Rusev Says WWE Planned His WrestleMania 31 Match With John Cena One Year In Advance

Rusev has revealed more on his WrestleMania 31 match.

Following his main roster debut at the 2014 Royal Rumble, Rusev went on a tear on Monday Night RAW which saw him pick up the United States Championship less than a year after leaving NXT. The star would dominate names including former world champion Jack Swagger on his way to the title, holding it until his eventual loss to John Cena at WrestleMania 31. Now, ‘The Bulgarian Brute’ has revealed how his first year on the main roster was meticulously planned out.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Rusev revealed that WWE mapped out his journey from main roster debut to WrestleMania 31 a year in advance, mentioning his feud with Jack Swagger as part of the plan.

“I made my debut on RAW. We just started building from there because they had a plan. A year plan in advance. They’re going to have Rusev vs. Cena, WrestleMania next year. We just followed that plan and we went through this guy, this guy, this guy. Even the Jack Swagger stuff was so great with SummerSlam, with We The People vs. the Vladimir Putin Mother Russia representatives. Everything was just playing a role until we get to that moment with Cena.”

-Rusev

After his 146-day reign as United States Champion ended at the hands of Cena, Rusev would go on to hold the title a further two times during his first run with WWE, However, he never quite recaptured the same momentum as a top heel that he had in 2015, leaving the company in 2020 and spending five years away before returning last April.

Elsewhere in the interview, Rusev revealed why he chose to return to WWE in 2025. You can read more about that here.

Also, on the subject of Rusev’s pro-Russia character he had during the early days of his main roster run, his wife Lana revealed that WWE wanted Vladimir Putin to come to a show. You can read more about that here.