page_title: Rusev (wrestler)
section_title: Undefeated streak and United States Champion (2014–2015)
hierarchical_section_title: Rusev (wrestler) / Professional wrestling career / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE / Undefeated streak and United States Champion (2014–2015)
caption_attribution_description: Lana and Alexander Rusev on Raw on April 7, 2014. Cropped from original.
context_page_description: Miroslav Barnyashev, is a Bulgarian-American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the professional wrestling promotion WWE under the ring name Rusev; he was the first Bulgarian wrestler to have worked for WWE.
  Barnyashev signed a contract with WWE in 2010 and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling and WWE NXT. Under the ring name of Alexander Rusev, he performed on NXT until 2014, when he and his manager Lana were called to the main roster. Over the following six years, he held the WWE United States Championship on three occasions.
  Barnyashev was released by WWE in April 2020, after which he began hosting a streaming channel on Twitch under the name of Miro. In July 2020, he announced his retirement from professional wrestling.
context_section_description: Rusev made his main roster debut at the Royal Rumble on January 26, 2014, where he was the sixth entrant in the Royal Rumble match, where he was eliminated by the joint effort of four other wrestlers. After months of self-promotional videos and speeches by Rusev and his manager Lana, Rusev's return match on the main roster came on the April 7 episode of Raw, where he squashed Zack Ryder. In May, Rusev adopted a Russophillic, anti-American gimmick that saw him announced as having relocated to Russia, and as having been named "Hero of the Russian Federation". This angle brought Barnyashev much legitimate heat in his native Bulgaria. In the same month, his ring name was shortened to simply Rusev. Over the next several months, Rusev feuded with Xavier Woods and R-Truth (whom Rusev defeated at Extreme Rules in a two-on-one handicap match) and Big E (whom he defeated at Payback and at Money in the Bank), Jack Swagger (whom he defeated at Battleground and again at SummerSlam), Mark Henry (whom he defeated at Night of Champions) and Big Show (whom he defeated at Hell in a Cell). Lana dedicated Rusev's string of victories to President of Russia Vladimir Putin, drawing attention from the mainstream press – including The Washington Post and The Daily Beast – and criticism after she was interpreted as having referred to the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 before Rusev's match at Battleground in an attempt to generate heat. On the October 6 episode of Raw, Rusev and Lana were confronted by The Rock in a surprise appearance, with The Rock driving Rusev from the ring after a verbal exchange.
  On November 3, Rusev gained his first professional wrestling championship and became the first Bulgarian-born champion in WWE history when he won the United States Championship from Sheamus in a post-Raw match that aired on the WWE Network and proceeded to defeat him in a rematch via count-out. At Survivor Series, Rusev competed in a 10-man Survivor Series match as part of Team Authority but he was eliminated from the match by countout. Rusev and Jack Swagger once again feuded in December, leading to Rusev successfully defending the United States Championship against Swagger at TLC. At the Royal Rumble, Rusev entered the Rumble match at number 15, eliminating six other contestants and placing second overall. At Fastlane, Rusev successfully defended the United States Championship in a bout with John Cena. Rusev lost the United States Championship to Cena in a rematch at WrestleMania 31 after a miscommunication with Lana, ending his reign at 146 days and marking his first pinfall loss on WWE's main roster.
caption: Rusev (right) celebrating a win with Lana in April 2014
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