SmackDown Live 8-1-17: John Cena VS Shinsuke Nakamura

[Jack-Hammer]

In something of a blockbuster announcement from SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura will face off for the first time ever on next week's show. The winner of said match will then go on to SummerSlam to face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship.

Now before anyone loses their minds, I think it's important to be cautious and keep expectations relatively low. There are different directions they could go here and some of them aren't going to please a lot of net fans.

One direction would include Baron Corbin interfering in this match that results in Nakamura flat out losing or in a no contest. The most likely options in such a case is a triple threat match with Corbin, Cena and Nakamura to decide the challenger two weeks from tonight on SmackDown Live. The other likely scenario in this case involves Cena and Nakamura challenging Jinder at SummerSlam in a triple threat match.

One direction they could go is simply having Cena hand Nakamura his first singles loss in WWE. Given that it's the first time ever and Cena being "Big Match John", it's entirely possible that this happens. If it does, prepare yourself for the internet to blow up with declarations of WWE burying Nakamura, declarations urging people to cancel WWE Network subscriptions and/or just a shitstorm of animosity towards WWE.

One direction they could go is having Nakamura, who's the underdog here no matter which way you slice it, defeat John Cena to become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship. It seems unlikely on the surface when you think back over Cena's career and just how much of a force he is in WWE. However, it's not really all that unlikely, especially if you compare Cena over the last 15 months or so with just a few years back when Cena almost never lost period. Over the course of the last year or so, we've seen John Cena lose cleanly to AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt on ppvs and television so the notion of Nakamura beating Cena in their first match ever, especially when you think about Cena's classic program with Kevin Owens a few years ago, really isn't all that unlikely.

But yeah this, plus Styles vs. Owens for the US title next week, is a strong hook for next week's show.

 

[GOOZEKING]

Nakamura vs Cena for free on tv...I don't know what's worse the fact that we are getting it for free or that Nakamura will suffer his first loss next week on a random smackdown.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

Vince can not be stuipid enough to actually give this WrestleMania main event worthy match away for free.

I see Corbin getting involved or something happening to keep this from match from taking place.

 

[Bernkastel]

If WWE is smart, then this match will go to a no contest. This match should be main-eventing a PPV, not some random TV program. SD next week might see a slight jump in viewership, and maybe that's WWE's logic here. As that could be their gauge in determining the interest in a future program between the two. But a clean win on either man in a match with zero build or real hype will surely kill any interest in a rematch down the road.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Vince can not be stuipid enough to actually give this WrestleMania main event worthy match away for free.

My pet peeve actually. We've seen so many PPV quality matches given away on free TV.

Reigns vs. Joe, AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton, Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles, etc.

Sometimes I wonder what's the point of these PPV/Specials if matches are being given away for free?

 

[Snugglebites]

This "giving it away on free TV" complaint has always amused me. Raw & SmackDown used to constantly have big matches between the likes of Austin/Angle/BigShow/HHH/Rock/Kane/Undertaker/Jericho/Cena/Lesnar/Orton all the time. I never heard anybody complaining back then.

Let's just be happy and enjoy this.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

This is a wwe network special level main event so I'm guessing that they need the match to increase the ratings for smackdown.

Having said that, It makes sense t have your 2 biggest star face each other on smackdown if you wanted to get peoples to watch. I feel that this won't have a clean ending, I don't know who's going to be screwed over in that match but I can see baron corbin being the one interfering in the match.

 

[TheWizard]

I think there is a few reasons why they are doing this. First being they want a ratings boost for Smackdown and the other is they want to get the match with Nakamura in before Cena steps away which is seemingly close on the horizon.

I'm all for it even though it's easily a WM caliber match. What will annoy me is if Cena wins the title just to win 17 and then lose instantly to Corbin. He should put Jinder over.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

This "giving it away on free TV" complaint has always amused me. Raw & SmackDown used to constantly have big matches between the likes of Austin/Angle/BigShow/HHH/Rock/Kane/Undertaker/Jericho/Cena/Lesnar/Orton all the time. I never heard anybody complaining back then.

Let's just be happy and enjoy this.

