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In the wake of this week's SmackDown Live, many fans are now looking ahead to Money in the Bank after another chapter was written in the Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles saga.
While many are excited to see what is expected to be the crowning of The King of Strong Style as WWE Champion, some still believe that he'll walk away from Chicago empty-handed.
In our opinion, they're right.
Sportskeeda is the one-stop destination for latest WWE rumors and wrestling news.
While there's no guarantee that The Phenomenal One will walk away with the WWE Championship in his Last Man Standing bout against Nakamura, it's starting to seem pretty likely.
Obviously we don't think that we're going to convince those of you who are desperate to see a change of pace, but still, it's interesting to hypothesize.
With that being said, here are five reasons why Nakamura may lose at Money in the Bank.
#1 Other Stars
While you may not want to see it again, it seems pretty likely that if Nakamura wins the title at MITB, we'll see Styles get another rematch at the next pay-per-view.
We've heard about several SmackDown Live stars who are supposedly on the verge of challenging for the world title, with Samoa Joe being one of them.
If Styles winds up retaining the championship, we can definitely see a scenario in which he feuds with Joe leading into SummerSlam.
That seems to be the general model in WWE these days, and because that seems like such an inevitability, we're starting to see it as one of the indicators that Styles will remain as champion at the end of the night.
Meanwhile, as a heel, Nakamura can feud with several top babyfaces before making his way back up to the main event scene.
#2 Fan Logic
As members of the WWE Universe, we tend to blow things out of proportion more often than not. We speculate, we moan and we read too much into things because that's just the nature of this business.
More often than not, there's nothing of note to speak about, but it's embedded in our nature to think up ten thousand different possibilities for any given storyline.
In this instance, however, there's one stereotype that has been around for years now and we can't seem to shake it.
We are, of course, talking about how the superstar who finishes on top during most segments usually loses the big pay-per-view match.
We know, we know, it probably doesn't mean anything - but given that Shinsuke continues to get the best of AJ Styles, there's a chance that they're booking this feud so that he doesn't suffer too badly from another loss.
#3 No Faith?
While Nakamura was positioned as a world-class talent down in NXT, that reputation doesn't seem to have followed him up to the main roster.
Obviously, his thousands upon thousands of fans are always going to think he's one of the best in-ring performers in the world, but it doesn't feel like the WWE themselves possess the same mentality.
Since debuting on the SmackDown Live after WrestleMania 33, Nakamura has been involved in several high profile world title matches against Jinder Mahal and Styles: and he's lost all of them. We can understand him losing to Styles on some level, but the Mahal defeats?
The company didn't believe in him then, and if they weren't confident enough to give him the big win at Mania, then maybe it just isn't meant to be.
#4 The Miz Theory
Due to the stakes involved in the Styles/Nakamura feud, it's somewhat forgivable if fans have been putting the upcoming Money in the Bank ladder match to the back of their minds.
After all, the build-up to the event has been very 'paint by numbers' with no real storytelling to be found, but in the midst of all the chaos, there's one man who could end up changing everything.
We are, of course, referring to The Miz. The Awesome One has been one of the top heels in the company for a long time now, and many fans believe that he'll win the MITB ladder match before eventually cashing in on Styles.
Sure, he could cash in on Nakamura if he wanted to, but it wouldn't be quite as effective given that Styles is one of WWE's top babyfaces.
Plus, this theory means that we'll eventually get the Miz/Bryan showdown we've all been praying for.
#5 Stipulation
Last Man Standing matches don't always set the world on fire, and that much is obvious. Sometimes you can build up a nice layer of drama before the eventual finish, but when you take away the need for pinfalls and submissions, things become a lot more difficult.
You can still construct an interesting bout, but the concept restricts some of the eventual possibilities.
After all, there's a reason why so many babyfaces win these matches over the heels - because it just makes sense.
More often than not, a heel victory in an LMS match comes with interference from a third party or happens because the heel has an overwhelming size advantage.
Nakamura doesn't really possess either of those traits, so it'll be interesting to see how this works out on June 17th.
