Mick Foley Talks Rusev’s Performance on “RAW,” Bullying, Jack Swagger

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley has never been one to shy away from being critical of the WWE product, which has certainly been the case as of late regarding the presence of Rusev. Foley has openly criticized the “Bulgarian Brute” on his Facebook, where he often recaps certain aspects of “Monday Night Raw.”

This past week, however, Foley seems to have had a change of heart. He posted the following:

“USA, USA?

Maybe I’ve been too rough on Rusev. Not that I’ve ever said or written anything about him. But in my mind, I think he’s always going to suffer by comparison to The Iron Shiek – a classic anti-American heel who thrived on crowd heat, and was part of an all-time classic brawl with Sgt Slaughter in MSG that had a young Mick Foley on his feet, chanting USA, USA.

But last night, I think I finally “got” Rusev. He showed himself to be a very capable, believable big man – going head to head with Big Show in a hard-hitting, entertaining match.”

Interestingly enough though, Foley was hard on the end of the segment, noting he felt it advocated bullying.

“But I sure was bamboozled by the ending. Having Marc Henry hit the ring for the DQ and team up with Show to leave Rusev laying seemed odd and anti-climactic. It also seemed to be decidedly pro bullying, with two larger men ganging up on one smaller man.”

Ultimately though, he believes there is one man who should be the one to dethrone Rusev.

“I’ll be watching to see if this goes somewhere. Certainly, last night’s scenario lends itself to potential conflict between Show and Henry – and also leaves the door open for a different American hero to conquer the foreign menace…even though I still think Jack Swagger is the right man for the task.”

The full post can be found here.

Editor’s Note

Fully agree, Mrs. Foley’s baby boy. I believe Swagger will be the man to get the job done, in the end. I’d like to see it become a WrestleMania moment, even, though that’s unlikely.

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