Miroslav Barnyashev (December 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Rusev, is an Bulgarian professional wrestler and former powerlifter and rower who performed in FCW, NXT and WWE. Barnyashev is the first Bulgarian to have wrestled for WWE. He is currently signed under SmackDown brand and current WWE United States Championship of his third reign.
Professional wrestling career[]
In April of 2013, Rusev (then going by the name of Alexander Rusev had match at WrestleMania Axxess and defeated Percy Watson.
On the May 30, 2013 episode of WWE NXT, Rusev competed in an 18-man battle royal to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship. He was eliminated by Mason Ryan. He returned to television on the August 21, 2013 episode of WWE NXT (recorded on July 11, 2013), losing to Dolph Ziggler and introducing a gimmick that saw him snap a piece of wood with his opponent's name written on it prior to his matches. He subsequently adopted Sylvester Lefort as his manager and formed a tag team with Scott Dawson named "The Fighting Legionnaires".
Beginning on the October 23, 2013 episode of WWE NXT, an unnamed blonde woman began watching Rusev during his matches. On the October 30 episode of WWE NXT, Rusev ended his affiliation with Lefort by attacking him during a tag team bout and aligned himself with the woman now named Lana.
Rusev made his main roster debut at the Royal Rumble on January 26, 2014. The sixth entrant to the titular match, Rusev was eliminated by several other wrestlers. After several weeks of vignettes and interviews, Rusev wrestled his first match on the main roster on the April 7, 2014 episode of Raw, squashing Zack Ryder. He went on to feud with R-Truth and Xavier Woods, who he defeated in a handicap match at Extreme Rules on May 4, 2014. Lana dedicated the match to her "hero", President of Russia Vladimir Putin, and announced that Rusev had relocated to Russia. On the following episode of Raw, Rusev's ring name was shortened to simply "Rusev". Rusev subsequently adopted a pro-Russian, anti-American gimmick, leading to confrontations with wrestlers such as the patriotic Jim Duggan. He subsequently began feuding with Big E, who he defeated in consecutive bouts at Payback on June 1 and at Money in the Bank on June 29. Rusev and Lana then began a feud with Jack Swagger and his manager Zeb Colter, who declared themselves Real Americans. This led to a match between Rusev and Swagger at Battleground, which Rusev won by count out. At SummerSlam on August 17, 2014, Rusev defeated Swagger who passed out due to Rusev's submission hold the Accolade in a flag match. Rusev then began feuding with Mark Henry, leading to a match at Night of Champions, which Rusev won. On the September 26 episode of SmackDown, Rusev began a feud with Big Show and lost to Show via disqualification after attacking him with the Russian flag. This lead to Big Show knocking Rusev out and tearing down the Russian flag on the next Raw.
On the October 6 edition of Raw, when Big Show was banned from confronting Rusev after tearing down the flag, Rusev and Lana were confronted by The Rock, who returned to confront the both of them, and proceeded to attack Rusev. On the October 21 episode of Raw, Rusev attacked a fan who jumped the barricade in attempt to fend off Rusev who was attempting to rip down the American flag hanging above the ring, infuriating Big Show. On October 26, Rusev defeated Big Show in a singles match at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event to culminate their feud.
Following his feud with Big Show, Rusev began pursuing the United States Championship and on the November 3 episode of Raw, he ultimately defeated then-champion Sheamus to win the United States Title, which gave Rusev his first wrestling championship as well as making him the first Bulgarian champion in WWE history. The United States Champion Rusev faced Sheamus in a rematch for the championship and won via countout when Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury came and distracted Sheamus. Rusev joined The Authority for Survivor Series. On November 23, 2014 at Survivor Series, Rusev competed in a 10-man Survivor Series match as part of Team Authority. Rusev was eliminated from the match by countout after crashing through the Spanish announce table.
