Rusev Crashes John Cena's Patriotic Return to SmackDown

08/31/2017 04:38 pm EDT

John Cena finally made his triumphant and patriotic return to SmackDown. The 16-time WWE Champion opened the show for the Blue Brand tonight and let us in on some new developments.

First on Cena's docket was his critics. For those that thought he'd chosen Hollywood over his home, WWE, Cena said: "I'm not a part-timer, I'm an all-timer." He would reiterate that his time in WWE is precious which lead to his reasoning behind his new "Free Agent" status.

Up Next: WWE Rumors: John Cena vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34?

For Cena, he knows that his time as a wrestler in coming to a close. So in order to soak in his final years in WWE, he wants to be able to roam freely from RAW to SmackDown. He called out WWE's top stars - AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Brock Lesnar, and with a dramatic pause, Roman Reigns.

The mere mentioning Reigns set the crowd on fire.

Before Cena could go any further, Rusev's music hit. Like Cena, Rusev's been missing from WWE for several months. The Bulgarian Brute has been nursing a shoulder injury and was demanding to know why John Cena got all of those fancy commercials about his return and he got nothing.

More: 5 Things You Missed From RAW

Rusev wasted no time in disparaging the American Dream and American lifestyle. In his home of Bulgaria, people march in the streets on the country's birthday, but here in America, we only eat hot dogs and hamburgers.

Insert a delightfully ironic YES! chant.

Seeing that Rusev was armed with his Bulgarian flag, Cena proposed a good old fashioned Flag Match, right here on SmackDown. Rusev declined by saying he will pick the time and place for their match.

That time will be Battleground later this month.

We'll be getting a re-vamping of the 2014 feud between the WWE superstars. The two met at Wrestlemania 31 where Rusev arrived in a tank. Despite the awesome entrance, Rusev would lose to Cena.

Can Rusev exact his revenge at Battleground? It's hard to see him beating a returning supernova like Cena, but you never know. Rusev still remains one of WWE's most underutilized talent and a win over someone like Cena would put his comeback on the map.

Stay tuned, folks.

Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.