Rusev's Road to Fulfilling Potential as Top Heel Begins at WWE Extreme Rules

A lot of water has passed under the bridge in terms of Rusev's career in the last two years, but he finds himself on the verge of coming full circle right now.

The early promise he showed when he graduated from NXT suggested he was going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

However, he then ran into an unfortunate rivalry with John Cena, and, after a few consecutive losses there, he found himself on a real downward spiral. Fast-forward to the present day, and Rusev has come out of two storylines that have seriously damaged him.

The Dolph Ziggler/Lana/Rusev love triangle was bad enough, but then The League of Nations never got going and quickly disbanded after WrestleMania.

However, the last few weeks have seen Rusev's character revert to type in a number of different ways, and he heads to Extreme Rules this Sunday on the verge of what feels like a fairly significant breakthrough.

It looks like WWE acted timely in reconnecting Lana with Rusev and building him as a "Super Athlete" once again. If he wins against Kalisto and claims the United States Championship this weekend, it is the first step on the road to fulfilling his potential as a top heel—something the company is cruelly short on at the moment. There is a gap to be filled, and Rusev can certainly step up to the plate.

There have even been a couple of shaky moments in this Kalisto feud, but from the moment Rusev won the match to determine Kalisto's next challenger, it felt like the right direction to go in. He has been poorly booked for sure, but his disappointing booking was well within the reaches of being saved.

He has quickly returned to the habit of destroying his opponents, and the scenes on the go-home edition of Raw this past week threw up shades of the Rusev of old.

Locking in The Accolade and having a number of referees attempt to break it up depicts Rusev as the kind of monster heel he should have been portrayed as all along. The kick to the back of the head just prior to that showed his expert agility, and the brutality of the submission hold was a show of his strength. When it comes to in-ring work, Rusev is the full package. 

That's a heck of a way to go in order to get him where he should be in terms of a dominating heel the entire roster feared by the whole roster, but winning this Sunday would be a solid start. Given how Kalisto's reign with the title hasn't lived up to the promise fans expected when it began, a change in title holder feels right for the belt, not just Rusev.

With his most recent storylines deemed largely unsuccessful, it's also easy to forget just what a talented performer Rusev is. Few big men move as quickly and impressively as he does, and if ever anyone deserved the "Super Athlete" moniker, it's The Bulgarian Brute. 

Lana will also benefit from aligning with Rusev again. Now that their real-life relationship is public knowledge, WWE can also play on that angle to make them potentially the company's biggest power couple. It's no disgrace for wrestlers to look stronger with a manager by their side, and the Rusev-Lana pairing can work. She could still have matches of her own; then the pairing could work the other way, with Rusev acting as her enforcer. 

WWE will have learned from its mistakes in both splitting the pair up and trying to turn Lana babyface. She is a demonic, masterful manager when she's alongside Rusev; they make a superb double act.

And if he does go on and win the United States Championship this weekend, there's the possibility he will take on a whole host of stars to cement his position as a major heel.

He could go after fresh talent—such as Apollo Crews—in a matchup that would surely throw up some fascinating wrestling matches. 

Or he could even be given the chance to make amends for the loss that started his downward spiral by facing and beating John Cena with the title on the line all over again.

WWE dropped the ball when it came to Rusev and his early promise. Thankfully there's still time to fix it, but you get the feeling a victory this weekend is simply imperative in order to have him fulfil his obvious potential.