WWE SmackDown Results, Highlights, Grades For June 5, 2018

Shinsuke Nakamura And AJ Styles Contract Signing

Paige is the middle of a table backstage, and Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles are there to sign the contract for the Last Man Standing match at Money in the Bank. Nakamura commented that his pen was “out of ink”, and he immediately threw it over his shoulder when Paige offered to take it. Then, Nakamura asked for Styles’s pen and broke it, dryly stating, “This pen is broken…”

Styles got up in frustration at Nakamura’s mindgames, and he yelled at Nakamura to get up like a man. Nakamura just sat there, doing absolutely nothing. So you know what Styles did? He hit him and started screaming.

Back before WrestleMania 34, Nakamura predicted that he’d win because Styles is too emotional. That isn’t what happened at all, but ahead of the WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank, that seems to be the case here. Styles let his emotions get the best of him in this segment, and he seems off his game. Nakamura’s mindgames are working beautifully.

Grade: B, initially, I was perplexed as to why Nakamura and Styles had the contract signing backstage, but by the end of the segment, it all made sense. This contract signing was low-key, but highly effective, with both men playing their roles absolutely perfectly.