What’s the story?
The WWE is advertising Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens for a house show that’s scheduled to take place after the SmackDown-brand-exclusive Backlash PPV.
WWE is reportedly promoting Nakamura vs. KO for a house show on June 26th – a match that will be a WWE United States title matchup if Owens retains his title against AJ Styles at Backlash.
In case you didn’t know...
Shinsuke Nakamura is widely regarded as one of the greatest technicians in the sport today and has performed for WWE since debuting in NXT last year, and more recently making his main roster debut on SmackDown Live on April 4th this year.
Meanwhile, Kevin Owens has quickly risen to prominence in WWE since his NXT debut in 2014, winning several prestigious titles such as the NXT World championship, Intercontinental title, the WWE Universal championship and the WWE United States title.
The heart of the matter
Nakamura is presently involved in a feud with Dolph Ziggler, whom he’ll face at Backlash next week. On the other hand, Owens, who recently beat Chris Jericho for the WWE United States championship, will put his title on the line against number 1 contender AJ Styles at the aforementioned PPV event.
The WWE is yet to clarify whether the upcoming Nakamura vs Owens feud would involve Ziggler and Styles in some capacity, or if the aforementioned rivalries would be broken off in order to focus solely on a Nakamura vs KO storyline.
What’s next?
Shinsuke Nakamura will compete against Dolph Ziggler at Backlash on May 21st in Rosemont, Illinois. At the very same event, Kevin Owens will defend his WWE United States title against AJ Styles.
Author’s Take
The WWE isn’t shying away from the fact that they’re more than keen on pushing Shinsuke Nakamura to the top right away and rightfully so.
Nakamura is one of the best technical pro-wrestling performers in the world today. And mind you, Shinsuke and KO are no strangers to one another, having put on an excellent match at a WWE live event in Tokyo, Japan last year.
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