WWE SummerSlam 2019: Ali could be walking out with championship gold

Shinsuke Nakamura picked up the Intercontinental Championship on the Extreme Rules pre-show, and he may have a tailor-made opponent at WWE SummerSlam 2019 in Ali.

Shortly after Bayley picked Ember Moon as her opponent at WWE SummerSlam 2019 for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, the WWE cameras picked up a backstage interaction between Ali and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Ali, ever the gentleman, congratulated Nakamura on winning the Intercontinental Championship two days ago and introduced himself. The implication? He wants a shot at the championship as soon as possible. Nakamura, of course, immediately picked up on this and grinned, hinting that he deems Ali worthy of his challenger.

There’s no doubt that a match between Ali and Nakamura would be a barn burner and it could be exactly the story that SummerSlam needs with SmackDown’s mid-card title match. It looks like Ricochet and AJ Styles could have another high energy United States Title match on Pay-Per-View at SummerSlam while Nakamura vs. Ali could be a more methodical, emotional match with an equally frenetic finish.

Nakamura and Ali seem like perfect opponents for each other on paper, and there’s a real chance Ali wins this match. He’s never held a title in WWE despite being a huge star for 205 Live and he was in the WWE Championship picture earlier this year.

Of course, Ali could still be in the WWE Title picture in the second half of 2019. The Kofi Kingston and Ali story could have a conclusion that leads to Ali winning the title from the man who seized an opportunity resulting from his injury. And that WWE Title match between Kingston and Ali could even occur at SummerSlam.

For now, however, it looks like Ali’s opponent will be Nakamura. In all honesty, that could be an even better fit, since WWE may not have enough time to fully build to Ali vs. Kingston, which would need all the time and care in the world to fulfill its sky-high potential. It also seems like Kingston could face an old rival in Randy Orton at The Biggest Party of the Summer.

So Nakamura vs. Ali looks like the most likely match for “The Light”, who seems like an ideal Intercontinental Champion. He is a workhorse who can wrestle any style, which means he can have a great match with literally anybody. Ali could have Open Challenges that match John Cena’s in frequency and quality, with an IC Title reign that surpasses even Seth Rollins’s memorable runs in 2018.

Ali has a great chance of leaving SummerSlam as either the IC Champion or even the WWE Champion. There are no guarantees, especially since Nakamura would be just one month into his reign and is a big name in need of a good title run. But Ali has so much potential and fan support that if the right storm occurs, he could be heading into FOX as a key face of SmackDown Live.

The more that I think about it, the more I’d love to see a trio of Bayley, Kofi, and Ali holding the SmackDown titles in October. It’s hard to think of three better wrestlers to represent the positive qualities of WWE’s fan-proclaimed “A” show than them.