Rusev and 7 WWE Stars Who Deserve Better Storylines

What do William Shakespeare, Martin Scorsese and Vince McMahon have in common? Above all else, they are storytellers.

Professional wrestling isn't just about men and women pretending to beat each other up over a belt. It's about the battle between good and evil.

Unfortunately, WWE has had some trouble recently when it comes to finding the right storyline for certain wrestlers and it has resulted in declining ratings for years.

Take Monday's Raw, for example. Despite the show featuring some great matches like Sin Cara vs. Andrade, Drew McIntyre vs. Ricochet and Seth Rollins vs. Humberto Carrillo, people were mostly complaining about the show on social media because some of the storylines have become ridiculous.

Today's fan can get high-quality wrestling from a number of different promotions but they might not keep tuning in if the feuds aren't interesting.

Let's look at which current WWE Superstars deserve better than they storylines they have been given. 

Rusev, Lana and Bobby Lashley

WWE has done a lot of storylines about relationships over the years. Some have been good and some have been horrible. The current feud between Rusev and Bobby Lashley will likely turn out to be the latter.

The Bulgarian Brute returned to television a few weeks ago after a lengthy absence, and WWE immediately put him into an infidelity storyline.

Since Rusev appears to want Lana back, this is going to end up being about him and Lashley fighting over her. 

Not only has this whole program been painful to watch, but it is also insulting to women because it has turned Lana into some kind of prize to be won.

Granted, WWE will probably make her into some kind of mastermind who is using both men for her own personal gain, but until that happens, this feud is going to keep making fans angry.

Rusev and Lashley should be two of WWE's most physically dominant competitors. They don't need to fight over Lana to have good matches. Management just needs to put them in the ring and let them do what they do best. 

Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman should have already been a WWE or universal champion by now, but management has yet to pull the trigger on his main event push for some unknown reason.

The company keeps finding ways to have him feud with top stars without giving him a title shot, but it is running out of viable opponents for The Monster Among Men to face.

Enter Tyson Fury. The heavyweight boxer will face Strowman at Crown Jewel, and if history has taught us anything, it's that the celebrity guest will defeat the WWE Superstar.

To make things even worse, an incident with Fury at the Performance Center this week makes it look like the company wants Strowman to be the heel in this situation.

Having to fight a special guest is not a bad thing because it gives their opponent exposure, but it's hard to imagine this battle being anything close to a good wrestling match.

Turning Strowman heel is not the worst idea in the world, but it should have been done in a way that will make him look unstoppable. Instead, he is probably going to lose on Halloween to a guy who isn't sticking around. 

R-Truth

R-Truth has been wrestling for over 20 years and has worked for WWE for the past 11 of them, and whenever the company gives him a ridiculous storyline, he turns it into gold.

It doesn't matter if he is pretending to talk to an imaginary friend, donning a confederate soldier's uniform or running from a dozen Superstars to protect his 24/7 Championship. He is going to give everything he has to make the story interesting.

The 24/7 title was one of those bad ideas that has somehow worked because Truth is so good at what he does, but now it is getting to a point where it feels like WWE needs to reward him for all of his hard work.

Now that Carmella is on SmackDown and can't help him escape anymore, Truth needs something else to keep him busy. 

Sunil Singh won the belt from him on Raw and he was unable to regain it by the end of the night. This might be the perfect opportunity for him to transition away from hiding in every arena to having real matches again.

The WWE Universe loves Truth. He is still in fantastic shape and can wrestle against any style. There is no reason why he shouldn't be chasing the U.S. title right now.

Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio is going to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee when he eventually retires, but a legendary career can't save him from being in the middle of a storyline that doesn't need him.

Brock Lesnar attacked Mysterio and his son, Dominick, on September 30. Instead of hitting back like he always does, the former WWE champion recruited Cain Velasquez to fight his battle for him.

This was completely unnecessary because Velasquez and Lesnar have an established history from their time in UFC when The Beast was defeated for the Heavyweight Championship at UFC 121. 

On Monday's Raw, Shelton Benjamin decided to start intimidating Mysterio on behalf of Lesnar, who is his former roommate from their collegiate wrestling days. As expected, Velasquez saved him.

Why does Mysterio need to be involved in this feud at all? He is one of the greatest of all time and shouldn't need someone we all know is not the godfather to his son to fight his battle for him.

If WWE wanted Lesnar vs. Velasquez, all it needed to do was have Paul Heyman claim The Beast is unstoppable only to have the man who beat him in UFC step up to the challenge. It didn't have to make Mysterio look weak to do it. 

Chad Gable

Certain WWE Superstars such as Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns will always be involved in top storylines even if they aren't chasing a title. For a Superstar like Chad Gable, he has to fight for every minute of TV time.

Gable is a former Olympian and one of the best technical wrestlers on the roster, but somehow WWE has struggled to find the right way to use him since he and Jason Jordan went their separate ways.

Gable is short, so naturally, Vince McMahon decided to have his opponents focus on telling short jokes at his expense because that is the kind of thing he thinks is funny.

Having Gable fight back against bullies and deliver an inspiring message about embracing who you are is not the problem; if anything, he is the perfect person to deliver that kind of statement.

The execution is the issue. Baron Corbin is a decent heel but having him tell intentionally bad jokes about Gable's height does nothing to help his cause. It just makes him look like the evil jock in any given high school movie. Changing Gable's name to Shorty G is not going to do him any favors, either. 

This might lead to a big push for Gable in the future, but the more likely outcome is he continues to be the butt of the joke. After stealing the show during the King of the Ring tournament in every match, he deserves better and so does everyone else on this list.