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Tag: Shinsuke Nakamura

  • Nakamura Appears On Crutches, Gets Choked Out At #WWETokyo

    Nakamura Appears On Crutches, Gets Choked Out At #WWETokyo

    Shinsuke Nakamura is not competing at WWE’s live events from Japan this week, but he did get physical

    At Friday’s WWE live event from Tokyo, Japan at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, Nakamura had a confrontation with Samoa Joe that did not exactly go his way.

    Nakamura had been scheduled to challenge WWE Champion AJ Styles at the event, but is currently out of action due to injury. Nakamura came out on crutches to cut a promo for the Japanese crowd, which brought out Samoa Joe. After some trash talking back and forth, Nakamura attempted to hit Joe with a low blow, but wound up in a Coquina Clutch.

    AJ Styles ran out to make the save, setting up the Styles vs. Samoa Joe main event for later in the show.

    As noted earlier this week, Nakamura’s leg was bit by a police dog backstage at Monday’s SmackDown live event from Bakersfield, CA. It’s unclear at this time how long he’ll be out of action for.

    WWE Live Event Results from Tokyo, Japan (6/30)

    – The New Day defeated The Bar

    – Hideo Itami defeated Shelton Benjamin.

    – Tye Dillinger defeated Shelton Benjamin. Tye answered the open challenge by Benjamin.

    – SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella retained over Becky Lynch

    – Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Sin Cara

    – Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz

    – Asuka and Naomi defeated Lana and Billie Kay with Peyton Royce

    – SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers retained over The Usos, Rusev & Aiden English and Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows

    – WWE Champion AJ Styles retained over Samoa Joe

    What are your thoughts on Nakamura’s injury? Sound off in the comment section.

  • Police Issue Statement On Bomb-Sniffing Dog That Bit Shinsuke Nakamura

    Police Issue Statement On Bomb-Sniffing Dog That Bit Shinsuke Nakamura

    Since being called up to the main roster, Shinsuke Nakamura has had 6 televised WWE Championship matches. He’s failed to win the title in all 6. He was scheduled to have his first match for the WWE United States championship this Tuesday. Unforeseen events prevented this from happening, however.

    On Tuesday, it was reported Nakamura had sustained an injury on the previous day’s house show. He would not be able to face Jeff Hardy on Smackdown. Instead, Sanity’s Eric Young took his place.

    It was later revealed that Nakamura had been bitten by a police dog on Tuesday, causing him to be taken to a local medical facility for treatment.

    Police Statement On Dog Biting Nakamura

    “On Monday, June 25, 2018, officers of the Bakersfield Police Department Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Team were conducting a protective sweep of the Rabobank Arena in preparation for the WWE Live Summerslam Heatwave Tour.

    During the sweep, the EOD Team, which consisted of an explosive detection trained canine team and bomb technicians entered an area of the arena where an employee of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was present. The canine entered the room to sweep for the presence of any explosive material. As the sweep took place the WWE employee was accidentally bit by the canine. The employee sustained an injury to his lower left leg. Medical aid was immediately summoned to the scene and the employee was transported to a local area hospital for medical treatment.”

    Nakamura’s 2018

    There is no update on Nakamura’s condition. WWE is likely hoping he will be in good shape to compete on WWE’s shows in Japan this weekend. Nakamura is expected to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE championship on the tour. He has played a primary role in the company’s advertising of the shows as well.

    It’s been a difficult 2018 for Nakamura so far. After starting the year hot by winning the 2018 men’s Royal Rumble, he then followed that up by failing to win the WWE championship from AJ Styles in 4 attempts.

  • Details On Shinsuke Nakamura’s Injury

    Details On Shinsuke Nakamura’s Injury

    More details have surfaced regarding the injury that Shinsuke Nakamura sustained.

    As we noted earlier on the site, Nakamura was set to challenge Jeff Hardy for the United States Title in Ontario, CA at the Citizens Business Bank Arena for this week’s episode of SmackDown Live. However, Nakamura was pulled after WWE had announced that he suffered an injury on Monday.

