Will Rusev be a star?

Last week on Raw, Rusev attacked WWE Hall of Famer, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to further the storyline that Rusev is a representative of Russia, which uses the Ukraine conflict to generate heat. More specifically, The storyline is using the  tension between United States and Russia to get heat, which uses Russian President, Putin during promos. Foreign heat is a classic wrestling angle and usually, when wrestling is current, it translates to an angle that gets over with the audience, but could the use of a current conflict actually limit the progress of Rusev?

As mentioned, pro wrestling has represented society in some ways, which usually translates to a better product. For example, the "Rock and Wrestling" era of the 80s was current to MTV at that point and then the "Attitude Era" capitalized on the popularity of entertainment and sports figures of the time such as Howard Stern and Mike Tyson. Basically, throughout the history of the sport, the business has boomed when it represented the pop culture of the era. If there could be another wrestling boom with the current state of the business, especially with WWE as the only major company, is a different matter for another time, but the point is, wrestling being current with society usually translates to a better draw. In this case, the Rusev-Russian angle is actually something that was used many decades ago when WWE Hall of Famer, Bruno Sammartino battled foreign villains in the 1960s as the main event and it draw major crowds. Obviously, the reason it was a draw was the tension of the cold war at the time and when Bruno defeated the foreign villains, the crowd viewed it as a victory for America.

As society evolved and the cold war became less common to main stream news, the foreign heel shift from the main event to more of a mid card role. The transition is one of the most memorable moments in wrestling history as Hulk Hogan defeated the legendary, Iron Sheik to win the WWF title and it would be the start of the "Rock and Wrestling" era. The society evolved to understand that just because someone is Russian, that doesn't mean that they are against America and it was the way the character is presented that made them either a heel or good guy. For example, Nikolai Volkoff was a heel in the 80s and would eventually become a good guy.

As far as Rusev, it seems like he has potential and the presentation of Lana as his manager works well. A side note, Lana and more specifically Paul Heyman as Cesaro's manager have proved that managers can be as effective today as they have been throughout history. In my view, the main reasons that managers aren't used as much today as previously is that they are used to sell angles, not t shirts. As mentioned, Rusev has potential, but I think the Putin storyline might actually limit his progress to establish himself as a star. Hopefully, the Russian conflict gets solved and everyone is safe in Ukraine. Both news reporting and the wrestling business move faster than in years previously so when Putin fades from the headlines, will it decline Rusev's push? It seems like they will have to add something to the character and it should be interesting to see how the character is booked in a few months.

Extreme Rising

Originally, I wasn't going to discuss the Extreme Rising promotion shut down because the unprofessional that surrounded the company made the management seem like a bunch of ECW marks that were trying to revive a nostalgia act that was completely over done. However, the details that have emerged in the past week show the "promoter" of the company is a scum bag so this is to let people know about the situation so that Extreme Rising doesn't rip off any other fans.

First, it's obvious that the "era of extreme" ended over a decade ago and hardcore wrestling is a cliche for the current pro wrestling market. ECW was great and had a lot of great stuff, but it wasn't perfect, despite the divine view that some fans might have of the promotion. The revolution of Extreme Championship Wrestling is a discussion for another time so let's discuss the most recent exploitation of extreme. It was two years ago that Extreme Reunion ran a show at the ECW arena and the show was a disaster. Sabu, who was booked as main event performer on the show, was taken to the hospital just hours before he was scheduled to wrestle and the story made TMZ headlines. Justin Credible arrived at the building in a condition unable to performer and was subsequently unbooked from the card. Thankfully, it's been reported that both competitors have addressed their problems since Extreme Reunion and they are healthy. The talent cancellations were only a few of the mishaps of the initial show, as nonsensical booking and lack luster matches had the crowd chanting "refund" during the main event.

Since the debut show, Extreme Reunion was renamed Extreme Rising and ran a few shows, but they cancelled more shows than they actually ran as planned. They also announced a TV deal, which was delayed and then didn't make the air. There were five shows announced this year and they were all canceled. The most recent cancellations were last week and it seems as though the promotion has shut down. The promoter, Steve O'Neil announced that all events were canceled and that the fans that purchased tickets in advance should contract credit companies directly for refunds. However, they fans that have purchased tickets have said that they can't get refunds so basically, O'Neil ripped them off.

The concept of Extreme Rising could have worked eight years ago when there was a buzz about the relaunch of the promotion with a mixture of ECW originals and top independent talent, but after the WWE version of ECW soured many fans on the brand, who wants to see another cheap rip off of ECW? The lack of a market for another extreme promotion for a current audience was obvious when shows were canceled for low ticket sales, but that's no excuse to rip off the fans. The Extreme Rising social media accounts have been deleted and the promoter hasn't addressed that the fans didn't get a refund for the canceled shows. The bottom line is Steve O'Neil is a scum bag and the fans deserve to get a refund. On a better note, The House of Hardcore promotion has offered a discount for fans that purchased Extreme Rising tickets for an HOH show next month so it's great that Tommy Dreamer is trying to help the fans.