I can see both sides of the issue but generally speaking, yeah that's pretty much how I feel. And yeah, there have been PLENTY of big matches that've been shown on TV rather than just for ppvs. Granted, most of them haven't been "first time ever" meetings between two top guys, but they've still been big matches, some of them all time classics. Off the top of my head, for instance, the Iron Man matches of Lesnar vs. Angle, Benoit vs. Triple H and Angle vs. HBK that took place on either Raw or SmackDown. April 23rd of this year marked 10 years since Cena vs. HBK on Raw went more than hour. Take a look at all the ladder matches like Rock vs. Mankind, Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian, RVD vs. Jeff Hardy, Taker vs. Jeff Hardy, RVD vs. Christian, Edge vs. Matt Hardy in a "Loser leaves Raw" ladder match that all happened on Raw, not to mention the 2nd women's MITB ladder match on SmackDown Live a few weeks back. Not to mention all the various street fight/no holds barred/no DQ matches, cage matches, even a couple of HIAC matches back in the late 90s all for free on TV.

Hell, without some marquee matches to take place on TV, there'd be the complaints and general bitching about a lack of good matches.

 

[neildittmar]

Cena vs. Nakamura...

I suppose the first question I ask myself is, what is the length of this feud most likely? Given that it has been advertised as a "dream match" of sorts, and that the winner goes on to face Mahal for the title, I'm guessing it's a one off.

So if it's a "one and done" (at least for now) then who wins? Well, the victor will be facing off against the WWE Champion at SummerSlam, which has been positioned for awhile now as the #2 PPV right behind WrestleMania. Despite Smackdown being the so called "land of opportunity", what main event match sounds better on the marquee... Cena vs. Mahal or Nakamura vs. Mahal? Given that WWE has borrowed Hulk Hogan's "Real American" gimmick and appropriated it onto Cena as of late, and that Mahal is playing the anti-American gimmick to a tee, there is literally no other choice (barring some odd swerve) than for Cena to go over and get the title match at SummerSlam.

As for the match itself, I think the scenario will effectively be like most of Bray Wyatt's matches against Cena from years past. Nakamura will be permitted to make a good account of himself, but "Big Match John" will come shining through and effectively eek out a victory at the very end. We could get some Baron Corbin interference as a distraction, but I'm nearly certain that Cena's win against Nakamura will be decisive.

 

[Woodstuff]

Fun fact: You can let everyone on the internet know you're a mouthbreathing fucktard without explicity telling them, simply by complaining that WWE are showcasing a huge wrestling match on their "free" weekly TV show.

How many times did Austin fight Undertaker, or Rock face off with HHH, or Angle against Y2J/Benoit, all on FREE TV. Fair enough, this is a "first time ever" deal, but as fans, you should be happy that you're getting the match at all. Even better if you didn't have to pay for it. Stinks of irony that people are calling WWE stupid for putting this match on SD.

As far as the match goes, I can't wait. Cena will probably win (after Corbin distracts Nakamura), and will go on to put Mahal over at Summerslam.

 

[Woodstuff]

Hell, without some marquee matches to take place on TV, there'd be the complaints and general bitching about a lack of good matches.

This, 100% this.

"Raw/SD suck. Same matches every week, no incentive for me to tune in. Idiotic company"

That was the internets main argument 6-7 years ago, and back then it was a legitimate complaint. But "THEY SHOULN'T BE GIVING ME THIS GREATMATCH FOR FREE" is staggeringly moronic.

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

I see no issue with this match been on free T.V. Nakamura is no where near Main Event level yet (Kayfabe in WWE)

We got The Rock and Austin vs NWO for free 6 months after the alliance crap. Stop bitching. Complaining for the sake of complaining. Being too smart and ruining it.

Don't enjoy it's been given away for free? Don't watch.

 

[OYDK]

If the match goes on, Cena should win. I like Nakamura and I've been a fan of his for years, but pushing him to a marquee match at Summerslam this early could be a mistake. He hasn't really hit his stride on the main roster yet and shoving him down people's throats has the potential to backfire. I've already seen a ton of "I don't get Nakamura's appeal" posts since his debut, and if I'm being honest, I can see where they're coming from. He was almost weighted down with the amount of hype he came in with and has, understandably, been missing a step since he came up to the main roster. If I was not familiar with him, I don't think I'd be blown away with his work so far either.

That's not to say I've been disappointed by him or anything though. I wholly expected there to be a transition period, as there has been for nearly every wrestler who's ever debuted in the WWE, before he really hit his stride. I think it would be much smarter to have Nak enter into a US title feud with Styles rather than immediately thrusting him into a World title match. Let him get his feet under him before throwing him into the fire. He needs that breakout match or feud before he can be considered a legitimate World title contender in my opinion.

Plus, Cena makes a World title match legitimate and main event worthy just by being in it. Even if it's against someone like Jinder Mahal.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Cena taking the title from Mahal has been planed months ago, dont believe they changed it. This is just a match to get to that and a way to have Cena vs Nakamura. Lets face it, with Cena as part timer we should be happy that we maybe get it now instead of never.

