SK Power Rankings: July 29th

#8 Shinsuke Nakamura

The King of Strong Style and John Cena go head-to-head next week!

"The King of Strong Style" has been missing from our Rankings since making his WWE debut back in April. After a strong showing at the Money in the Bank ladder match, Nakamura set his sights on exacting revenge against the superstar that jumped him before the MITB match and probably cost him the briefcase, Baron Corbin.

This past Sunday at Battleground, the two rivals finally met in a one-on-one match-up. While it was a decent contest, the match was less than thrilling and, like most matches in WWE nowadays, ended in controversy when Corbin connected with a low blow to The Artist, causing a DQ and giving Nakamura a cheap win.

Thanks to the ending at Backlash, however, we did get a rematch the following Tuesday night on Smackdown Live, and this time, the match did not disappoint one bit. A much more intense and hard-hitting match this time around and a clear victory for Nakamura earned him a spot at #8 in our Rankings this week. Now, "The King of Strong Style" faces the biggest test of his WWE career, a #1 contender's match against John Cena next week on Smackdown Live for a shot at Jinder Mahal at Summerslam.

Obviously, a win next week would be the biggest win of Nakamura's short career on the main roster, and would give him his first WWE World Title shot. Not sure if the plan is for a Triple Threat Match to take place at Summerslam or whether "The Lone Wolf" is going to cost Shinsuke the match next week, and the two go at it one last time. Regardless, it's clear that WWE isn't going to be able to hold off on making Nakamura a main event player for much longer, so it's only a matter of time before he's a staple in our Rankings.