On January 25, 2015 at Royal Rumble, Rusev entered the Rumble match at number 15, eliminating six other contestants and placing second overall. On the Royal Rumble post-show, Rusev interrupted John Cena as he was being interviewed and an altercation broke out. This led to a match being announced on the January 26 edition of Raw between the two for the title at Fastlane. At the event, Rusev won by submitting Cena after low blowing him. He lost the United States Championship to Cena in a rematch at WrestleMania 31 on March 29 after a miscommunication with Lana, ending his reign at 146 days and marking his first clean loss on WWE's main roster. He failed to regain the championship the following month at Extreme Rules in a Russian chain match. Later that night, it was announced that Rusev would receive another rematch against Cena for the title at Payback in an "I Quit" match, which he lost when Lana quit on his behalf. On the following episode of Raw, Rusev ended his affiliation with Lana, who slapped him, and started showing signs of jealousy after Lana kissed Dolph Ziggler.
On the May 25, 2015 episode of Raw, Rusev reverted to being billed from Bulgaria, carrying the flag of Bulgaria to ringside and adopting new ring attire inspired by the flag. Later that same evening, Rusev unsuccessfully attempted to reconcile with Lana. Three days later on SmackDown, after losing to Ryback by disqualification, Rusev would suffer a leg injury. The injury was later revealed to be a foot fracture, and as a result, Rusev was pulled from the Elimination Chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship at Elimination Chamber. In June, Summer Rae began an alliance with Rusev. Also during this time, Lana began accompanying Dolph Ziggler to his matches. On the June 29 episode of Raw, Ziggler and Lana confirmed their storyline relationship. As a result of this, Rae accompanied Rusev to the ring and began to insult and slapped Lana; the confrontation ended with her attacking Rae. On the July 6 Raw, Rusev and Summer Rae again came out to insult Ziggler and Lana. This turned out to be a trap; Rusev viciously attacked Ziggler after hitting him with the crutch and removing his ankle brace, which showed his injury was healed. Rusev made his in-ring return on the following SmackDown, wrestling in shoes to avoid further foot injury, defeating Fandango. On the July 13 episode of Raw, Rusev answered John Cena's United States Championship open challenge. Rusev was then interrupted by both Kevin Owens and Cesaro, who also demanded a shot at the title. This resulted in a triple threat match, where the winner would face Cena, which Rusev won after pinning Cesaro, as Owens had left the match early on. Afterwards, Rusev defeated Cena by disqualification, when Owens assaulted Rusev. On the July 16 episode of SmackDown, Rusev suffered his second loss by pinfall during his tenure on the WWE main roster when he was defeated by Cesaro in a singles match. At the July 20 episode of Raw, Rusev was again pinned, this time in a 6-Man Tag Team match, where he teamed with Kevin Owens and Sheamus. During the match, both Sheamus and Owens walked out on the match after arguing with each other. Rusev was then pinned by Randy Orton after Cesaro catapulted Rusev onto an RKO. On the August 17 Raw, Dolph Ziggler returned and attacked Rusev after he threatened to hurt Lana. At SummerSlam, he faced Ziggler to a double countout. On the October 5 episode of Raw, Rae proposed to Rusev in the storyline, but said he would not marry her until he had won another championship. On the October 12 episode of Raw, following his loss to Ryback, Summer Rae revealed news footage from TMZ from over the weekend announcing Rusev's real-life engagement to Lana; after she berated him, Summer Rae dumped Rusev. On the 31 October episode of Main Event, Rusev injured his shoulder in a match with Neviile, resulting in Neville winning the match via referee stoppage and Rusev being out of action.
On the November 23 episode of Raw, Rusev returned, delivering a surprise attack to Roman Reigns while Reigns was staring down Triple H and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus of The Authority, joining them in the process. Later that night, he faced Roman Reigns in the main event, which ended in a disqualification, due to aid from King Barrett and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. The following week on Raw, Lana returned and rejoined Rusev during a Miz TV segment. Later in the evening, it was announced that Rusev had become part of a new group called The League of Nations alongside Alberto Del Rio, King Barrett, and Sheamus. At TLC, Rusev defeated Ryback. Rusev would enter the Royal Rumble match at the #2 spot, but he would be eliminated by Roman Reigns in one and a half minutes. On the March 14, 2016 episode of Raw, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio failed to win the WWE Tag Team Championships from the New Day. At Wrestlemania 32 Rusev along with the Leauge of Nations would defeat The New Day. Following the match Rusev was stunned by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Following WrestleMania 32, on the April 4, 2016 edition of Raw, League of Nations members Sheamus and King Barrett were part of a losing effort against the New Day for the WWE Tag Team Championships after Barrett was pinned by Kofi Kingston. Following the match, King Barrett was exiled from the group being called the "weak link". Moments after, the Wyatt Family went on to attack the remaining members of the League of Nations. On the April 28, 2016 edition of Smackdown, Rusev walked out on Sheamus after Alberto Del Rio walked out on the both of them, effectively ending The League of Nations.
