Rusev is the best thing on Raw

I agree. For a gimmick which looked like a short term one at best, they've taken it very far indeed. He looks impressive, his Sambo schtick is different from an aesthetic viewpoint and also stylistically and his manager (although she slacks sometimes with the pronunciations of certain words) is massively over.

My problem is with the booking of his character. He beats down Swagger at Summerslam in a very decent Flag match and yet instead of moving swiftly onto a US Title win at Night of Champions before a final encounter with Swagger, they've given the title match duties to Cesaro, a talented wrestler but someone who has nothing going for him at the moment. Shove the guy towards Ziggler and make the logical match with Sheamus getting his ass kicked by Rusev only to get attacked by Swagger post-match.

Shame because he is a hot character right now.

I can't see Rusev fighting Sheamus for the title, not until he's been beaten anyway. The fans seem desperate for an American to beat him, and all the talk from Lana is blasting America. Stop doing that and some of his current heat will go. Fan reaction to his matches will be different when he's fighting someone that isn't America, so they'll likely keep it so that he only fights Americans for the time being. Build it up so that when he's eventually beaten the reaction will be massive. Best thing they can do with him at the moment is to keep up the blasting America stuff and getting the fans riled up - but that will only really work if fighting an American. If he goes for the US Title, which should be the goal, Sheamus has to drop the title first.

I dont see a long term future for this gimmick although I like Rusev in the ring. They'll have to tweak his character for longevity. I just cant see any feud that doesn't involve waving flags coming his way anytime soon.

I dont see a long term future for this gimmick although I like Rusev in the ring. They'll have to tweak his character for longevity. I just cant see any feud that doesn't involve waving flags coming his way anytime soon.

This.  It's part of the reason why I hate the "Evil Foreigner of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!" gimmick.

Apparently plans are for him to feud with Sheamus after Big Show, and for him to capture the US Title. Then he can get even  more heat by telling everyone that he's the US champ being represented by Russia. I can't see him getting much heat feuding with Sheamus though, the only time he will is when he actually beats him and holds the belt, so hopefully it's a one match kind of deal.

The more I see rusev, the more I think he's a face and the American population are the heels.

He gets forced the pledge allegiance to the flag. A pretty disgusting act as he isn't American.  He stays strong to his roots and fights for his honour, a very face thing to do.

The soldier he hit a few weeks ago invaded the ring, nothing wrong with rusev defending himself. 

Rusev was injured against swagger a month or so ago, and pluckily carried on.

Several people (show, swagger) have pulled down the Russian flag, but he hasn't pulled down the us flag (that I can recall)

The more I see rusev, the more I think he's a huge face, but the yanks are too flag blind (and stupid) to see it.

The latest seg on raw with slaughter just cements it all for me. If rusev was American and had the exact same angle since his debut he'd be a massive baby face.

Anyone else got any thoughts?

Totally agree. I don't actually know what Rusev has done wrong so far. It's not even like he cheats to win matches, he's just really good and beats everyone.