5 things that should’ve happened on Smackdown Live this week

#3 Nakamura reminds the roster he is the Royal Rumble winner

Nakamura needs to make his presence felt this close to Wrestlemania

WWE hasn’t done a solid job of presenting Shinsuke Nakamura on the main roster as the charismatic badass he truly is, and this week was evidence of that.

While many appreciate the distinct segment of Nakamura and Rusev setting up their Fastlane match in the most hilarious way possible, WWE has been wasting valuable episodes of SmackDown Live where they needed to redesign certain aspects of Nakamura’s main roster career before his huge encounter with AJ Styles.

While Rusev vs Nakamura will be a fun match that might become the highlight of the PPV, Nakamura is the first Royal Rumble winner in almost a decade that a majority of the WWE Universe approved, and WWE is doing a terrible job of giving fans a reason to care about his journey beyond that win.

As Nakamura is being booked into wasteful matches that won’t influence his long-term plans going forward, fans will become less and less interested in his quest for the gold, as his motivations, goals and future direction are not being outlined for fan investment.

Therefore, instead of the one segment WWE eventually produced on the blue brand, the company should’ve had Nakamura involve himself in the main event picture. Whether that would’ve seen Nakamura confront Styles and address their dream match or WWE could’ve had him destroy each of the competitors in the Fastlane main event towards the closing moments of the show.

WWE needed to remind fans that the winner of Fastlane will challenge Nakamura and they needed to showcase Nakamura as a dangerous competitor that should be viewed as a legitimate ass kicker.