    In an update, both Pwinsider.com and Dave Meltzer have been able to confirm that Nakamura was pulled from the show after an incident where he was bitten by a dog. Thus, WWE would not clear him to perform in the ring.

    So here’s the situation. Before Monday’s live event Bakersfield, CA, local police brought in a dog to sniff around the building as part of a security check. As the dog passed by Nakamura, the dog sniffed Nakamura and then proceeded to bite Nakamura on the leg.

    The sports entertainment company has yet to clear him for in-ring action but Nakamura was backstage at Tuesday’s SmackDown TV event. It was noted that his leg is still very sore from the incident.

    What are your thoughts on this odd story? Sound off in the comment section.

  • Shinsuke Nakamura Injured, Pulled From Title Match On SmackDown Live

    Shinsuke Nakamura Injured, Pulled From Title Match On SmackDown Live

    An injury has caused a change to a title match involving Shinsuke Nakamura on tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live.

    Originally, the sports entertainment company announced that Nakamura would challenge Jeff Hardy for the United States Title. However, that has changed as WWE announced through social media on Tuesday afternoon that Nakamura suffered an injury at Monday’s WWE live event and is not medically cleared to compete on tonight’s show.

    As of this writing, there’s no word yet on exactly the injury Nakamura sustained or how long he’ll be out of action for. Thus, Hardy will now issue an open challenge for his title on SmackDown Live.

    WWE is in Ontario, CA at the Citizens Business Bank Arena for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. WWE has already announced two matches for the show – Rusev vs. Xavier Woods and Peyton Royce vs. Becky Lynch. Also, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan will appear on Miz TV.

  • Shinsuke Nakamura Reveals What WWE Superstars Think Of Roman Reigns

    Shinsuke Nakamura Reveals What WWE Superstars Think Of Roman Reigns

    Shinsuke Nakamura has given some insight into how Roman Reigns is received by other superstars in the WWE.

    The SmackDown Live star was interviewed by Lillian Garcia at the Ace Comic Con. In this interview, he was asked about who he would like to wrestle to which Nakamura stated that he wanted to have a one-on-one match with Reigns.

    “I really want to face Roman Reigns again,” said Nakamura. “So, we wrestled at the Royal Rumble, just like a short moment.”

    Although Reigns and Nakamura have yet to have a feud on WWE television, they did compete against each other at this year’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view event as the 50-Man Royal Rumble match came down to Nakamura and Reigns, which saw Nakamura win the match.

    Nakamura went on record by stating that although the fans may boo Reigns, all of the superstars is well liked and respect his in-ring work as a wrestler.

    “Everybody want to boo him, but every wrestler says that Roman is a good wrestler,” said Nakamura. “I want to feel it,” and would like to start a program with The Big Dog.

    H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes.

    What are your thoughts on Nakamura’s comments? Sound off in the comment section.

  • Shinsuke Nakamura Reveals Why He Left NJPW To Sign With WWE

    Shinsuke Nakamura Reveals Why He Left NJPW To Sign With WWE

    Shinsuke Nakamura is considered a legend in Japan and a lot of people were surprised when he decided to leave NJPW to join the WWE’s development territory, NXT.

    Nakamura was recently interviewed by former WWE announcer Lillian Garcia at the Ace Comic-Con where among other things he also revealed why he left New Japan Pro Wrestling for his current employers.

    According to Shinsuke, it was 2015 and he felt like he had accomplished everything in Japan. He then got a call from a WWE friend when he was trying to figure out what he should do next and that’s when the former NXT Star decided to sign with the company:

    “In Japan, I thought I accomplished everything, So, I tried other things. So, then in 2015, [I thought], what should I do next? At the time, my friend, who works in WWE, called me. Probably it’s time to challenge next. Then I [decided to join WWE].”

    Continuing on the topic, the Japanese Star also talked about how he couldn’t follow WWE when he was a kid because he didn’t have money to go to the video shop.

