WWE SmackDown Grades: Joe Renews Rivalry With The Phenomenal One

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2. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. R-Truth

He went from number one contender and apparent next WWE Champion to underutilized United States Champion.  But that is where things stand for Shinsuke Nakamura over the past few months where he has had little to no direction to be found.

Nakamura has somehow been the U.S. Champion since Extreme Rules, but it’s easy to forget he even has the title with how little he has been on TV over the past several weeks.  Last night gave The King Of Strong Style a chance for competition when R-Truth stepped up to the plate to face the U.S. Champion.

This match happened a few weeks earlier on SmackDown, but seeing it again could have served as a chance for Truth to get a U.S. Championship shot with a win.  It started out well for Truth and he went toe-to-toe with Nakamura throughout the majority of the match.  However, that wouldn’t last and The King Of Strong Style turned the tide.

After a Kinshasa, Nakamura got the win over Truth yet again and he’s seemingly back to having no direction as U.S. Champion.  That has to change because it wasn’t long ago that both Nakamura and the U.S. Championship were major factors on the blue brand.  Now, they both feel irrelevant and that is completely unacceptable.

In terms of just Nakamura vs. Truth itself, it was a solid match that wound up feeling a bit random.

Final Grade: B