Credit: The Daily Beast

WWE has issued the following statement, commenting on the use of Vladimir Putin in their storylines with Lana and Rusev. They stated the following…

“WWE programming, like Hollywood movies and television shows, is an exciting blend of action, characters and fictional storylines of good versus evil that are often inspired by pop culture and current events. Russian President Vladimir Putin has given us good material to work with to create strong characters in Rusev and Lana, who are perceived as either protagonists or antagonists depending on where in the world you are watching WWE programming.”

I.E. "he's a stupid moron and it's funny using his face".

So it's the old Bret Hart "heel in U.S./face everywhere else" gimmick.

Rusev and Lana are babyfaces in the Kremlin and heels everywhere else.

Well considering just about everywhere else also hates Putin, it's more of a "Face in Russia, Heel everywhere else" thing

Could it possibly be because the fans aren't stupid enough to blindly hate someone because he's foreign? I mean... he hasn't really done anything heel-ish, has he? He's just kinda kicked ass and had his lady friend take names....

In Soviet Russia, Rusev crushes you.