Former WWE head writer Vince Russo feels Shinsuke Nakamura is hurt and still worked his match against Cody Rhodes on RAW.
Nakamura competed against Cody Rhodes in a barbaric Street Fight this week. The two men went all out, hitting each other with various foreign objects.
On Sportskeeda Wrestling's Legion of RAW, Vince Russo pointed out that during some high-risk spots involving tables and other foreign objects, it looked as if Nakamura was "pulling up" and protecting himself. The former writer suggested that the Japanese star was probably trying not to aggravate an existing injury, which made a few sequences look awkward on TV.
"There were a couple of times in the spots where it looked like Nakamura was kinda pulling up. I don't know if he was hurt and trying to protect something. But there were a couple of spots where he kinda pulled up, and it looked awkward. So I'm just wondering if he was trying to protect an injury or something." [From 51:32 onwards]
You can watch the full episode here:
In the bout's final moments, The King of Strong Style had Rhodes in place for the Kinshasa into a table nearly. However, The American Nightmare ultimately countered the move and used his opponent's momentum to send him crashing into the same table. Rhodes then hit the Cross Rhodes on Nakamura to secure a hard-fought victory.
Vince Russo feels Cody Rhodes is better than Seth Rollins
During the same conversation, Russo spoke about how he did not like Seth Rollins' character. He felt that Cody Rhodes' work was more believable in the ring, and that made him a better performer than The Visionary.
"Bro, let me tell you something. At least Cody can work. Seth with his punches and all, oh my God, never selling." [From 43:53 onwards]
It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for Cody Rhodes as we gear up for Royal Rumble 2024.
You can catch the full results of Monday Night RAW here.
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