    Shinsuke Nakamura signed an exclusive contract with WWE in January 2016 and as a result, he was stripped of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

    WWE then announced his debut for the Takeover: Dallas event in April the same year where Nakamura defeated Sami Zayn. You can check out his full interview in the video below:

    Quotes via WrestlingInc

  • Championship Match Announced For SmackDown Live

    Championship Match Announced For SmackDown Live

    The latest episode of Raw saw a surprising title change when Dolph Ziggler answered Seth Rollins’ open challenge and defeated the Architect to win the Intercontinental Championship.

    Now the company has announced another Championship match for this week where we could possibly see another title switch, though this time on SmackDown Live.

    General Manager Paige recently made a tweet, saying that it’s her responsibility to make the matches that we want to see, and announced a US title match between Jeff Hardy and Shinsuke Nakamura:

    “As General Manager of #SDLive, it’s my responsibility to make matches that you want to SEE … so, I’m making it official. Jeff Hardy will defend the US Title against Shinsuke Nakamura THIS Tuesday,”

    Jeff Hardy did not defend his Championship at the Money In The Bank PPV and the Charismatic Enigma has not been involved in any long-term feud since his move to SmackDown Live.

    On the other hand, Shinsuke Nakamura lost the final bout of his rivalry against AJ Styles at the PPV and he now looks to be moving away from the WWE title picture.

    The two started a rivalry when Shinsuke attacked the champion 2 weeks ago and both the stars then cut a promo on each other during last week’s episode of SmackDown Live.

    While not confirmed, Nakamura looks to be a worthy opponent to defeat Hardy for the title and he could certainly use the championship now after losing the feud against Styles.

    So it shouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up taking the title away from Jeff during his rivalry and it could be as soon as this Tuesday night during the announced bout.

  • Jeff Hardy Fights Weird With Weird In New Battle With Nakamura

    Jeff Hardy Fights Weird With Weird In New Battle With Nakamura

    Having put some of his personal troubles (including a recent DWI arrest) behind him, WWE United States Champion Champion Jeff Hardy returned to Smackdown Live on Tuesday night and vowed revenge against Shinske Nakamura.

    On the june 12th edition of SmackDown Live, US Champion Hardy won a match against Nakamura via DQ. Hoping to send a message to his Money In The Bank opponent AJ Styles, Nakamura was disqualified when he hit Hardy with a low blow. He then followed it up with a Kinshasa that left Hardy out cold in the middle of the ring.

    Taking a cue from his big brother Matt, Jeff Hardy channeled the stranger aspects of his persona and donned the face paint that was popularized during his run in Impact Wrestling. It remains to be seen if Hardy will go full bore with the weirdness and revive other aspects of his Willow persona, but it’s something new for the WWE veteran.

    During Smackdown Live, Nakamura responded to the New-Look Hardy’s promo, warning The US Champion not to cross him again.

    Nakamura has been Smackdown Live’s #1 heel, and a newly painted Hardy against the artistic and bizarre Nakamura could easily become the main feud on WWE’s blue brand.

  • Jeff Hardy & Nakamura Exchange Words, Kickoff Show Panel For NXT Takeover: Chicago II

    Jeff Hardy & Nakamura Exchange Words, Kickoff Show Panel For NXT Takeover: Chicago II

    Twitter Exchange

    WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy and Shinsuke Nakamura recently had an exchange of words on social media. It all started once Nakamura posted a photo of himself with Hardy at a WWE event.

    This led to Hardy responding to the tweet by bringing up Nakamura’s next big match, which him challenging WWE Champion AJ Styles for the title in a Last Man Standing Match at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena, which will air on the WWE Network.

    NXT TakeOver: Chicago II Panel

    WWE has officially announced the NXT TakeOver: Chicago II panel, which starts at 7:30 ET/4:30 PT before the event that airs just 30-minutes later on the WWE Network on Saturday, June 16, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena.

    Charly Caruso, Sam Roberts, and returning analyst Pat McAfee will be working the show. Here is the updated card for this event:

    – NXT Title Match: Aleister Black © vs. Lars Sullivan

    – NXT Women’s Title Match: Shayna Baszler © vs. Nikki Cross

    – NXT Tag Team Title Match: Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly © vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch

    – Street Fight: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano

    – Singles Match: Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream

    What are your thoughts on WWE potentially booking a feud between Hardy and Nakamura down the line? Sound off in the comment section below.