On the May 2nd edition of Raw he won a battle royal, last eliminating Zack Ryder to become the number one contender for the United States championship, which he won for the second time by defeating Kalisto at Extreme Rules. Rusev defeated him in a rematch on the following week's SmackDown, after which he was confronted by Titus O'Neil, whom Rusev defeated at Money in the Bank to successful retain his title. Rusev followed this with a successful third title defense against Cesaro and defeated Titus again on the July 4th episode of Raw to end their feud in a title rematch. On the July 7 episode of SmackDown, Zack Ryder challenged Rusev for the title. The week after on Raw, Rusev accepted his challenge after putting Ryder in the Accolade, setting up a title defense for Battleground. On July 19, Rusev was drafted to the Raw brand with both Lana and the United States Championship. At Battleground, Rusev retained against Ryder. Post-match, Ryder's tag team partner Mojo Rawley came to Ryder's aid and confronted Rusev, only for Rusev to walk away. On the August 1 episode of Raw, after Rusev defeated Mark Henry to retain the title, Roman Reigns came out to confront Rusev. The following week, Reigns interrupted Rusev and Lana's wedding re-enactment, and issued a challenge to Rusev for the title. Rusev declined, and the two brawled, causing Lana to fall into a wedding cake. Backstage, Mick Foley told an angered Lana and Rusev that Rusev would be defending his U.S. title against Reigns at SummerSlam. Later that night, Rusev successfully defended his title in an impromptu match against Cesaro, who felt that he should also have a shot at the title. At Summerslam, the match was ruled a no contest after Rusev attacked Reigns before the bell rung and the two brawled outside of the ring, with Rusev suffering injured ribs. Rusev returned on the 12th of September, costing Reigns his match against Universal Champion Kevin Owens before locking him in the Accolade. At Clash of Champions on September 25, Rusev lost the title to Reigns after Lana was ejected from ringside. Rusev competed in his United States Championship rematch at Hell in a Cell in a losing effort. On the October 31 edition of Raw, Paul Heyman and Rusev confronted Goldberg. Goldberg delivered a Jackhammer to Rusev, while spearing Heyman, who was later taken by ambulance to a hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. The next week, Rusev failed to become the #1 contender for SmackDown's Intercontinental Championship when he was defeated by Sami Zayn. Rusev faced Big Cass at Roadblock: End of the Line in the Kick-off Show which Rusev won via countout. The following night on Raw, Rusev would face Cass again, this time defeating him by disqualification. That same night, Amore would have to attend sensitivity training from the incident on the November 21 episode of Raw. At the training, Amore would be attacked by Rusev and his new ally, Jinder Mahal. On the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw, Rusev teamed with Mahal in a 2-on-1 handicap match, defeating Big Cass. At Royal Rumble, Rusev would enter the Rumble match at number eighteen, lasting over 20 minutes before being eliminated by Goldberg. On the February 27 episode of Raw, Rusev and Mahal began to show tension after Rusev inadvertently distracted Mahal, causing the two to lose to The New Day. At Fastlane, general manager Mick Foley placed Rusev and Mahal in singles matches that night after Mahal revealed his desire to return to singles competition. Rusev and Mahal both lost their respective matches against Big Show and Cesaro. Both Rusev and Lana disappeared from television following Rusev requiring surgery for an injury.
