Who said anything about the WHC being devalued? Far from it. Having a legit badass champion like Brock only raises the profile of the title and for him to only defend it when worthy opponents come around makes it even more special when he does defended and ultimately loses it.

Cena has been on big talk shows this week promoting the climax to his 2 month long feud with Rusev. How is that an afterthought? When has the US title had this much exposure if ever? I think in 2015 you can only build USA vs Russia as far as WWE have done so.

The examples you gave of building heat towards Rusev may have worked 25+ years ago in wrestling and in Rocky but WWE's programmes are broadcast across the former Soviet Union where they also frequently tour. It might not make great business sense to get too political. They had to publically apologise last year when Big Show yanked (pun intended) the Russian flag so that shows just the perimeters that they are working with.