Rusev Should Be Protected as a Potential Member of Team Authority

Re-published from Bleacher Report

As of this writing, only two heels have been announced as part of Team Authority for the Survivor Series showdown.

With Seth Rollins and Kane scheduled to compete for WWE's evil empire, Stephanie McMahon approached Rusev Monday on Raw with an offer to join Team Authority at Survivor Series.

Rusev's impressive record of never being pinned or submitted by anyone on the roster was brought to light, as his value continues to rise with one of WWE's top authority figures clamoring for his services.

Rusev and Lana have not yet accepted the offer, but they should basically be penciled in as part of the Survivor Series main event. Competing in any other match on the big-four pay-per-view, by comparison, will be a downgrade.

WWE has done an admirable job slowly building Rusev into a dominant monster. With help from condescending ambassador Lana, the connection Rusev has developed with fans combined with his near-flawless record couldn't be better executed.

But as a potential member of Team Authority, where Rusev isn't as much of a focal point of The Authority storyline as, say, Seth Rollins, it is likely Rusev will be eliminated during the elimination tag team main event.

In a perfect world for Rusev, not only would he find himself on the winning side of Team Authority vs. Team Cena, but he also would be one of the sole survivors. In the event he gets eliminated, however, it shouldn't be by pinfall or submission.

WWE has invested several months in Rusev's ascension up the roster. The investment has paid off so well, he has now begun to restore value to a United States Championship that was previously as close to defunct as a title can get without actually being retired.

Rusev is now a fixture on the WWE roster, especially with prevailing depth issues and a lack of established villains.

A loss during a group tag team match is an unceremonious stage to finally see Rusev defeated on. If, for some reason, there are no plans to make Rusev a sole survivor, his elimination should come via disqualification, or leaving on his own accord to fit his character's disdain for American institutions like Survivor Series.

It is very likely that Rusev could be one of 10 competitors in the biggest match of a storied pay-per-view. It is imperative that he is booked as a top-10 talent rather than just one out of of 10.