  • Shinsuke Nakamura Brilliantly Trolls Fan With Autograph

    Shinsuke Nakamura Brilliantly Trolls Fan With Autograph

    Shinsuke Nakamura is having fun with being a heel in the WWE.

    WWE Champion AJ Styles and Nakamura have wrestled each other four times over the last month. Styles successfully retained the title against Nakamura at WrestleMania 34, they went to a double count-out at both the Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash events. Nakamura did beat Styles in a non-title match on a recent episode of SmackDown Live.

    The sports entertainment company has booked them in yet another match. Nakamura will challenge Styles for the WWE Title in a Last Man Standing match at the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV.

    One wrestling fan (@aj_autograph) posted on Twitter earlier this week that he met Nakamura at a signing event. He also shared photos of his WWE Pop! Vinyl figure signed by the lead heel on the blue brand. The funny part is the fact that Nakamura scribbled the words “no speak English”, before signing the side.

    What are your thoughts on Nakamura’s heel run thus far? Sound off in the comment section below.

  • Rumored Finish For Styles v Nakamura at MITB

    Rumored Finish For Styles v Nakamura at MITB

    ‘The King of Strong Style’ has been indeed very strong with his style of wrestling as of late, with AJ Styles receiving devastating low blows from him over the last two months. Even Styles had to retaliate back with the illegal attack to give Nakamura a taste of his own medicine.

    Their most recent title bout at WWE Backlash in a no-disqualification match saw Nakamura delivering a low blow on Styles, only for Styles to return the favor. The match ended with both of them simultaneously hitting each other with a groin attack, only to be unable to answer the referee’s count of ten.

    The WWE Universe is wondering what is in store in the Last Man Standing Match that’s going to take place at Money in the Bank. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the rumored ending of the match is going to take almost the same path with both Styles and Nakamura hitting each other with a low blow, but with a twist of Styles wearing a protective cup and getting a win.

    AJ Styles is set to defend his WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing Match at Money in the Bank on June 17th.

  • Stipulation Added To WWE Title Match At Money In The Bank, Updated Card

    Stipulation Added To WWE Title Match At Money In The Bank, Updated Card

    We now know the stipulation for the WWE Title Match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura at Money in the Bank.

    As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Worcester, MA at the DCU Center on the USA Network, Nakamura and Styles did an in-ring segment that led to Nakamura attacking the WWE Champion.

    The challenger would later reveal that their match at the upcoming PPV event will be a Last Man Standing Match.

    The Money in the Bank pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. Both Raw and SmackDown brands will be featured. Here is the updated card:

    – Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Rusev vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Roode

    – Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Ember Moon vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Lana

    – WWE Title Last Man Standing Match: AJ Styles © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    – WWE Raw Women’s Title Match: Nia Jax © vs. Ronda Rousey

    – WWE SmackDown Women’s Title Match: Carmella © vs. Asuka

    – Singles Match: Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal

    What are your thoughts on this stipulation? Sound off in the comment section below.

     

  • Shinsuke Nakamura Posts Cryptic Tweet, Unseen Angles Of Owens Vs Rollins

    Shinsuke Nakamura Posts Cryptic Tweet, Unseen Angles Of Owens Vs Rollins

    Shinsuke Nakamura Posts Cryptic Tweet

    Shinsuke Nakamura won a match against AJ Styles on SmackDown Live this week. After this, he has earned the right to choose the stipulation for their upcoming match at Money In The Bank.

    While so far, it’s not known when the Japanese Star will reveal the stipulation for the Championship match, he posted the following cryptic tweet with the hashtag – Stipulation:

    As we noted before, reports suggested that the Officials are considering doing a Last Man Standing match between the SmackDown Stars a few weeks ago but whether or not the company has made a definite decision is not known yet.

    Unseen Angle Of Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens

    Seth Rollins continued his Intercontinental Championship open challenge on last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw and defeated Kevin Owens in a one on one match.

