WWE SmackDown Grades: The Man Earns A Match With The Empress At The Rumble

Photo by WWE’s Twitter

3. Rusev And Shinsuke Nakamura Segment

The United States Championship picture has been pretty non-existent over the past few months with Shinsuke Nakamura as champion, but rarely ever getting on TV.  The title got a needed change a couple of weeks ago when Rusev dethroned Nakamura for the U.S. Championship to head into the new year with the gold.

The Bulgarian Brute celebrated his win last week alongside his wife Lana, but The King Of Strong Style intervened and tried to sneak attack Rusev.  However, Lana jumped on Nakamura’s back to try and help Rusev out, which led to Rusev kicking Nakamura who promptly landed on Lana.  Rusev addressed the situation last night not as The Bulgarian Brute, but as a husband.

Rusev said it was Nakamura’s fault that his wife got hurt and he called him out.  But instead of Nakamura coming out, he was shown in the production truck where he played the film from last week to prove it wasn’t his fault Lana got hurt.  His snarkiness just enraged Rusev even more and he went backstage to try and find Nakamura.

As Rusev was looking for Nakamura, The King Of Strong Style executed a sneak attack to perfection, which was capped off with a kinshasa.  This was a solid segment that helped Rusev look like a better babyface and Nakamura look like a better heel.  This angle could go somewhere and last night was a big step in accomplishing that.

The U.S. Championship picture has been stagnant for months, but it finally looks like there will be some type of focus on it again.

Final Grade: B+