WWE Creative Team Discussing Intriguing New Feud for Rusev [Report]

With one hard-hitting opponent now in his rearview mirror, Rusev may have some even tougher battles coming up in the near future.

The Bulgarian Brute just wrapped up a series of brutal match-ups against his longtime rival Sheamus, most recently beating The Celtic Warrior in a highly lauded Good Ol' Fashioned Donnybrook Match at Clash in Paris.

Rusev showed up to Raw this past Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his sights set on championship gold and ended up competing against Penta, who was seeking another shot at Dominik Mysterio.

The New Day and Grayson Waller got involved in the match and helped Rusev put another notch in the win column when he delivered a devastating looking Machka Kick.

The victory puts him a step closer to becoming the No. 1 Contender for the Men's Intercontinental Championship, but a soon-to-be returning Superstar may have something to say about that.

"There has been internal discussion about a possible TV program between Rusev and Ilja Dragunov in the near future," the folks over at BodySlam reported Wednesday. "While nothing is finalized, the idea has reportedly been floated as a way to reintroduce Dragunov to television."

Ilja Dragunov has missed nearly a year of action

The former NXT Champion suffered a torn ACL during a live event show match with Gunther last September. Recent reports suggested that Dragunov was either close to returning or had already been cleared, and was simply awaiting creative direction.

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"The injury initially carried a six-to-nine month recovery estimate, but his rehab took longer than expected, extending his time away from WWE programming," BodySlam said in the report Wednesday. "During his absence, Dragunov has been training at the WWE Performance Center and was recently spotted working without knee support — a positive sign that his return is imminent.

If Rusev is indeed entering the Intercontinental Championship picture, than a feud with The Mad Dragon would make sense. Before suffering his knee injury, Ilja Dragunov had been embroiled in a series of impressive matches with the likes of Bron Breakker, Sami Zayn and Ricochet, all in an effort to capture WWE's workhorse title.

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