5 Matches that should have happened at SummerSlam 2021

#3. Apollo Crews vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - A SummerSlam moment for the King?

#we did it 👑🎸🏈 #smackdown #wwe #raw #プロレス pic.twitter.com/r0xu2mPMFV

— Shinsuke Nakamura (@ShinsukeN) August 17, 2021

King Nakamura has had a lot of momentum, but he won't be on the SummerSlam card. WWE, just like last year, opted to have an intercontinental title change before the pay-per-view and not during it.

The same thing happened last year when Jeff Hardy dethroned AJ Styles to become the Intercontinental Champion on the Blue brand.

In the penultimate SmackDown before SummerSlam, Crews defended his Intercontinental Championship against Nakamura and lost. Both Rick Boogs and Commander Azeez were ejected from ringside and Shinsuke Nakamura went on to defeat Apollo Crews to become a two-time Intercontinental Champion.

NAKAMURA IS THE NEW CHAMP LETS GOOOOO#smackdown pic.twitter.com/vyXuvOJ6Qi

— sindi!⚡️ (@sashaftdak) August 14, 2021

One can't help but wonder whether it would have been a better moment at The Biggest Party of the Summer than on SmackDown. However, we do understand one side of the argument, that WWE needs to have big moments happen on free television as well. The SmackDown broadcast deal with FOX is a massive money maker and title changes on the show are important.

However, it would have likely been Shinsuke Nakamura's best moment in WWE since he joined in 2016.