Rusev is the former WWE United States Champion. He couldn’t have been happy about losing his title on the kickoff show before the Royal Rumble. If anything, he would have much rather lost his title on the actual show.
The match did provide Lana’s bump that injured her ankle and allowed Becky Lynch to take her place. Therefore, this kickoff show really did matter a lot more to the entire card.
Rusev still isn’t very happy about being forced to team up with Shinsuke Nakamura to take on Karl Andersons and Luke Gallows next week on SmackDown Live.
“I don’t really need Nakamura to beat this guys. But tune in to make sure I’m still the most handsome man out there.”
It looks like Handsome Rusev might be making a comeback. Those t-shirts might not sell as well as Rusev Day merch did. Maybe Lana could try her hand at singing her husband’s intro to make it work.