    After the show, WWE posted the following video, showing the alternate angle of their championship bout from the Red Branded Show:

    It’s worth mentioning here that after facing Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens went on to replace Jinder Mahal in the announced triple threat main event of the show and earned a spot for himself in the Money In The Bank match.

    Not only that, but he wrestled a third match on the same night while teaming up with Sami Zayn and Elias to face the trio of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Bobby Lashley after the show went off air

  • Road Dogg Reacts To Negative Feedback From Fans About Styles vs. Nakamura Feud

    Road Dogg Reacts To Negative Feedback From Fans About Styles vs. Nakamura Feud

    WWE fans has voiced their opinion about how WWE has been booking the feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

    Styles and Nakamura have wrestled each other four times over the last month. Styles successfully retained the title against Nakamura at WrestleMania 34, they went to a double count-out at both the Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash events.

    Then, Nakamura beat Styles in a non-title match on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in London, England at the O2 Arena on the USA Network. As a result of this big win, Nakamura will now choose the stipulation for their upcoming WWE Title match at the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV.

    Although the matches have been good, there have been a lot of fans who have taken to Twitter to show their frustration with the sports entertainment company and the way they have booked this feud thus far.

    WWE producer and Smackdown Live creative team member Road Dogg responded to this criticism on Twitter where he wrote the following:

    “You’re a fan since 2011? Thanks for being a fan but I need my job dude, I’d appreciate you not trying to get me fired. But, if you need to try…. ok ? #OUDK.

    It ain’t easy but I try to rise above it. It gets to me some times tho for sure, I’m only human.”

    What are your thoughts on the way WWE has handled this feud? Sound off in the comment section below.

  • Charlotte Flair Reacts To Rousey vs. Jax, Styles & Nakamura Hype Stipulation Match (Video)

    Charlotte Flair Reacts To Rousey vs. Jax, Styles & Nakamura Hype Stipulation Match (Video)

    Flair Reacts To Rousey vs. Jax At MITB

    As we’ve previously reported, RAW Women’s Champion Nia Jax will defend her title against Ronda Rousey at the Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV) next month in Chicago.

    Charlotte Flair Tweeted out the following in reaction to the announcement, warning both women to be prepared for when she wins the Women’s MITB Ladder match:

    AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura Hype Stipulation Match (Video)

    Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live will feature a non-WWE Title match between champion AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura. The winner will select the stipulation for their WWE Title match at the MITB PPV.

    Both Styles and Nakamura posted videos on WWE’s Twitter account hyping the match-up tonight. Check them out here:

    Styles and Nakamura first fought it out at WrestleMania 34 this past April. Styles won that match-up but was assaulted by Nakamura afterwards. At the Greatest Royal Rumble they rematched, but that ended in a double count-out and resulted in Styles assaulting Nakamura after the match in return.

    At Backlash last week, Styles and Nakamura put on what was probably their best match against each other in WWE. That ended in another double count-out, as neither men could get to their feet and answer the referee’s 10 count after exchanging low blows. It should be interesting to see how things shake out at MITB next month.

  • WWE Championship Match Set For Money In The Bank, Updated Card

    WWE Championship Match Set For Money In The Bank, Updated Card

    A new match has been officially announced for the upcoming WWE Money in the Bank PPV.

    On Monday morning, WWE SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon revealed in a post on his official Twitter account that AJ Styles would defend the WWE Title against Shinsuke Nakamura at the Money in the Bank PPV.

    It should be noted that although McMahon did not mention a stipulation for the match, WWE will likely add one during this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in London, England at the O2 Arena.

    Styles and Nakamura have wrestled each other three times over the last month. Styles successfully retained the title against Nakamura at WrestleMania 34, they went to a double count-out at both the Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash events.

    The Money In The Bank pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. Both Raw and SmackDown brands will be featured. Here is the updated card:

    WWE Championship Match:
    AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match:
    Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor vs. The Miz vs. Rusev vs. 4 TBD

    Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match:
    Ember Moon vs. Charlotte Flair vs. 6 TBD

    What are your thoughts on this match? Sound off in the comment section below.

