Why Shinsuke Nakamura Should Beat Jeff Hardy for the US Title
By Jack Clayton
Ever since his heel turn at WrestleMania 34, Shinsuke Nakamura has been on a ball busting run on SmackDown Live.
Since then, he has had stellar matches with AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, including a phenomenal, pun intended, Last Man Standing match at Money in the Bank. Ultimately though, Shinsuke Nakamura came up short in each attempt, leaving him still without winning any championship gold on the WWE main roster.
But now, things might be looking up for the King of Strong Style, as he looks to be entering a feud with current United States Champion Jeff Hardy. On the go-home episode of SmackDown before Money in the Bank, the two had a match. It wasn’t for a title or anything, but rather just a match fans had yet to see in WWE.
Ultimately though, the match didn’t end in Hardy’s favor, as Nakamura hit him with a low blow. After that, nothing was thought of it as Nakamura had his match with Styles. But after he lost, it looks like Hardy isn’t done with Nakamura quite yet, as he made clear this week on SmackDown Live.
Nakamura of course had his own response to Hardy, and by the looks of it, this feud has only begun.
But does this mean that by the end of it, Nakamura could end up going home with Hardy’s US Championship? If WWE plays their cards right, then that’s exactly what should happen.
Counting his match at Money in the Bank, Nakamura has now had six WWE Championship matches since his main roster debut last year. In each of them, he came up short. Two of them were against Jinder Mahal, and the rest were against Styles.
What this most likely means is that WWE just isn’t ready to put their main title on him just yet. But that doesn’t mean he can’t win any other championship.
In fact, the United States Championship would actually probably be a better title for him to have first. Not only would he have some stellar matches with Hardy, who has been known to be a human highlight reel.
But when he wins that championship, it will finally mean something. He will have beaten a legend like Jeff Hardy.
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Granted, Hardy hasn’t done much with the United States Championship since winning it. He’s had a few solid matches with superstars like Jinder Mahal, Randy Orton and Shelton Benjamin, but that’s it. Really he hasn’t had a solid feud to solidify him as champion. But they could do that with him and Nakamura.
For the rest of the summer, he and Nakamura can put on stellar matches together on both SmackDown Live and maybe even Extreme Rules. This can really be the chance for them to show off their skills that many fans already know they have.
And at the end of it, Hardy would put over Nakamura, having him win his United States Championship. Again, this would be Nakamura’s first big title win on WWE’s main roster, so it would be a rather big deal.
So the best place for the feud to blow off would likely be SummerSlam. That way, Hardy gets some legitimate defenses in in the process, and Nakamura’s title win can be made a big deal.
It has been a while since a legitimate heel has been the United States Champion. And with the charisma that Nakamura has been able to unlock in turning heel, he would be the perfect person to do so.
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Nakamura becoming the next United States Champion just seems like the right thing for his career. Not only would a future Hall of Famer like Jeff Hardy be putting him over, but it would be Nakamura’s chance to establish his dominance in WWE.