I don’t think the WWE has any idea what to do or even if they care what they are doing with Humberto Carrillo. They have had him feud with big names including Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, and United States Champion, Andrade. In fact, Carrillo has beaten the United States Champion twice. Despite this, he is not the United States Champion.
Carrillo never stood a chance. They didn’t let him build a following by sticking him on 205 Live instead of NXT, and now they called him up to the main roster, and even though he has been more successful than most, it doesn’t feel like he has really won anything. It’s the drizzling shits, and I can’t see an end in sight.
I think it’s necessary to send him to NXT. Right now, he’s the dimple man, which will only carry you so far. He needs to develop more of a character before he has any shot at main roster success. Ideally, you would just team him up with Angel Garza and make them the Handsome Hateable guys, and give him a tear-away t-shirt so they could both rip off clothes simultaneously. That would instantly become the most over thing in NXT, and then you’ve got yourself a couple superstars for the main roster.
Oh, WWE, sometimes you make these articles too easy to write. I mean, it's painful how easy this one is, because you are blatantly squandering one of the top ten talents in the company. A guy who has been able to use his charisma to get over and is also dynamite in the ring. His only "flaw" is that he is from Bulgaria and hence has an accent. Of course, today is Rusev Day as I talk about the underutilized Bulgarian Brute.
I remember early Rusev who would bring a board down to the ring with his opponent's name on it, and then snap the board before his match. It was pretty cool, but what more stood out is that the dude was an absolute shit brickhouse who moved way too well for somebody his size. Although he didn't get much of a chance to show his charismatic side in NXT, the guy was still a talent, and the WWE clearly thought so too as they brought him up a few months later as the first ever NXT surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble.
I first fell in love with Rusev after he won the US Title. I mean, even Putin was a fan of his as the WWE couldn't help themselves but turn him into an honorary Russian. He also got very angry at his place in the draft and gave a brilliant promo on it.
The beauty of this promo is that he conveys his anger in falling to the fourth round, but he is also still naturally hilarious, especially when he calls Dean Ambrose a "lunatic with a fringe."
His highest and lowest point came at WrestleMania 31 where he rode out in a frickn' tank which was by far the best entrance that night, but he also lost to John Cena, so that part wasn't as cool.
Rusev then did nothing for two years. I mean, it wasn't literally nothing, but Wikipedia broke it down as League of Nations and Various Feuds. If I was going to focus on one of those, I would sadly pick Various Feuds as it would be more interesting than League of Nations.
Somehow, not given its only subheading was Handsome Rusev. Handsome Rusev was my favorite Rusev, because it was started in the most brilliant way and burned out far too quickly. Rusev was feuding with Big Cass, Enzo, and The New Day, and he rightfully called out Big Cass and Big E for having big in their name. Everybody knows that they're big, so it's stupid to have it in their name; it would be like him being called Handsome Rusev. It's redundant, and I appreciate that. Unfortunately, his nose was actually broken a few weeks later, so his good looks were taken from us far too soon.
But Rusev Day was the most important. He managed to turn ridiculous arrogance in that every day should be dedicated to him and made everyone believe that, yes, every day should be Rusev Day. Still, WWE wouldn't pull the trigger on a long-term push and now he is in a nothing tag team with Shinsuke Nakamura. It is insane that Rusev and Nakamura are teaming up, and it is about as over as a wet fart,. It makes zero sense; they have no purpose, and it is a horrendously poor use of both of these talents.
So how should the WWE fix Rusev? Well, as I stated earlier, the guy is great in the ring, can convey both anger and humor in promos, and is built like a monster. It shouldn't be this hard to utilize a talent like Rusev. I'd personally like to see him go back to Handsome Rusev, but that angle works better against the fanfic bros of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. I do think he's incredibly quick coming up with things so seeing him go toe-to-toe with Daniel Bryan would be incredibly fun. Really, just give Rusev the World Title and enjoy the benefits of a Rusev Reign.
