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Shinsuke Nakamura has become one of the most entertaining acts on SmackDown. WWE should reward him with the United States Championship.
A couple of months ago, I wrote a piece outlining the reasons why Shinsuke Nakamura should’ve unseated A.J. Styles as WWE Champion. At the time, I thought Nakamura regained enough momentum following his heel turn at WrestleMania 34 and claiming the company’s most prestigious prize seemed like the best way to keep the former puroresu star to stay hot. Well, that didn’t happen.
WWE decided to keep the belt on “The Phenomenal One”, supposedly because Styles is set to grace the cover of WWE 2k19 this fall. Fortuitous marketing aside, the feud left “The King of Strong Style” looking a bit weak.
After coming up short against Styles, Nakamura has now turned his attention to Jeff Hardy and the United States Championship. There hasn’t been much interaction between these two — thanks in part to Nakamura getting bitten by a police dog — but they’ve done enough to warrant a U.S. Title match at Extreme Rules this Sunday, a match Nakamura needs to win.
The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion has been one of the most entertaining wrestlers on the WWE roster over the last several months. The company should recognize Nakamura’s efforts with a strong U.S. Title reign, and that starts with a win over Hardy this Sunday. If that doesn’t convince you, maybe these three reasons will.
3. He would give babyfaces someone to chase
With Syles entrenched as the WWE Champion for the foreseeable future, it makes sense to position an antagonist as a reliable secondary champion to balance things out. There are plenty of strong candidates on the SmackDown roster, but I think Nakamura can fill that role the best.
The SmackDown locker room contains a bevy of strong babyfaces: Hardy, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton (when he returns) and all three members of The New Day. While each of those men could serve as worthy challengers to Styles down the line, they would also be perfect foils for Nakamura should he win the U.S. Title.
As a heel, Nakamura does an excellent job of balancing the playfulness of his promos with his viciousness in the ring. While many fans find his antics entertaining, SmackDown’s strong stable of babyfaces should keep many of the fans invested in their chase instead of ironically cheering for the heel that makes them laugh.
Despite Vince McMahon’s apparent disinterest in the “simplistic”, as he once put it, heel vs. babyface narrative, he still very much prefers that storytelling structure (his dogged determination to get Roman Reigns cheered more than proves that). With Nakamura holding the U.S. Title, he can those traditional “face chases the heel” stories that have historically worked so well in wrestling.
2. He’ll help maintain the U.S. Title’s credibility
As I have stated many times before, I believe that championships should be held in the highest regard within the narrative of the show. Championships are tools that can help elevate the stature of a wrestler if the promoters and bookers use the belt correctly. Unfortunately, WWE falls short of this standard far too often, especially with their midcard titles.
Essentially since the Attitude Era, WWE has treated their midcard titles as meaningless fodder, often giving the gold to random wrestlers and having them lose countess non-title matches. I’m sure McMahon and the writers thought that a wrestler simply carrying the belt around meant that they were immune to the effects of losses, but if a champion loses match after match, it not only damages the wrestler, it hurts the title too.
Recently, WWE has righted the ship in that regard. Seth Rollins had a great run with the Intercontinental Championship this summer that has elevated him and the belt. The U.S. title’s credibility has trended upward as well, with former WWE Champions Orton, Hardy and Jinder Mahal each holding the prize at some point this year. Nakamura as champion would help maintain the title’s momentum. A strong run with the belt would boost Nakamura, the title, and whoever ultimately takes the strap from him.
1. Nakamura needs this
I must admit, I was worried about Nakamura after Money in the Bank. He was coming off of yet another main roster championship defeat and I was concerned that he was going to enter Dolph Ziggler/Bray Wyatt territory. By that, I mean that I thought that Nakamura would receive the unfortunate “choker label”. His interview with Renee Young the following Tuesday on SmackDown Live temporarily assuaged my anxieties.
(By the way, I can’t heap enough praise on Young as a backstage interviewer. She has helped enhance Nakamura’s character with her reactions and facial expressions to his answers. She understands that the little things can mean so much. Unlike the other main roster interviewers, aside from Charly Caruso, she comes across like an actual person. She’s great.)
Nakamura has recovered well from his losses to Styles thanks to his strong character work. However, if he fails to capture the U.S. Title on Sunday, it won’t matter how entertaining he is.
WWE created this problem when tey brought Nakamura up to SmackDown last year. They put him in unspectacular feuds with Ziggler and Baron Corbin before attempting to use his cache to get Mahal over as a main eventer (spoiler: it didn’t work). After watering him down for months, the heel turn finally got Nakamura on track. If he loses to Hardy, all that momentum goes away and fas will view him as a flake that can’t win when it counts (like Ziggler and Wyatt).
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Simply put, Hardy can survive a loss. Nakamura can’t. He needs this title to remain viable on SmackDown.