Ex-WWE Champion Reveals How Fans Helped Him Win Major Title
Ex-WWE United States Champion returned to WWE Raw after four-months this week.
Rusev made his first appearance on Raw in four months on the February 16 edition of the show and confronted Oba Femi, who eliminated him from the men’s Royal Rumble match this year.
Rusev is one of the most popular heels in WWE, but he once turned babyface in July 2018 during his famous “Rusev Day” run. While the gimmick began as a heel act in September 2017, his overwhelming organic popularity forced the creative to finally shift his character’s alignment.
Following his appearance on Raw, Rusev sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an exclusive interview. During the discussion, Chris Van Vliet asked Rusev about his popular “Rusev Day” gimmick and how it led him to turn babyface.
Rusev explained that “Rusev Day” was not planned and did not come from any creative direction, but was purely born out of organic fan reaction. At one point, he was taken off TV for a few weeks, and when he returned, fans were loudly chanting “Rusev Day” on their own.
“I don’t know if there was any direction for it necessarily. I remember I’ve been off TV, and I’ve never been off TV. I remember being off TV for a couple of weeks, and I was like, ‘What is going on?’ ‘Why are we off TV?’ Before the shows, these people are chanting Rusev Day, and it’s not like, oh, let me get my sh*t in.”
Fan Popularity Helped Rusev Become The WWE United States Champion
Rusev genuinely felt it was good for the product, believing that if the crowd reacted organically to something, WWE should lean into it. Because of that, he started pushing the gimmick backstage, telling creative they should do more with the chant.
Eventually, WWE embraced it, and the fans’ support helped him gain momentum, ultimately leading to him becoming a babyface and the United States Champion for a third time.
“I thought it was good for the show. If these people were chanting something, we should give them what they want. That’s why I started fighting for it, ‘Hey, let’s do something.’ Then it was getting a little more traction. But I became a United States Champion,” he said.
During the February 16, 2026, episode of Monday Night Raw, Rusev was seen backstage wearing a “Happy Rusev Day” shirt during a segment with Adam Pearce, sparking speculation that WWE may be reviving the iconic gimmick.
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