 

[Navi]

Who cares we are getting a great match here so sit back and enjoy it. You can't please people no matter how hard you try. Let's face it RAW and SD Live have been the drizzling shits for awhile now. It's been replay after replay for the longest time. I could almost write the show and I'm not a booker.

So they are finally doing something different and instead of praising them for it, bitch, bitch and bitch again. All you have to do is look at the quality of today's PPV's to see that they are just glorified versions of what we see each week on TV. The only difference is that most titles change hands there.

Besides weren't they giving the Network away for free for the quite some time, so in reality every match whether it was on RAW, SD or the PPV, people were getting it for nothing. I only hope that these two live up to their names. We saw Cena vs Rusev last Sunday and it was horrible, never thought I would have said that about a Cena match but there you go.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I'm kind of hoping for a triple threat at SS. A Cena/Mahal feud sounds very much like something we've seen many times before. A Nakamura/Mahal feud feels very premature. I'm not sure either guy could carry the month up to SS and then Cena appears to be left with nothing to do except maybe make that "free agent" move to Raw or just go away entirely.

So I hope that we get the triple threat with Corbin looming. The international undertones could really add something to the feud with Mr. America, the Japanese guy, and the "Indian" dude.

But this may just be a match Cena wanted and Vince found a place for it knowing he only has so much Cena left.

Is WAS still touring India in Sept.? Do they go to Japan as well. Mahal and Nakamura being high on the card would make sense for that purpose.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I expect Cena to win and would have no problem with it. Let Nakamura gain some time and credibility. This is a face/face match so there's a decent chance it'll end clean. Otherwise, the obvious choice is Corbin getting involved and costing Nakamura. If Mahal gets involved, which wouldn't make sense since he asked for an opponent, it would lend itself more to a triple threat, which I don't think they're going with.

 

[d_henderson1810]

At first, this looked like a "Summerslam" style feud- the franchise player, John Cena, versus the current WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal.

I knew it would be Cena who would come out when Mahal made an open challenge.

All was fine and good until Daniel Bryan came out.

Firstly, why would Daniel screw over Cena (which he did by making him fight Nakamura)? I mean, Bryan and Cena are almost relatives. Bryan's wife will be Cena's sister-in-law in a few months, and yet Daniel Bryan makes Cena have to "earn" it? Reverse nepotism at work. This would have worked better if Shane made the announcement, since he has no affiliation to Cena (and his speech to Owens earlier, about "putting on the best matches on Smackdown", would have been shown by booking Cena v Nakamura next week).

I see problems with doing this match. If Cena wins, then people here will say "Super Cena buried Shinsuke Nakamura" and "Nakamura should got back to NXT, because the main roster don't know how to use him" etc.

If Nakamura wins, then we have an underwhelming Summerslam main event- Nakamura v Mahal. Don't forget, having Jinder Mahal as champion is even a stretch, to then add Nakamura, who has been on "Smackdown" for six weeks, to compete for the title at the second biggest WWE show of the year, is a bit hard to swallow. Maybe on a "Smackdown" PPV, but not a major show, especially not one like "Summerslam".

I am not a fan of anyone getting a WWE Title or Universal Title shot in their first year on the main roster. I think they need to establish themselves first, show their wares. That is why I like MITB. You can "endorse" a future up-and-comer as a future WWE Champion, without having to pull the trigger straight away.

I like to see new talent win the secondary title first, like the IC or U.S. belt, see how they carry themselves as champion, and down the track, then pull the trigger if appropriate. If Nakamura is a true superstar, then he will still be a superstar a couple of years down the track, when he is "ready". He can barely speak English, so wouldn't be good cutting promos.

It should have been Cena v Mahal at "Summerslam", with no complications. Maybe have Cena earn it against Rusev (who was his opponent at "Battleground").

Doing Cena v Nakamura to earn a Summerslam title shot could end in tears if not done right. Nakamura winning will make the fans happy, but having Cena v Mahal at "Summerslam" sells more seats.

The only way to do this match, without anyone looking bad, is to have Baron Corbin interfere, and get Nakamura counted out or disqualified. This way, Cena can still fight Mahal, and Nakamura takes a loss, without losing momentum, because he was "screwed" out of the victory, and could also lead to another match between Nakamura versus Corbin at "Summerslam". This is the only way to do this match, and not upset either the fans, Nakamura's push, or the WWE's bottom line.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I see no issue with this match been on free T.V. Nakamura is no where near Main Event level yet (Kayfabe in WWE)

We got The Rock and Austin vs NWO for free 6 months after the alliance crap. Stop bitching. Complaining for the sake of complaining. Being too smart and ruining it.

