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

#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.