3 Pros and 2 Cons of Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev as a Tag Team in WWE Smackdown Live

The WWE United States championship has had a busy week starting from Royal Rumble. First, Shinsuke Nakamura reclaimed it back from Rusev, who in fact won it only last month. Then, on the next episode of Smackdown Live, quite surprisingly, R-Truth won it from Shinsuke Nakamura and later on defending it successfully against Rusev. The real development started after that when a frustrated Rusev assaulted R-Truth after the match. To the surprise of many, Nakamura assisted Rusev in his assault.

The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson), in a backstage segment, confronted Nakamura and Rusev and a tag team match was set up for next week’s Smackdown Live. This week, Rusev and Nakamura quite dominantly defeated The Good Brothers. In the closing moment, Nakamura raised Rusev’s hand and acknowledged their partnership. So, once an enemy of each other has now turned friends? Is this a debut of a new tag team. Below are the three Pros and two Cons that suggest whether Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev forming a tag team is a good move or not.

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#5 Pro: Taking the leaf out from Mick Foley’s The Bar Experiment

The Bar is the real deal now in the tag team division

Putting up a tag team of those individuals who don’t like each other is not new in WWE. The latest and successful example is Smackdown Live tag team The Bar. Sheamus and Cesaro once were a bitter rival to each other. They even had the best of seven match series to prove who’s best in them, but the series didn’t come to a conclusion.

Seeing the constant bickering of each other, the then General Manager of Raw Mick Foley decided to put them up in a tag team. They got off to a rocky start, but eventually found success. At present, they are the multiple time tag team champions and a cornerstone of the tag team division in Smackdown Live.

WWE might be going on the same path as it did with The Bar. Nakamura and Rusev have fought over for United States championship in recent months. Turning their rivalry in the partnership will allow WWE creative to explore various options with their characters & it can very well become a success story.

#4 Con: Both of them are better off as a singles wrestler

As a singles' wrestler or a tag team

King of Strong Style was a prominent fixture in New Japan Pro Wrestling churning out classics after classics. He was a marquee signing by WWE. After a great stint with NXT, Nakamura debuted in Smackdown Live and won the Royal Rumble in 2018. Shinsuke Nakamura wrestling AJ Styles at WrestleMania was a dream match that comes true.

However, there started the downfall of Nakamura. His rivalry with AJ Styles was not able to fulfil the expectations of the WWE universe. Nakamura then turned heel and won the United States championship. But in that role, Nakamura became next Brock Lesner in terms of not defending his title and he hardly had any televised matches.

Rusev, on the other hand, saw his popularity go off the charts with the WWE Universe due to his Rusev Day gimmick. However, WWE creative didn’t lean on his popularity and he remained a mid-card act. An underwhelmed climax of his feud with his partner turned rival Aiden English further diminished Rusev’s credibility. It seemed like WWE is finally seeing Rusev more than a crowd-pleasing act when he defeated Nakamura and won the United States championship, but soon WWE pulled the rug below his feet and put the belt back on Nakamura.

Both Nakamura and Rusev have no dearth of talent and is as popular as any other marquee superstar with WWE universe. It is a known fact that Vince McMahon is not a fan of tag team division. Instead of putting them in the tag team division, WWE would be more beneficial to keep them in singles act and invest in a good storyline arc with them.

#3 Pro: It will give a boost to floundering tag team division

A new tag team on the horizon of WWE Smackdown Live

It is obvious that today’s WWE tag team division is very much in its lowest face ever. There is hardly any good storyline development in the tag team division. Oftentimes, tag team matches seem like an afterthought by WWE creative.

Smackdown Live does have some depth in their tag team division, unlike the Raw roaster, however again we are seeing the same teams wrestling with each other. Nakamura and Rusev entering the fray as the new tag team will freshen up the division and it will open up the door for new rivalries.

WWE can move them to Raw also where star power in the tag team division is almost none. Rusev and Nakamura winning the Raw tag team championship will surely lend much more credibility than the team of Chad Gable and Bobby Roode providing right now.

#2 Con: Putting the spotlight away from genuine tag teams

Should we concern about recent makeshift tag teams

While Nakamura and Rusev will provide star power to the tag team division, it can be argued that putting a makeshift team of singles wrestlers in the tag team division will be unfair to the legitimate tag teams.

The Ascension, The Good Brothers, SaNiTY or even The Revival are few such teams who are at present means nothing in WWE. WWE creatives don’t have any material to put them in televised matches. Instead of forming a tag team of Nakamura and Rusev, WWE should invest in these tag teams, make them credible enough so that they on their own can carry tag team division.

We had already seen the teams of The Miz and Shane McMahon, Chad Gable and Bobby Roode, Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt, even the B-Team who were thrown together by WWE creative. It is now time that WWE acknowledges the genuine tag teams & put the division around them only.

#1 Pro: It will open up the United States Championship to new faces

A new face to carry United States Championship is the need of the hour

The reigns of Nakamura and Rusev as United States champions were underwhelming ones. Rusev didn’t get much time to prove and Nakamura even holding the championship for almost half a year couldn’t elevate the prestige of the title. It was more of a fault of WWE creative rather than of wrestlers.

It will be wise to WWE to put the United States championship on some new faces. R-Truth is only a transition champion. But beyond R-Truth, there is a plethora of talent in Smackdown Live who will be an ideal choice to carry the belt. It could be Mustafa Ali, Andrade or even the veteran like Rey Mysterio. Samoa Joe can also become new US Champ as a championship is long time overdue.