  • AJ Styles Hypes Title Defense At Backlash, More Matches Set For WWE UK Tour

    AJ Styles Hypes Title Defense At Backlash, More Matches Set For WWE UK Tour

    – WWE has already confirmed that WWE Champion AJ Styles will wrestle Shinsuke Nakamura under the sports entertainment banner for the third time thus far this year. Their first match went down at WrestleMania 34 with Styles winning and their second match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event that saw no winner being declared as both superstars were counted out.

    Now, Styles is slated to put his title on the line against Nakamura at the upcoming Backlash pay-per-view event in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center on Sunday. The WWE Champion sent out the following tweet to hype the upcoming match:

    – WWE’s annual tour of the UK is right around the corner, and more lineups for these events have been revealed, which you can see here:

    Belfast, Northern Ireland (May 10th)
    — Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
    — Baron Corbin vs. Braun Strowman
    — Elias vs. Bobby Lashley
    — Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler vs. Titus Worldwide with Dana Brooke
    — No Way Jose, The Ascension, Breezango vs. The Revival, The Authors of Pain, Curt Hawkins
    — Handicap Match: The Riott Squad vs. Ember Moon and Natalya
    — Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
    — Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
    — WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Roode vs. Finn Balor vs. Jinder Mahal with Sunil Singh

    Dublin, Ireland (May 11th)
    — Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin, Samoa Joe, Jinder Mahal with Sunil Singh
    — Bobby Roode vs. Elias
    — Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens
    — The Revival, The Authors of Pain, Curt Hawkins vs. The Ascension, No Way Jose, Titus Worldwide with Dana Brooke
    — Sasha Banks, Bayley, Ember Moon, Dana Brooke vs. Natalya, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan
    — Raw Tag Team Champions Bray Wyatt & Matt Hardy vs. Breezango vs. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler
    — Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss
    — WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn

  • New Championship Match Announced For Backlash, Updated Match Card

    New Championship Match Announced For Backlash, Updated Match Card

    Shinsuke Nakamura’s heel turn at WrestleMania 34 was seen as the start of a long-lasting feud between him and AJ Styles so their match at the Greatest Royal Rumble was expected to be just a stop on their rivalry instead of being a culminating bout.

    Now WWE has confirmed that their match at the show was not the last encounter we’ll see between the two by announcing a rematch for the upcoming Backlash PPV next month.

    The match between Nakamura and Styles at last night’s show ended in a double count-out after AJ speared the Japanese star onto the announcer’s table and they both kept brawling outside as the referee counted to ten.

    Though the duo didn’t stop fighting even after the bell rang and the segment ended with the WWE Champion delivering a phenomenal forearm to the former NXT Star onto to the ringside floor.

    After the show went off air, WWE announced on their website that the Phenomenal One will once again defend his title against the former NXT Champion at the upcoming dual branded PPV.

    Following the announcement, here is the updated Backlash match card:

    WWE Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Intercontinental Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz

    Raw Women’s Championship: Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss

    SmackDown Women’s Championship: Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

    Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

    Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass

    WWE Backlash will take place on May 6, 2018, at the Prudential Center in New Jersey.

  • EC3 Pitches Idea For New Name Of Shinsuke Nakamura’s Finisher

    EC3 Pitches Idea For New Name Of Shinsuke Nakamura’s Finisher

    WWE is slowly but surely making changes to the way that they portray Shinsuke Nakamura on television.

    It all started at WrestleMania 34 earlier this month in New Orleans when he turned heel after losing to AJ Styles for the WWE Title.

    As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Louisville, KY at the KFC Yum Center on the USA Network, Nakamura received a new entrance song and video to go along with his new character.

    While building up to the Styles vs. Nakamura match at this Friday’s Greatest Royal Rumble event on the WWE Network, Nakamura has been taking cheap shots at the WWE Champion by connecting with several low blows over the past few weeks on SmackDown Live.

