It was feared that the return of Lana may spell the end of #RusevDay. That still might happen, but WWE may be planning to trampoline Lana off of Rusev and Aiden English’s momentum.
If you missed it, Lana grabbed one of the final Money in the Bank spots last week after scoring a pin on SmackDown newbie Billie Kay. The Ravishing Russian’s successful return to the ring raised eyebrows but apparently, we’re in the early stages of Lana-Palooza.
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Backstage in WWE, a podcast by Brad Shephard asserts that Vince McMahon favors Lana as does WWE’s crowd. Such a combination is the fastest way to get juicy opportunities in WWE.
Even more, PWInsider reports that Lana is making extra trips to WWE’s Performance Center for bonus in-ring training—specifically with ladders.
Lana divulged her clandestine ladder training in a recent social media post.
Well this is interesting pic.twitter.com/k3wvN8EuHa
— H Jenkins From Ringside News (@HJenkinsWrites) May 25, 2018
This isn’t the first time WWE aimed for a launching of Lana. In early 2017, WWE assigned her a ballroom dancing character that was quickly scrapped. However, she’s been slowly reintroduced as a wrestler, starting with her and husband Rusev teaming up in the Mixed Match Challenge.
While Lana is still inexperienced in the ring, she still possesses a presence that WWE crowds react to. Before Rusev adopted #RusevDay, he wasn’t one for words. Instead, WWE elected to have Lana talk for him, something she clearly had a knack for. Seeing that Lana is equipped with microphone skills and the ability to connect with audiences, WWE is ready to try Lana as a competitor one more time.
On June 17 she’ll join Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, Ember Moon, Natalya and one more RAW Superstar in the second ever Women’s Money in the Bank match. Right now, consider Lana a long shot, but just a week ago, it appeared highly unlikely she’d even be in the match. Clearly, WWE sees something in her, but it’s doubtful they’re ready to give her a turn with the MITB briefcase.
Regardless, Money in the Bank is a massive opportunity for Lana, and quite possibly for #RusevDay, too. Rumors indicated that Lana would split the brotherhood between Rusev and English. WWE even teased Lana being irritated by English’s presence, but it appears that instead of reinstalling Lana and Rusev, WWE may be more interested to see if Lana can simply join the Rusev Day ranks.
We’ll know more in the coming weeks, but don’t be surprised if Lana keeps notching SmackDown victories ahead of MITB.
