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The United States Championship picture has surrounded Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, and Randy Orton over the past few months so a triple threat match for the Championship at WrestleMania made sense until Rusev pinned the United States Champion this week on SmackDown.
Mahal teamed with Rusev as he took on the team on Roode and Orton and somehow it was Rusev who managed to pick up the win by pinning Orton. This means that Rusev gets an automatic match for the Championship since he's been able to pin the Champion.
Rusev has seemingly been building towards a celebrity match at WrestleMania over the past few weeks on social media but this obviously wasn't meant to be, since he told Mahal backstage after the win that he was going to see General Manager Daniel Bryan about being put in the United States Championship match at WrestleMania and it was later confirmed.
The odds will definitely be stacked against Orton next Sunday at WrestleMania as he makes his first title defense since he won the title from Roode back at Fastlane. But Orton has defended Championships at WrestleMania before and knows how to fight past the numbers game.
The last time Rusev walked into a United States Championship match at WrestleMania, he was the one defending the title against John Cena and he lost back in 2015. It will be interesting to see if he can balance the scales back in his favor by walking out with the title next weekend.
Jinder Mahal and Bobby Roode have never had Championship matches at WrestleMania, which gives Rusev and Orton something of an advantage heading into this match.
Rusev will also have Aiden English at ringside which could work in his favor since a fatal four-way match means that it's no disqualification.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
