Rusev has been embroiled in plenty of drama over the past week or so heading into the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on April 27 after he was announced to compete in a Casket match against The Undertaker, before promptly being replaced by Chris Jericho.
That only lasted a couple of days, though, as once again, the company has announced that Rusev will battle The Deadman in the Middle East in a situation that has left everyone confused.
GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE
Nobody can be blamed for assuming that Rusev’s future is up in the air. It was claimed before WrestleMania that he was looking to make an exit from the WWE alongside Lana, resulting in the company adding him to the United States Championship match at the Grandest Stage of Them All.
Then, following his removal from his match against The Phenom, Rusev removed all mentions of WWE from his social media profiles, leading many to believe than an ugly break-up was imminent - or that Rusev was continuing to master troll he is.
However, Brad Shepard of Bodyslam.net has revealed the details of the whole situation from why Rusev was taken out in the first place, to why the company decided to place him back in the match instead of announcing Jericho.
Although the ‘bury me softly, brother’ tweet from Rusev was thought to be the reason why the WWE made the decision, it was actually down to a TMZ interview featuring Lana and Rusev. In the video, it was thought that Rusev said ‘crush his old ass,’ resulting in Michelle McCool - The Undertaker’s wife - reacting to it.
OFFENCE
Based on her reaction, Shepard has claimed that this rubbed somebody in WWE’s offices the wrong way and decided to take him out of the match. Once they found out that this didn’t offend The Phenom, the decision was made to include him yet again.
He said: “A source in WWE told me that somebody in the office was definitely rubbed the wrong way by the initial comments Rusev made to TMZ (where he referenced Undertaker as being old).
“WWE is very sensitive to the potential of offending old-timers. Once they realised Undertaker wasn’t offended, they put Rusev back in the match.”
Although it doesn’t sound like Rusev directly said that, it shows how protective WWE is of someone who has served the company for so long like The Undertaker, even if it was meant as a joke.
Now, Rusev can head to Saudi Arabia on Rusev Day and do what many expect will happen - get buried in the casket to please the fans in the Middle East.
What do you make of the reasons why WWE removed then put Rusev back in the Casket match against The Undertaker? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.