WWE 5 Burning Questions: Will The Demon Slay The Beast?

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4. Did creative waste the heat Nakamura built up the past week?

A week ago, Shinsuke Nakamura showed the world why he should be despised as a heel. For once, he did something that would help him stand out from the rest of the heels on the roster.

Nakamura’s heel antics had been restricted to low blowing people and attacking them from behind until then. But last week was a revelation when he inadvertently injured Lana while attacking Rusev.

With no remorse for his actions, Nakamura continued his attack and took advantage of a concerned Rusev, hitting him with a Kinshasa. A couple of weeks ago, I had questioned the decision to have Nakamura continue to feud with Rusev, since there weren’t any automatic rematches anymore. But this segment added some personal heat to the rivalry and made it worth investing one’s time in it.

Yet, this week, there was no sign of Rusev, Lana, or Nakamura, despite crafting an engaging segment the week before. I will refer to it as wasted opportunity to build further tension and create more heat for Nakamura.

Bear in mind that this is the winner of the previous year’s Royal Rumble match that we are talking about. The astronomical amount by which he has cooled down ever since is baffling and is a clear indicator as to how bad creative has handled him.

It would have been great to have Nakamura do what Samoa Joe did this week to Mustafa Ali. It would have been even greater if Rusev came out to make the save, in typical babyface fashion, only to be laid out by Samoa Joe, who now has his eyes set on the United States Title. Like I said before, wasted opportunity.