    This leads us to former TNA World Heavyweight Champion and current WWE NXT Superstar Ethan Carter III pitching the idea of a new name for Nakamura’s finisher to go along with his new heel tactic. He sent out the following tweet:

    What are your thoughts on WWE turning Nakamura heel? Was it the right call? Sound off in the comment section below.

  • Nakamura’s New Entrance Theme (Video), Mega Powers Explode Tonight, More

    Nakamura’s New Entrance Theme (Video), Mega Powers Explode Tonight, More

    Music Video for Nakamura’s New Theme

    Shinsuke Nakamura has new theme music. “Shadows of a Setting Sun” by Shadows of The Sun is a remix of his previous theme, “The Rising Sun.”

    Nakamura challenges AJ Styles for the WWE Championship this Friday at the Greatest Royal Rumble from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Nakamura, Rusev & Aiden English scored a victory over Styles, Gallows & Anderson in the main event of this week’s SmackDown Live.

    Check out this music video of Nakamura’s new theme song:

    Edge in Orlando

    WWE Hall of Famer Edge confirmed that he was in Orlando this week visiting the WWE Performance Center.

    Well, You Know..

    This week’s Something Else To Wrestle with Bruce Prichard on the WWE Network will feature Bruce and Conrad Thompson talking about Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage’s Mega Powers alliance from the WrestleMania IV-V era. The show drops at 8pm ET each week.

    Bruce and Conrad covered the Mega Powers in Episode 2 of their Something To Wrestle podcast, which you can listen to here.

  • WWE Championship Match Announced For Greatest Royal Rumble

    WWE Championship Match Announced For Greatest Royal Rumble

    WWE had previously announced that Brock Lesnar will be defending his Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a rematch from WrestleMania 34 at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

    And after tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live, the company has announced another huge Championship rematch for the upcoming Live Event from Saudi Arabia later this month.

    The main event of this week’s episode of Blue Branded Show saw AJ Styles teaming up with Daniel Bryan to face Rusev Day. However, the match ended with Shinsuke Nakamura attacking Styles from behind while Big Cass attacked Bryan.

    This was the third time Nakamura attacked Styles since turning heel at WrestleMania and after the show went off air, it was announced that he’ll get another shot at the coveted title during the upcoming event.

    After the announcement, here is the updated match card for the Greatest Royal Rumble:

    50 Men Greatest Royal Rumble

    Universal Championship match: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns

    WWE Championship match: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Intercontinental Championship: Seth Rollins vs. The Miz vs. Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe

    United States Championship: Jeff Hardy vs. Jinder Mahal

    SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The Usos

    Raw Tag Team Championship Match: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Bray Wyatt & Woken Matt Hardy

    Casket match: Undertaker vs. Rusev

    Triple H vs. John Cena

  • Christian Explains Why AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Received Poor Response

    Christian Explains Why AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Received Poor Response

    This past weekend at WrestleMania 34, the WWE Championship match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura didn’t appear to live up to the hype for most fans. Throughout the build-up to the match, the bout was being promoted as a ‘dream match’ between the former New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) stars.

    Fans in attendance didn’t seem to be too thrilled with what went on in the ring, with pockets of those in the crowd even chanting “boring” at some times.

    Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Christian recently weighed in on the matter in a recent episode of he and WWE Hall Of Famer Edge’s podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness.

    Christian explained how the crowd can affect the perception of a match, and even compared it to he and Randy Orton’s feud during his time in the ring:

    “Sometimes the crowd can affect the perception of a match, [and] I think it happened during this one a little bit,” said Christian. “I think that’s where it started to happen when the crowd was getting fatigued. Especially, when it’s two guys that are babyfaces. And, there’s the title on the line, but emotionally, what else is going on? And I think what they did after the match meant more than anything that did in the match.

    “I was thinking about the babyface match I had for the world title with Randy Orton when we wrestled at Over the Limit, and I was thinking, what’s the difference between that and this other than one was at Over the Limit and one was at WrestleMania? So, what I was thinking about is the emotion was not good guy – bad guy, heel – babyface. The emotion was, this guy who we’ve wanted to see at this level for like 17 years has been scratching and clawing and finally won it.

