SK's Take on why Shinsuke Nakamura won the Royal Rumble
So, it was an evening filled with surprises, but one of the biggest shocks of the 2018 Royal Rumble has to be Shinsuke Nakamura winning the Men’s Royal Rumble match to book his one way ticket to a title shot at WrestleMania - but it was no surprise when The Rockstar announced exactly which champion he would elect to face off against.
While it had recently emerged that Nakamura was the bookmakers’ favourite recently, a lot of people still thought Roman Reigns would win up until the very last minute - with strong rumours of a Daniel Bryan return upsetting the odds of The Rockstar winning too.
One of the main reasons there was a lot of doubt right up until the very last was mainly due to who the former NXT Champion was up against in the final four - Reigns, John Cena and Finn Balor.
So, why did Shinsuke win? Well, SK’s take on the matter is two-fold.
Primarily, AJ Styles has been campaigning for the match for a long time. He and Nakamura have previously wrestled at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom and the match is thought to be a dream match for most of the WWE Universe. Well, it seems that The Phenomenal One himself shares that opinion too, and is thought to have personally asked for the match!
Given how much of a dedicated company man he has proven himself to be recently, it’s no surprise WWE would grant his wish - given how popular that wish seems to be. If you remember the Money In The Bank 2017 match, there was a stare-off between Nakamura and AJ. AJ Styles himself revealed in an interview that he personally requested Vince McMahon for that spot to show that there is interest in a WrestleMania match.
Another crucial reason why Nakamura won is down to sheer logistics. As we all know, it’s been pencilled in from WrestleMania to have the 2 in the 23-2 face off next year, with Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns set to face off in a "Superstars who have conquered the Deadman" grudge match as hinted at by Paul Heyman immediately after Mania.
Well, we understand that Brock Lesnar will not defend his WWE Universal Championship at the Elimination Chamber so, given that it’s a RAW exclusive pay per view, the feature match will most likely be for the number one contendership of the Universal Championship with the shot at The Beast happening at WrestleMania.
Perhaps given the hostility Reigns received last time he won a Royal Rumble (not to mention in the same building - the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia) it only seemed fitting to hold off on pulling the trigger on Reigns sealing the Lesnar match - and instead having a SmackDown Live Superstar win the Royal Rumble.
Couple with that WWE’s balanced booking and Asuka winning the Women’s Royal Rumble match from the red brand, and Shinsuke’s win starts to make a lot more sense.
No matter what, how or why he won, it’s great to see Nakamura finally get a monster push on the main roster - and this dream match has made WrestleMania even more of a must-see!
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