On April 11, Rusev was moved to SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. On the April 25 episode of SmackDown, Rusev made his first appearance on WWE programming since Fastlane, appearing via satellite, and declared that he would not make his debut on SmackDown unless he was given a WWE Championship match at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on June 18. He was not granted his request, but on the July 4 episode of SmackDown, he made his first appearance for the brand and confronted the returning John Cena, setting up a flag match for Battleground, which he lost.
In August, Rusev started a feud with Randy Orton and was defeated by Orton at SummerSlam in 10 seconds. On the September 19 episode of SmackDown, Rusev got his revenge on Orton by defeating him in the same time, after a distraction from Aiden English. Soon after, Rusev assumed a new character where he would proclaim that every day was "Rusev Day". This act would become incredibly popular with the fans, despite the fact that Rusev played a villainous character. At Hell in a Cell on October 9, Rusev lost to Orton again, thus ending their feud.
After his feud with Orton, Rusev began a team with English, with the two participating in a fatal four-way tag team match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Clash of Champions in December also involving The New Day, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin and the champions The Usos, which The Usos won. Rusev entered the 2018 Royal Rumble match on January 28 as the first entrant, lasting over 30 minutes before being eliminated by Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy. On the March 27 episode of SmackDown, Rusev teamed with Jinder Mahal to defeat Bobby Roode and Randy Orton, adding him to the United States Championship match at WrestleMania 34. At the event, Rusev was pinned by Mahal, losing the match. At the Greatest Royal Rumble event, he faced The Undertaker in a Casket Match, but lost. On the May 8 episode of SmackDown, Rusev defeated Daniel Bryan to qualify for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank, which was won by Braun Strowman. On the following episode of SmackDown, he won a gauntlet match to become the number one contender for AJ Styles' WWE Championship at Extreme Rules. At the event, he was defeated by Styles.
In July, Rusev Day started a feud with Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega, thus turning them face in the process for the first time in his career. Rusev and Lana lost a mixed tag team match to Almas and Vega at SummerSlam but defeated them in a rematch on the August 21 episode of SmackDown. At Hell in a Cell, Rusev and English unsuccessfully faced The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, English attacked Rusev, ending their alliance. English would later claim to have had an affair with Lana, leading to a match on the October 23 episode of SmackDown, where Rusev defeated English, ending their feud.
After failing to win the United States Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura at Crown Jewel, Rusev finally managed to capture the United States Championship for a third time in his career on the December 25 episode of SmackDown Live. On January 27, 2019, he lost the title back to Nakamura on the Royal Rumble pre-show. Two days later on SmackDown Live, Rusev confronted R-Truth, who had just defeated Nakamura for the United States Championship, and pushed him into defending his newly-won title against him, but Truth retained his title. After the match, Nakamura attacked Truth, and Rusev joined him in attacking Truth, thus turning heel again in the process and later forming a tag team with Nakamura. On the Fastlane pre-show, Rusev and Nakamura were defeated by The New Day. At WrestleMania 35, Nakamura and Rusev would compete in a fatal four-way tag team match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. Rusev competed in a 51-man battle royal at Super ShowDown, but failed to win. Following Super ShowDown, Rusev began a sabbatical from WWE.
Rusev returned on the September 16 episode of Raw as a face and was involved in a storyline where Lana was having an affair with Bobby Lashley. Seeking answers for Lana's infidelity, she would accuse Rusev of being a controlling sex addict, leading to the two divorcing on the December 9 episode of Raw, during which Rusev was attacked by Lashley. At the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view event on December 15, Rusev lost to Lashley in a tables match, following interference from Lana. On the January 13, 2020 episode of Raw, Rusev lost to Lashley again following an interference from Lana and Liv Morgan, after the match, a mixed tag team match was scheduled between teams of Rusev and Morgan, and Lashley and Lana. The mixed tag team of Rusev and Morgan was defeated by Lashley and Lana in the January 20 episode of Raw. Rusev teamed with Humberto Carrillo in a loss to Lashley and Angel Garza on the February 17 episode of Raw. This would be Rusev's final appearance in WWE, as on April 15, he was released from his WWE contract as part of budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. His real life wife Lana, however, remained with WWE until she was also released over a year later in June 2021.
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