    “And then, had it snatched from a guy who’s been patented as ‘the golden boy’ for years and years, and has been molded to be a top superstar gets it back after a couple of days. People didn’t want to see me lose it yet. That was the emotion. ‘Can he get it back? Can he get back to that level already, so quickly after he worked so hard to get there?’ People liked me, but they didn’t like what happened. That was the emotion.

    “On this one, they liked both guys, so [fans] are just kinda choosing a side. There’s nothing else. So, to me, now I can really sink my teeth into this, because I think Nakamura now is gonna do better work. I think he’s gonna work more with a chip on his shoulder, I think he’s gonna work more aggressively. He works aggressive anyway, I think he’s gonna have a mean streak that he hasn’t had before, and I think it’s gonna amp up, and I think he’s done himself a huge favor by the aggression he had after the match, in my opinion.”

    You can listen to E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.

    H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

  • John Cena On His Future After Wrestling, Shinsuke Nakamura On His Heel Turn

    John Cena On His Future After Wrestling, Shinsuke Nakamura On His Heel Turn

    – John Cena was recently a guest on Popcorn with Peter Travers where he was promoting his new movie Blockers. During the interview, it was noted that the Cenation Leader is giving ‘some serious thought to what comes next in his career after wrestling’:

    “The fact that I’ve been able to do it at the pace that I have for 16 years, that’s not your regular statistic, That falls into like the Tom Brady category. I’m not supposed to be where I am anyway. So I don’t know when it’s all going to end.”

    Apart from this Cena also talked about how the culture has changed and how he shared director Kay Cannon’s vision for his character in the film. You can read more quotes from John Cena’s interview and check out the video of it here.

    – Shinsuke Nakamura surprised everyone by turning heel at WrestleMania 34 by beating AJ Styles after their match. Then he attacked both Styles and Daniel Bryan again during the main event of the post WrestleMania episode of SmackDown Live.

    The Japanese Star made his first comments on his heel turn via the following tweet yesterday, saying that we will see his actions and feel the vibe:

  • Shinsuke Nakamura Wrestles After SmackDown, The Iconic Duo On Their Debut

    Shinsuke Nakamura Wrestles After SmackDown, The Iconic Duo On Their Debut

    – Tonight’s SmackDown Live episode saw a bizarre dark main event as Shinsuke Nakamura who turned heel at WrestleMania this past Sunday Night went against another heel Dolph Ziggler.

    He ended up winning the bout after hitting a Kinshasa and it’s being reported that Nakamura was cheered by the fans despite his actions at Mania and the fact that he attacked AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan on SmackDown this week.

    – As seen on SmackDown Live “The Iconic Duo” Peyton Royce and Billie Kay made their main roster debut by attacking the former SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte.

    After the show, WWE posted the following video where the two commented on their arrival on The Blue Branded Show and said that they are happy to accomplish what they had planned for their debut- making a statement:

  • Styles vs. Nakamura Notes, Nia Jax Reacts To Her WrestleMania Win

    Styles vs. Nakamura Notes, Nia Jax Reacts To Her WrestleMania Win

    Last night at WrestleMania, WWE Champion AJ Styles defended his title against 2018 Men’s Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura in a “dream match” for the WWE Universe. Despite all the hype and the potential, the match has received mixed reviews from fans and pundits alike. Many described the match as slow paced without the drama and excitement Styles and Nakamura’s matches are typically known for.

    While the finish was pretty creative, there weren’t any huge false finishes, ridiculous high spots, or anything else that knocked fans’ socks off. There was actually a “boring” chant from the crowd during the match. The match’s placement on the near seven hour card didn’t help matters much either, as crowd fatigue set in mid-way through the marathon show.

    Nakamura’s surprise attack on Styles after the match signifies a heel turn from the Japanese Superstar and likely the continuation of this program.

    – Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss last night at WrestleMania 34 to become the new RAW Women’s Champion. This comes after weeks of Bliss bullying Jax for being and looking different.

    WWE posted a video of Jax after her win, who said she’s happy with the message the match sends out to young boys and girls – not to take crap from people who make you feel insecure about yourself: