What If Shinsuke Nakamura had beaten AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 34
In my previous article, I discussed the possible outcomes and implications of Roman Reigns winning the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34. This article focuses on the same core topic.
But this time, let's switch brands and talk about the fate of the WWE Championship, had Shinsuke Nakamura won it at WrestleMania 34.
Due to the current booking, as tough as it is to believe, but it was not long ago that Shinsuke Nakamura was one of the biggest stars in WWE.
The King Of Strong Style was the favorite to win the Royal Rumble last year. And rightfully, he did win it. After his win, he announced immediately that he'll be facing AJ Styles.
These words started what was a dream feud for many, The Phenomenal One vs The Artist. These two previously wrestled each other at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Nakamura came out victorious, in what was a great match and showing from two of the best pro wrestlers in the world.
The feud had a great potential to skyrocket Nakamura to the top of the WWE food chain. The build-up to the feud wasn't something really special though.
Being a face vs face match, it was supposed to be about mutual respect and to prove who is a better wrestler. The match in itself was pretty good but not as great as their Wrestle Kingdom showdown. But contrary to the popular predictions, Nakamura lost to AJ Styles clean.
After the match, Nakamura delivered a low-blow to AJ Styles, shocking millions of fans and turning heel. Though his heel run didn't turn out to be impressive. Even though he won the United States Championship, he wasn't booked as a strong champion, and his reign turned stale. Right now, he's just another guy lost in the mid-card scene of SmackDown.
In this article, we take a look and speculate the potential storylines and outcomes had Shinsuke won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.
#1 A deserving title run for Nakamura
Nakamura is one of the best wrestlers in the pro wrestling world. Even before signing with WWE, he was one of the hottest acts in the business.
Considering how he was booked in NXT, where he became only the second man to win the NXT championship twice, a lot of fans were eager to see him as the WWE Champion.
In all honesty, Nakamura deserves to be the first "recognized" Japanese wrestler to become the WWE Champion.
Winning a championship at WrestleMania is one of the biggest achievement of any wrestler's career, and Nakamura definitely deserved his WrestleMania moment.
Even though it was a nice swerve to let Styles win the match, no one would have complained if Nakamura defeated him to become the new WWE Champion.
Nakamura low blowing The Phenomenal One without the referee noticing and then pinning him to win the title would have given him a lot of heat, which brings us to our next point.