What’s the story?
The Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield, California has released the card for an upcoming WWE live event in the town, and the list of matches may well reveal the next man on Shinsuke Nakamura’s hit list.
Nakamura will be challenging for the United States Championship at a future live event, and the man who will stand opposite him inside the squared circle is none other than the current Face of America, Kevin Owens.
In case you didn’t know...
Nakamura recently arrived on SmackDown Live and was immediately placed into a feud with Dolph Ziggler. The two will face off at WWE Backlash, and it is largely assumed that pairing Nakamura with Ziggler first was done so as to ease the King of Strong Style in front of a brand new audience.
He is widely expected to defeat Ziggler at Backlash before moving on to a more substantial feud.
Kevin Owens is the current WWE United States Champion. Owens recently regained the title by defeating former best friend Chris Jericho, after which he put Y2J out of action for the foreseeable future. Owens will defend his championship against ‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles at the Backlash pay-per-view.
The heart of the matter
Nakamura vs. Owens is being advertised for the June 26 live event in Bakersfield, with the venue also claiming that the match will be a championship bout. Nakamura and Owens have faced each other on three occasions previously, twice on WWE live shows and once at ROH’s War of the Worlds in 2014.
Nakamura was victorious on all three occasions.
On the face of it, Shinsuke Nakamura and Kevin Owens could make for a great feud on WWE. Owens is one of the performers on the WWE main roster who has plenty of experience working Nakamura’s style, and as such, will be able to bring out the best in Swagsuke in order to help him get over with the wider WWE audience.
A feud between the two could also do wonders for the WWE United States Championship, a title that has been somewhat in limbo ever since Alberto Del Rio defeated John Cena for it way back at Hell in a Cell 2015.
Fans may prefer Nakamura vs. AJ Styles, but only the most jaded viewer would turn their nose up at Nakamura vs. Owens.
What’s next?
As always, live event cards are subject to change. Until Nakamura is finished with Ziggler it won’t be clear what direction the WWE bosses will take him in. SmackDown Live doesn’t have a huge number of credible heels for Nakamura to work with either.
Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin and Rusev represent the upper tier of heels on the blue show, and of those three, Owens is the clear stand out.
Author’s Take
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens will hopefully happen at some point, and you’ll find no complaints from me if it was to happen in the summer of 2017. Owens has taken to WWE like a duck to water, and if anyone can ensure that Nakamura’s uniqueness is appreciated by the WWE Universe, it is the Face of America.
