Best and Worst of SmackDown before Fastlane: Multiple stars involved in 1 title picture, Major theory revealed to be true

#2. Worst: Using Shinsuke Nakamura as a stepping stone on SmackDown

KINSHAAAASAAAA!!! 👑#SmackDown @ShinsukeN @WWERollins pic.twitter.com/Os6mnzqOJ7

— WWE (@WWE) March 20, 2021

Seth Rollins hasn't been in a good mood on SmackDown lately. He cut a promo berating Cesaro for his inability to grab the brass ring, and declared that The Swiss Superman was jealous of him.

Cesaro's former tag team partner Shinsuke Nakamura came out instead and told Rollins to shut up. He hit the Kinshasa on SmackDown's Messiah and it instantly set up a singles match between the two at Fastlane.

It's an exciting match-up, especially since it happened before at Survivor Series when both men were Champions. However, what it seems to be is WWE using Nakamura as a stepping stone on SmackDown.

"I am a @WrestleMania main-eventer... While he is an abject failure."#SmackDown @WWERollins @WWECesaro pic.twitter.com/lpPaEKRJXY

— WWE (@WWE) March 20, 2021

Seth Rollins winning seems like an obvious outcome at Fastlane, and in the process, it would also set up Cesaro's return on SmackDown and a WrestleMania match. We like that WrestleMania match, but it doesn't help Nakamura to simply be used as a stepping stone.

It's a shame because it was just two months ago when Shinsuke Nakamura put on his best performance in five years in the SmackDown Gauntlet match.