Are people taking this Rusev storyline wayyyy too seriously??

WWE apologized for desecrating the Russian flag which I 100% agree with because you just don't do that (Ask Jericho.) and nutty people are whining about Lana disrespecting America......when WWE scripts it!! I mean, I'm patriotic, but I realize Rusev and Lana are both talented and don't complain when Rusev wins

When you take on an edgy storyline for the sake of being edgy, you have to deal with the backlash. They learned this with Hassan, and they're re-learning it with Rusev to a lesser degree. Xenophobia isn't as tolerated as it was 20 years ago, and umbrage over politics aren't so easily sold with single devils.

They went into this feud parading around pictures of Putin (got more airtime on Raw over the past few months than half the roster) and playing up the old Rocky IV nationalism angle and poking Americans with propaganda over how Russians view us, using Rusev and Lana as their figure head. The problem is that the world's a lot more well-informed than it was in the 80's and 90's, so that whole paint the enemy as a boogeyman jive doesn't fly anymore.

If Russians are offended, then they should have been defensive long before now. I wouldn't be surprised if more American's weren't speaking out on their behalf considering our overly mother hen PC nature, and considering how very little Russia really gives a **** about menial pop culture faux pas.

Either way, if WWE didn't expect some collateral damage from Ferrignoing up Rusev, they're idiots and deserve whatever kind of back draft they get from it.

For starters Rusev isn't even Russian he's from Bulgaria and Lana is from Gainesville Florida! So people need to think about that before they get all crazy with the gimmick! And secondly the WWF/WWE has been doing this for years Ivan Koloff, The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Mohammed Hassan, Sgt Slaughter, they take whatever is going on in the world and write it into a storyline!

Ask Sgt. Slaughter.....WWE is playing with fire by mixing "cold war" politics with a storyline, since its impact cannot be controlled. It survived the airliner shoot-down, but if the Ukrainian war heats back up - with NATO jumping into what could become a proxy battle - then these two employees could have some real problems wandering around in public and at shows.

its a 80s patriotism feud that belongs in the past. Rusev does the same EXACT thing every week. excuse me for not being entertained.

this is the 2 worst storyline going on wwe right now..

the 1st worst is offcourse bunny

the Russians might have their flag was pulled down

That just defines how sensitive society is these days