#2 Styles defeats Nakamura in unexpected fashion
For over the past decade WWE have overlooked the WWE Universe's opinions by underutilising the wrestlers they hold in high esteem, booking feuds that have been universally rejected and consistently selecting the incorrect superstar to win the prestigious Royal Rumble match.
However, the 2018 edition of the men’s Royal Rumble match was booked to perfection, as it saw a fan favourite win the 30-man battle royal for the first time in almost a decade. Fans had become accustomed to the idea of an unwanted Wrestlemania main event as they had to endure that idea for the past couple of years but when Shinsuke Nakamura hurled Roman Reigns over the top rope, the WWE Universe knew what that win meant for the WWE Title and Wrestlemania 34.
Moments after his historic win, Nakamura had confirmed at Wrestlemania 34 he will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Title The dream match was created and now Wrestlemania 34 might have one of the greatest matches of the modern era on its card, provided Styles overcomes the odds at Fastlane 2018 makes it the “grandest stage of them all” as WWE Champion.
The only reason why the potential match of Nakamura vs Styles might be regarded as the best match WWE can produce in 2018 is all due to their Wrestle Kingdom 10 masterpiece for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship which saw “the king of strong style” go over. Therefore, their rematch will definitely ensure an emotionally satisfying wrestling classic, but narratively, this match needs to take a solid turn of events which gives this feud white-hot momentum and that can only happen at Wrestlemania.
Nakamura is one of the best to step inside the squared circle and his NJPW tenure has seen him produce excellent in ring and character work which was a combination of hard strikes and a rare charisma. Therefore, he was given the nickname of the “king of strong style”, but Nakamura’s run in WWE has not seen him perform on the elite level as he did in Japan.
That is due to the company misusing his excellent in-ring ability’s in wasteful feuds, misinterpret what made him popular and re-brand him as a “Rockstar” instead of portraying him as the bada** hard striker that he is. Therefore, WWE must use this dream feud with AJ Styles to redesign Nakamura’s character, make his character motivations more defined and give him a clear direction for the rest of 2018.
WWE can achieve that and so much more by making one factor essentially central in the build-up to Styles vs Nakamura at Wrestlemania 34 and that is the fundamental theme of doubt, and the superstar that will have that theme attached to his character is AJ Styles.
As mentioned earlier AJ Styles failed to defeat Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Title in their first ever match, and with WWE not shy to allude to wrestlers NJPW history, this theme shouldn’t be hard to slowly build on every week on Smackdown Live. As Nakamura placing doubt in Styles head and Styles fear of history repeating itself thereby causing him to lose his WWE Title should result in unexpected turn of events.
Therefore, at Wrestlemania 34 the pressure gets to Styles and he collides with his Bullet Club members of Gallows, Anderson and even Balor to help him to defeat Nakamura for the WWE Title.
This thought-provoking finish to one of the most anticipated matches of the year will allow WWE to have countless angles to choose from going forward, it will establish The Club as a defiant force on Smackdown Live, it will give Balor a career rejuvenation alongside AJ Styles and most importantly the hottest superstar coming out of this scenario will be Nakamura as he now has a clear motivation for the first time in his WWE career.
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