On the April 25, 2025 episode of Monday Night Raw, Rusev returned to WWE after five years away. He went into the ring and started viciously beating up the Alpha Academy. For the next couple of weeks, he targeted them, aiming to improve their wrestling skills.<\/p>\n
Otis and Akira Tozawa tried their hardest to beat him, but they couldn\u2019t. After the matches were over, he kept beating up the two men. But on May 26, 2025, an episode of Monday Night Raw, someone finally had enough of his treatment towards them.<\/p>\n
Sheamus came out and stared him down<\/a>, presenting a possible first feud since his return. Last Monday, he challenged Rusev<\/a> to a match. There\u2019s no doubt that he\u2019ll accept the challenge. However, the history between the two men makes this a brilliant first feud since Rusev’s return to WWE.<\/p>\n When Sheamus walked out of the locker room in support of Akira Tozawa, he didn\u2019t just do it because he wanted to see the Alpha Academy not get hurt. He did it because he saw a former stablemate brutalising other wrestlers.<\/p>\n If you see a friend doing someone wrong, the best thing to do is to confront them in order to make them stop. The Alpha Academy did nothing to Rusev. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He feels he can fix them, but he never asked them how they felt about their treatment.<\/p>\n Sheamus and Rusev were former members of the League of Nations alongside Alberto Del Rio and King Barrett. Rusev also won his first United States Championship from Sheamus. The two men have history in the ring, so another matchup between them is the logical thing to do.<\/p>\n In the age of social media, things aren\u2019t heavily guarded anymore. Many wrestlers do interviews with various podcasters and wrestlers. They also post many things online, including pictures with wrestlers they\u2019ve shared the ring with.<\/p>\n With that in mind, it is clear that Rusev and Sheamus are genuine friends outside of the ring. Rusev was a groomsman<\/a> at Sheamus\u2019 wedding, with tons of pictures posted with them and many other wrestlers. That was even mentioned during Sheamus\u2019 promo on Monday.<\/p>\n Mentioning that shows how close their bond is in real life. There was also a picture<\/a> posted on Instagram shortly after Rusev\u2019s release from AEW with them smiling and holding beers in their hands. Fans were delighted that they were still in touch with each other. These two know everything about each other, so a feud between them will definitely bring out the best versions of themselves in the ring.<\/p>\n Many wrestlers have a history with each other in the ring. Whether they\u2019re bitter rivals, stablemates, or a mixture of both, a lot of wrestlers are tied to each other. A lot of times, that\u2019s where the relationship ends. They are business partners, then live their separate lives. That\u2019s a perfectly fine thing to do, but some wrestlers actually keep up with each other outside of work.<\/p>\n A great example is Rusev and Sheamus. To be a groomsman at someone\u2019s wedding, you have to either be family or know someone for a very long time. Rusev holding that honor shows that he has immense value to Sheamus. That\u2019s why this feud is the first one back for Rusev.<\/p>\n Wrestling someone very close to you is an honor. Rusev and Sheamus know this will be a great feud for the fans and themselves.<\/p>\n More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a> for more on Sheamus, Rusev, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the April 25, 2025 episode of Monday Night Raw, Rusev returned to WWE after five years away. He went into the ring and started viciously beating up the Alpha Academy. For the next couple of weeks, he targeted them, aiming to improve their wrestling skills. Otis and Akira Tozawa tried their hardest to beat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5338,"featured_media":136250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,25,4,3],"tags":[202,399],"class_list":["post-136215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-raw","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-rusev","tag-sheamus"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5338"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136251,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136215\/revisions\/136251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rusev and Sheamus Have History Inside the Ring<\/strong><\/h1>\n
The Two Men Have a Real-Life Friendship<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A Feud Between Friends is the Right Thing to Do<\/strong><\/h2>\n