3 Better SummerSlam Opponents for Shinsuke Nakamura

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2. John Cena

Another out of the blue choice, John Cena has been United States Champion before, and played the role perfectly. During his 2015 reign, John Cena took the title to new heights through the United States Championship Open Challenge segments. Sami Zayn and Neville had some of the most entertaining matches of their main roster careers against Cena, not to mention the fact that Cena helped Kevin Owens launch himself into the main event scene almost immediately.

Cena is mostly a part-time presence now, with his Hollywood career (finally) starting to take off. However, the amount of time he’s on WWE television doesn’t change the fact that Cena is a massive draw. He doesn’t need a story, a John Cena match in and of itself has become the story. Not to mention, Cena really can have instant classics when given the right wrestler to work with, like AJ Styles or CM Punk. Nakamura is above average at worst, and absolutely fantastic at his best, and he and Cena could have a hell of a match.

Maybe Cena’s time is up, and he doesn’t need a run with the title. However, Nakamura taking him down could be a great notch on the Japanese star’s belt, and help to legitimize the United States Championship in a major way. There have been more United States title reigns than any other championship in the company since the brand split, and Nakamura should be the one to finally stabilize the title. Put him with Cena at SummerSlam, instead of Jeff Hardy, and let them create magic together.