WWE SummerSlam 2019: 5 possible opponents for Aleister Black

Shinsuke Nakamura

On the go-home show before Extreme Rules, Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor after a great match. When he’s at his best, Nakamura is untouchable and is both a master story-teller and living legend of the squared circle. He’s also an elite-level submission wrestler and striker, which means he’d be a wonderful stylistic fit for Aleister Black inside the ring.

Nakamura is two-for-two when it comes to having title matches at SummerSlam. While his SummerSlam debut in 2017 was a forgettable loss to Jinder Mahal, he did retain the United States Championship against wrestling icon Jeff Hardy at last year’s iteration of “The Biggest Party of The Summer”.

He could very well take the IC Title off of Balor and set himself up for a third straight SummerSlam title match with a totally different title. And it would be an absolute treat to see Black step up to the plate and challenge Nakamura to a fight.

There are few wrestlers who can be just as haunting with their mind games as Black, but Nakamura is one of them. There may not be a better wrestler on the planet when it comes to psyching out opponents or building to a match psychologically than Nakamura, whose best work was overlooked by the “Why won’t he win????” crowd during his feud with AJ Styles in 2018.

Fans would be fine with either Nakmaura or Black winning, and most would assume that a wrestler as entrenched as Nakamura, who is a former Royal Rumble winner, would grab the victory. So they’d just sit back and watch a potential WWE SummerSlam 2019 masterpiece.