"We still stay in contact" - Rehired legend advocated for Lana and Rusev in WWE (Exclusive)

Brian James, also known as Road Dogg, wanted WWE to make better use of Rusev at the height of his popularity.

The Bulgarian Brute became a fan favorite in late 2017 and early 2018 after performing as a villain on the main roster for three-and-a-half years. At first, then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon continued to book the three-time United States Champion as a bad guy despite his positive fan reactions.

James was SmackDown’s lead writer at the time of the “Rusev Day” phenomenon. On Sportskeeda’s “The Wrestling Outlaws” show, he made it clear that he wanted the 37-year-old to receive more opportunities alongside his wife Lana:

“I was always a fan of Rusev, and Lana, too, for that matter,” James said. “I’m friends of theirs. We still stay in contact and stuff, and I talk to them often. I was an advocate for them. I don’t think everybody was. But I think you said it, it was just organic. It just happened, and it was almost like bigger than booking at that point. It was like, ‘This is a tidal wave that you’re either gonna get and ride into shore or it’s gonna sink you.’” [5:20-5:49]

James recently returned to WWE as the Senior Vice President of Live Events. He confirmed that the creative team repeatedly reminded McMahon about the European star’s increasing popularity:

“We went up there every week during that build saying, ‘We gotta stick with this, we gotta stick with this,’” James continued. “He listened to us.” [5:51-5:59]

Rusev left WWE in 2020 and joined AEW, where he now performs as Miro. Lana has not wrestled since receiving her release from WWE in 2021.

Watch the video above to hear more from James about Kofi Kingston’s eight-second loss to Brock Lesnar in 2019.

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How Rusev was booked on WWE TV in 2018

The year began with Rusev receiving some of the loudest WWE crowd reactions every week. At the time, he was involved in tag team storylines with Aiden English on SmackDown and with Lana in the Mixed Match Challenge.

After WrestleMania 34, Vince McMahon booked Rusev in high-profile matches but continued to pit him against babyface opponents. He lost a casket match against The Undertaker at the Greatest Royal Rumble before unsuccessfully challenging AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules.

The current AEW star officially became a good guy midway through the year, leading to the end of his tag team partnership with English. He went on to defeat Shinsuke Nakamura on the Christmas Day episode of SmackDown to win the United States Championship. However, many believe that WWE failed to capitalize on the momentum he built up earlier in the year.

Do you think The Bulgarian Brute should have been booked better? Let us know in the comments section.

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