldn't beat him at WrestleMania, he couldn't beat him in his countrymen's favorite bout, the Russian Chain match, and he lost on Sunday despite slamming Cena into a steel barricade, hurling him into a table and knocking him out cold at one point.

It's hard to view Rusev as an intimidating predator after all this.

Beast-like men just don't get beaten this often. Brock Lesnar has never suffered a three-PPV losing streak in his WWE career. The company didn't book Yokozuna that way, either. Rusev's record is poised to look too much like The Great Khali's.

Khali went 4-6 in his first 10 pay-per-views (excluding the Royal Rumble), so it's no surprise that the fear factor he initially had eventually went away.

Yes, Rusev gave Cena a tough test at Payback, but everyone from Neville to Sami Zayn with one good arm has done that in recent weeks. Many of the men who have answered Cena's open challenge kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment at one point. Rusev never did.

Each time Cena toppled him, The Bulgarian Brute got angrier. He promised fury and devastation that never truly arrived.

When he grabs the microphone now and offers similar threats to new targets, the image of him flat on his back is sure to pop up. He's been shown to be plenty beatable. And like Bray Wyatt before him, Rusev is in need of wins after Cena bowled him over.

It's more important than ever to bolster Rusev's record now that it looks like Lana is leaving his side. To have him looking like a heel on the rise again, the powerhouse needs to tear through a few bottom feeders before moving onto a feud where wins will be significant and plentiful.  

Randy Orton is a viable option for that role.

After wiping the mat with guys like Jack Swagger and Big E, it makes sense for Rusev to be taking on top-level guys. The Viper has so much stored momentum from his long career that he can suffer a stretch of losses and bounce right back up.

Rusev, on the other hand, is a star still under construction. He needs moments to remind us of his dominance. He needs to start leaving foes flattened again.

Should WWE pair him with Orton, it would only take a few months to have Rusev red-hot again. Going 2-1 in a series of pay-per-view battles with a former world champion and a future Hall of Famer is an excellent cure for the Cena-whipped-me blues. 

Otherwise, Rusev will continue to have his monstrous aura dissipate. He'll be less and less of a monster.

The WWE Creative Humor Twitter account joked just how much battling Cena robbed from him:

There's truth to that. Rusev is in a far different place post-Cena. After all that taking, it's time for WWE to start giving Rusev positives.

Reinvest in him now, and the roster can keep its Russian bear from morphing into something far less intimidating.

All match statistics courtesy of CageMatch.net.