7 things that need to happen at Survivor Series

#4 Shinsuke Nakamura needs to win clean

Shinsuke needs a much-needed victory.

Shinsuke Nakamura is a proven Champion around the world with three IWGP Championships and two WWE NXT Championships to his name. His general behavior, mannerisms and of course wrestling ability cemented his status in the WWE and, with just over a year spent on the developmental show, Nakamura was a quick call up to SmackDown.

However, after being called up on the main shows, it is fair to say that he has done very little since. With the exception of his Royal Rumble victory in 2018, he has failed to capture the WWE Championship on six different occasions, failed to capture the Money in the Bank Contract in 2017, was the first man to be eliminated at last years’ Survivor Series 5-on-5 Elimination match, and most recently failed to even qualify for the WWE World Cup.

Shinsuke Nakamura has currently held the WWE United States Championship for over 4 months and will head into Survivor Series as the current longest reigning Champion between the two brands. However, due to his sporadic appearances on both the weekly shows and pay-per-views, his reign doesn’t really count for anything. What makes it worse is that he’s yet to have a proper feud since capturing the title with the with the closest thing to a rivalry being with Jeff Hardy, who he captured the title from in the first place – and even then, that feud was more focused on Orton’s disdain for the Charismatic Enigma.

At Survivor Series, Shinsuke Nakamura will go head to head with the Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins, and to avoid any further underutilization with Shinsuke and an opportunity to make the United States Championship relevant again, he needs a clean victory.

A result against Rollins, one of the biggest workhorses currently in the WWE, will instantly bring up his credentials again. However, with Rollins’ ongoing issues with his unpredictable former Shield brother Dean Ambrose, there is every chance that Dean could cost Rollins the match – if the WWE wants to showcase the talents of their United States Champion, this can’t be the way the match ends.

Even if Ambrose doesn’t interfere on the night, there is enough substance between the two that a feud is going to build up towards next years’ WrestleMania - however, if he does interfere, it’ll be another hollow victory for Shinsuke and another mark against an underwhelming reign for the United States champion.