WWE SmackDown Predictions: Mustafa Ali’s Big Win
By Brett Grega
Credit: WWE.com
2. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev Easily Defeat Gallows and Anderson
Daniel Bryan’s new PETA-approved title belt wasn’t the only championship change on SmackDown last week.
R-Truth’s United States Championship win, and subsequent successful defense against Rusev, was one segment I certainly couldn’t call boring or repetitive.
I could, however, call it what it was: a poor booking decision.
R-Truth is a great WWE superstar. He’s had some quality moments when given the chance to shine. This was not one of them.
Truth has been working a pure comedy gimmick for quite some time now. Despite his past career achievements, he was in no way positioned to beat Nakamura and Rusev, let alone both of them in the same night for the U.S. championship.
On top of that, Truth’s wins were used as the impetus for turning Rusev heel. A completely unnecessary change that stifled the solid face run Rusev could have been on given his immense fan support and surprisingly natural face character.
Regardless, what’s done is done now. Rusev and Nakamura now appear to be an official heel tag team, with their first test coming against Gallows and Anderson on this week’s SmackDown.
I expect, or perhaps simply hope, that Nakamura and Rusev can pick up a convincing win here. A win that helps to recuperate some of the momentum they lost last week by presenting them like a dominant team to be reckoned with.