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Shinsuke Nakamura vs Rusev
In a Fastlane rematch, the first match of this week's SmackDown Live saw Royal Rumble Winner Shinsuke Nakamura go up against the man who is celebrated every day of the year in Rusev!
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WWE Champion AJ Styles joined the commentary desk for this one to scout his WrestleMania opponent in Nakamura as the crowd was split with some very loud, duelling chants.
Much like at Fastlane, this was a highly competitive, highly physical match that saw the pair exchange some physical strikes.
Forearm met with forearm, kick met with kick. Rusev, The Super Athlete, looked incredibly strong and, of course, athletic - even dominating The Artist for a portion of the match.
Of course, we saw some trademark taunts from Nakamura as he strutted his stuff in between the aggression.
Nakamura soon cleared his path on the road to WrestleMania when he took over and upped the tempo and intensity with some kicks to the chest of Rusev.
Nakamura went for the Kinshasa, Rusev hit a drop toe hold and tried to lock in the Accolade, but the Artist escaped to take a kick to the face, kicking out at two.
If that wasn't impressive enough, both men evaded each other's strikes before Nakamura brought down Rusev with an incredible armbar takedown, the pair exchanged roll-ups with Shinsuke getting the three count.
After the match, Aiden English attacked Nakamura but, before Styles could help even up the numbers...not that he was in a hurry to do so, Nakamura cleared house and the pair had a staredown ahead of their WrestleMania dream match.
Next, we went backstage to see Charlotte Flair watching a promo video building up her match with Asuka at WrestleMania.
Natalya walked in to interrupt and say that she could see that Flair is scared of Asuka, but The Queen hit back by saying she's excited to face her strongest competition in the Empress of Tomorrow at WrestleMania.
Natalya took offence and told Flair she's better than both champion and challenger. The Canadian Superstar said, "Asuka is only undefeated because she hasn't faced me yet."
Flair issued a challenge to Natalya for tonight, which the former SmackDown Women's Champion duly accepted.
We then went to Nakamura telling Styles he did not need his help, with a huge grin on his face, and AJ Styles saying he knows, he saw. The pair exchange a pack and forth before we go back to the ring for the next match.
