Whether she's been working as a valet or inside the ring, Lana has always had a predominant role within WWE from the moment she debuted, giving 110% into everything she does. Lana has been a top heel and a babyface, and the one thing she always does is connect with the crowd, guaranteeing a response.
While certain versions of her character have certainly fallen flat and not quite worked out in the manner in which both WWE and Lana herself had intended, others have been amazing characters. While she has a long way to go in her WWE career yet, she's already covered a lot of ground, with a wide variety of tweaks to her persona along the way.
10 Lana Vs. Tables
Without a doubt, the worst version of Lana so far is the most recent, with her feud against Nia Jax just not working. WWE is clearly wanting sympathy for Lana, but putting her through the announce table every single week is just making her look incredibly weak.
While pairing her up with Asuka might seem like a fun, odd-pairing, this isn't benefitting Lana either. Her big victories are never earned by her in-ring work, and always just come because of something other people do, which
9 Teaming With Natalya
Another recent version of Lana that fell quite flat was her tag team with Natalya. This is something that had potential, had it been booked right, but that wasn't the case. While their promos were solid and they worked in terms of being annoying heels, in the ring, the team struggled.
The partnership was also very short-lived, with Natalya deciding to turn on Lana after a couple of defeats. The whole situation was over as quickly as it began, and overall it just didn't really click, as the effort wasn't put in by WWE's creative team.
8 Lana & Dolph
WWE has put Lana through quite a few different romance angles in her time with the company, and the one with Dolph Ziggler was easily the worst. Lana was proving to be popular, so they turned her babyface, but instead of doing it with Rusev, they had her leave him and date Dolph.
It was ridiculous as everyone knew she was in a relationship with Rusev, and when Summer Rae was added into the mix, things didn't improve. Once Lana and Rusev's real-life engagement was announced, this storyline was quickly killed, which wasn't a bad thing.
7 Feud With Brie Bella
Lana's involvement with Team B.A.D. is something that's often forgotten about, mainly because it didn't work that well. But this was her first real run as an in-ring wrestler for WWE, alongside Tamina, Naomi, Summer Rae and Emma.
Lana brought Summer and Emma back to join forces with them as the group battled against Brie and her teammates, which compromised members of the Total Divas cast. It was an interesting storyline and gave Lana the chance to debut in the ring, but it wasn't quite the big breakout wrestling moment fans remember.
6 Social Ambassador (NXT)
The WWE Universe was first introduced to Lana in NXT, where she would work as Rusev's Social Ambassador. This was a very basic version of what both characters would go on to become, but it certainly worked for the NXT crowd.
Lana didn't have to do much, as she would scream "Crush" and push for Rusev to destroy his opponents. But it was a concept and a partnership that got attention on both of them, helping to take their careers to new heights.
5 Relationship With Bobby Lashley
Some people hated this storyline and character, while other people loved it. WWE putting Lana into a relationship with Bobby Lashley was certainly random, but it did pick up a huge reaction from the audiences, and initially, everyone was invested.
Sadly, it was clear WWE had no real long-term plan with this and it fizzled out, leading to them being split. However, in terms of sheer character work, Lana was absolutely at her best here.
4 Wedding Plans Ruined
Bobby Lashley isn't the only person that Lana has had an on-screen wedding with. During one storyline, she was also supposed to get married to Rusev, only his feud with Roman Reigns got in the way.
This saw a Bridezilla come out from within Lana, which was a really fun change in personality for her as a character. Lana became full of anger and frustration and it really worked well for her character.
3 Feuding With Naomi
This was only a very brief storyline, but it was one of the best for Lana in-terms of being an actual wrestler, not a manager. During Naomi's reign as SmackDown Women's Champion, Lana stepped up to the plate and became number one contender.
She actually had some fun matches with Naomi and was booked as a genuine threat, which was a massive improvement. It's the first time she'd been seen that way in her singles career, and it certainly worked with the fans.
2 Rusev Day
When WWE finally committed to giving Rusev a babyface turn, it worked wonders for everyone. Lana was a big part of this storyline, alongside Aiden English with the two of them both doing everything they could to aid Rusev, which was a fun storyline.
In the end, issues between them would boil over, and this was well booked until there was a true lack of payoff for anybody. However, the run that they had as top babyfaces was an excellent one that proved to be very popular.
1 Evil Russian (Main Roster Debut)
Without a doubt, the best version of Lana was her original main roster debut character. Working alongside Rusev, Lana was easily one of the best valet's in WWE history. She got a ridiculous amount of heat, and played a big impact in Rusev's matches, helping him be so dominant.
Because Rusev was being booked so strongly, Lana looked great as well. With the United States Championship, they were able to gain mega heat, to the point where Lana's promos could barely be heard through the booing, which was amazing.