Dusty Rhodes will forever be held in the highest regard as both a performer and a mentor. But for Rusev and Lana, The American Dream was something else: a matchmaker.
Lana and Rusev got married in 2016, but they were together, both on and off screen, well before. If not for the keen eye and legendary intuition of Rhodes, Rusev and Lana wouldn’t be together in the ring, or in matrimony.
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In an interview with Bulgaria’s TV+, Rusev told the story of how The Dream tossed he and Lana together on a whim well before the budding WWE stars even considered romance
“I got to meet her since day one when I started in WWE. After that, Dusty Rhodes, god rest his soul, who was working as a creative director at that time, put us together because of her speaking perfect Russian. She used to live in Latvia for 12 years and she is very beautiful. That’s how we got to start working, training and spending a lot of time together. Things just happened naturally,” he said.
Rhodes’ logic of sticking a Russian speaking woman with a Russian looking man is a simple formula WWE has used for decades. I mean, they lead us to believe Yokozuna was of the purest Japanese ancestry and paired him with Mr. Fuji to boot.
However, unlike Lana’s Russian accent and Rusev’s Russian Flag, the couples love is real. While Rusev and Lana charmed each other to the altar, it’s possible that their marriage would have never happened if not for the great Dusty Rhodes.
Flashing forward to present day, Rusev and Lana are back together on screen after a hiatus. Rusev has been busy starting a grassroots movement with Aiden English. The #RusevDay phenomenon is one of the most vocally present hands in all of WWE and it now looks like Lana has been sent as reinforcements.
For now, Rusev Day is a trio, but thee have been rumors that Lana will make a devious turn and push English out of the group. That remains to be seen, and for the sake of confusion, English accompanied Lana in her last SmackDown match—one that saw her punch a ticket to the second ever Women’s Money in the Bank match.
We’ll see what happens in the coming week,s but all signs point to Rusev and Lana using their real0life chemistry to spark in-ring drama. Now that both have logged a few years in the company, it may be time to see how they do with elevated opportunities.
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]
