What’s the story?
Rusev has been hitting the ring on Monday Night RAW lately wearing a rather distracting face guard. Rumour has it that the Bulgarian Brute is rocking the plastic face protector because he is attempting to protect his broken nose.
The report surfaced from longtime respected pro wrestling insider Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
In case you didn’t know...
Cody Rhodes who is no longer part of the promotion also wore a similar face guard, but his reasons for wearing it were very different. Rhodes wore the face guard as part of his gimmick.
The heart of the matter:
Rusev recently revealed on an appearance during the Talk is Jericho podcast that he broke his nose in a 4-man tag team match on RAW a few weeks ago.
The WWE is making him wear the mask in an attempt to prevent the injury from occurring again or worsening. If the nose were to suffer yet another injury on-screen, it would most likely bleed, something the WWE no longer allows.
What’s next?
Rusev will most likely be wearing the mask for a long time until his nose is 100 percent healed so the chances of him bleeding are significantly decreased.
Sportskeeda’s Take:
I’m all for the safety of the wrestlers inside the ring and believe they should wear as much protection as possible when competing inside the ring. The banning of blood, however, is a bit ridiculous as you can’t really control when someone busts open during a match on TV.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
