5 potential finishes for Jeff Hardy vs Shinsuke Nakamura at Extreme Rules

Extreme Rules features a lot of exciting and intriguing matchups but perhaps none more so than the United States Championship match between 'The Enigma' Jeff Hardy and 'The Artist' Shinsuke Nakamura.

Hardy was recently moved away from his 'Broken' brother Matt Hardy onto SmackDown Live after surprising new Raw recruit Jinder Mahal with a win to become the United States Champion.

Nakamura, on the other hand, has had a mixed bag on the main roster with many feeling he has failed to reach the heights he was at during in stint in New Japan Pro Wrestling. A recent example being the dragged out feud with AJ Styles.

But, the two are set to do battle in a match at Extreme Rules for the United States title. This a match that many would never have deemed possible several years ago. So, here are the five potential finishes for Jeff Hardy vs Shinsuke Nakamura at Extreme Rules.

#5 Jeff Hardy retains

Jeff Hardy has been a decent United States Champion, but has failed to really elevate the title much like a lot of the previous holders of the belt. However, there is an argument for him to retain the title as he hasn't really had a decent run with it yet.

One factor that might play against the possibility of Hardy beating Nakamura clean and retaining the US Title is the fact that he's dealing with some niggling injuries. Taking the belt off of Hardy and giving him some time off might be a good thing to do.

#4 Nakamura wins his first piece of gold

Many thought that Nakamura's coronation would be against AJ Styles with the 'Phenomenal One' finally dropping the belt and giving the popular Japanese star a title run to play with. That didn't happen and now Nakamura is still waiting for main roster gold.

With Hardy injured and Nakamura vast running out of chances to actually win matches and feuds now might be the perfect time to finally pull the trigger and see what he can do as a champion in the WWE. Besides, his current 'I no speak English' gimmick could be great with the US Title.

#3 Nakamura plays dirty

Since WrestleMania, we've seen Nakamura transition from his good guy attitude to one more reminiscent of his Chaos days in NJPW. He no longer seems to care about anything, regularly cheats to win matches and often levels his opponents with a filthy low blow.

There's every chance that at Extreme Rules, Nakamura could get himself disqualified with another one of his now patented low blows. Except this time, it won't be AJ Styles writhing around the floor, but Jeff Hardy.

#2 Broken Warriors

Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a possibility with Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt on Monday Night Raw and Jeff Hardy on SmackDown. But as all three 'Woken' characters will be in the same building for Extreme Rules, there's a chance they could interfere in this match in some way.

Imagine the pop that would happen if 'Woken' Matt Hardy and Brother Bray reunited with Jeff Hardy and helped him to retain his United States title. This would be especially great if the Deleters of Worlds also retain their Raw Tag Team Titles as well.

#1 Double count out/Unable to answer ten count

Both men might be counted out or unable to answer the ten count

I know, I don't like the idea of it either, but it was a great way to prolong the Styles vs Nakamura feud for another month or so and if Nakamura is up to his usual tricks here, it's something that should be considered as a distinct possibility.

I'm not sure if they need to do another 'double' Low Blow spot that results in both men being unable to meet the count of ten, but there's a bunch of things they can do to keep both men out of the ring for a count out, especially with Hardy involved.