Why Lana is one of the most interesting characters on the WWE roster

Lana is a force to be reckoned

It has been a long time since the golden years of the World Wrestling Federation, now known as the World Wrestling Entertainment. And in the time frame, a lot has changed. We have gone form an era of heels and babyfaces to the era of polarized characters. The biggest challenge today is not just the fictional elements for the characters but the ability to be demarcated as good or evil. The journey since the 80s has seen many memorable characters. While Hogan began the mania, Bret hart brought the technical aspect of being a professional wrestler.

While Shawn Michaels made arrogance bankable, Stone Cold made it cool to be a badmouth. With The Rock, Stone Cold and DX, the era of the not so virtuous popular guys began. And with John Cena began the era of the polarized guy or what the accepted jargon in the WWE calls a tweener. This tag of a tweener can’t be limited to just a male performer. The divas are inhabiting such roles as well. AJ Lee may be the first diva who WWE acknowledged to be a polarized character, in their website. Paige, these days, is showing the same signs. While some find them entertaining, some find them absolutely annoying. So, in such a division performers like Stephanie, Summer Rae and Lana stand out. And this particular article belongs to Lana.

The persona

Lana is, to be precise, not a wrestler. She is a manager. What makes her different than the many female managers WWE has had? She actually plays her character well. In a gimmick centered around Rusev, Lana holds her own. She is the one who controls the Bulgarian Brute and she does that with Authority. From her hairstyle to her expressions, from her straight posture to her accent she is a more intricate character than Rusev himself. There have been great managers in the WWE- Bobby Heenan, Paul Heyman, Paul Bearer- but Lana is not a man. Here is a woman who is not a wrestler but is still different than all the divas who have wasted all the time by being neither great wrestlers or good actors. She is an all out heel. Being a Russian in America, I guess, helps in her case.

The performance

Just give her a mic and she can do well on her own. But her performance is more impactful when she has someone on the receiving end of her promo to be present in front of her. Just see for yourself. Even if she did not have a lot to say against Zeb Colter or Roman Reigns on Smackdown, the tint of arrogance, confidence and snobbishness was enough to make you want to pay attention. If you haven’t, try doing that. The one thing that will make the feud between Rusev and Swagger worth watching is the interaction between their respective managers. Anybody can work the american hero and foreign heel storyline in America itself and just get momentary reactions. But it takes some great characters to really get the sort of reactions that are desired. That is when you fulfill the cardinal rules of wrestling- Control the crowd. While Rusev and Swagger are good wrestlers, they are not considered to be reliable with a microphone. And that’s a big void that Colter and Lana are attempting to fill and they are doing a great job at it. That shows that Lana is here to stay, if only WWE gives her the opportunities compatible to her rich potential.

The way forward

Rusev has had plentiful of squash matches but he does not seem like he’ll go the Ryback-Brodus Clay-Tensai way. The fact is that he has an intimidating theme song, the vicious flair with which he speaks his language, the agility uncommon for a superstar of his build but most of all he has an intimidating manager. And that has made all the difference.