Don't enjoy it's been given away for free? Don't watch.

I am not complaining for the sake of complaining. WWE has been giving too many matches on Free TV that's it's depleting any intriguing fresh match ups they could possibly have on PPV or Network Special.

If you look at down the road some potential PPV matches, if built up well, was going to be Joe vs. Reigns, Styles vs. Orton, and Nakamura vs. Cena. Having all these matches happen on Free TV does diminish the interest of any upcoming PPV match that they might have in the next few months or so.

There's a reason why Triple H didn't want to have a match with Batista on Free TV and wanted to save it for a PPV.

And it's not just that it's on free TV, it's the lack of build. Part of the enjoyment of watching a match is the build up. This is the reason why Batista wasn't really too happy how his match with Cena was rushed at Summer Slam 2008. Part of having a great match is having the fans invested in it.

 

[MWRedskins]

my guess is that this match ends with Cena somehow going to face Jinder Mahal (likely with Corbin getting involved). As for what i think will/should happen..Cena goes and faces Mahal at SummerSlam, however, while both men (Cena and Mahal) are down in the ring and Cena (or Orton) took out the Singh Brothers, have Corbin then come out and cash in and pin either man to then do two things 1) take the title off Mahal (who is such a weak champion now) and 2) avoids giving Cena a 17th title run and it ending too soon. Corbin then wins the title and after a quick Smackdown re-match, Corbin starts a feud with Cena where Corbin in the end keeps the title.....now what "i would do" (i doubt it happen) is that Corbin holds it until.....Royal Rumble where he loses it to AJ Styles...then Nakamura wins the Rumble to set up the Dream Wrestlemania Match, Styles vs. Nakamura.

 

[ISkye]

It doesn't really matter when or where this match happens in the current landscape of WWE right now. Especially in regards to Smackdown. Shinsuke could use a big match considering he has floundered for over a year at this point. Orton just lost 3 times in a row to Jinder Mahal. Styles is busy winning the U.S. title every other week. Rusev might of been an option, but seems he lost already to Cena. (Not sure how many times it's been at this point)

So Cena vs Nakamura is the most directly available and a lot of people will watch not only for the match, but literally just for Cena. It fills a good week of TV while setting heavy implications for the future and deciding the key match for Smackdown on the Summerslam PPV. The match could have a screwy finish, but honestly even if it does it's probably the best route to go. They have a lot of options with this and can even make Nakamura losing into something compelling.

Looks good on paper. Lots of options no matter who loses or how screwy the finish is. Both are some of the best in the world and together they could probably have a great match that could be possibly equal to Styles vs Cena. Does everything it needs to even with negatives attached in hypothetical.

So it's either gonna go great and be ruined 2 weeks after, or just suck absolutely immediately basically. Just enjoy it for what it's worth. If ya wanna watch great wrestling look for some of the better NJPW G1 Climax matches that are happening. If you wanna be sports entertained watch WWE Network or one of those athletic competition game shows. Hope this match is good so it gives me a reason to watch Smackdown again, or anything WWE does.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I don't care that this match is happening on a random Smackdown, which will probably lead to it either not even starting due to an attack, get cancelled early on in the show or go about 3 minutes. Whatever it takes to get one step closer to Jinder Mahal losing the WWE title. I haven't even watched Smackdown since maybe around the 2nd show of him being champion. He's just so boring and average there's nothing about him that is must see and his dreadful matches with Orton at the pay per views have made it even worse for me to sit through.

At this point, Shinsuke, Cena, Corbin whoever I don't care just get the damn title off of Jinder and make the main event scene interesting again. I get it, Jinder was fresh and new and someone we haven't seen in this spot before but...he's still Jinder Mahal and that's hard to get around even if he blew everyone away (which he hasn't) not a lot of people can forget he was getting beat in less than 3 minutes a few months ago. It might have worked different if he was built up for months, but as of now I just have no desire to even watch smackdown until he's not champion.

Back to Shinsuke vs Cena, this isn't the first time a high caliber match was aired on free TV. Cena vs HBK was a random match on Raw at one point before they headlined WrestleMania and even then they had an hour long match on Raw a few weeks later. If they go all the way with it and let them have a 20 minute spectacle I think it would do wonders to establish Nakamura as legit considering he's floundered with mediocre matches with Ziggler and Corbin since being on Smackdown.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I can't believe FANS complain about seeing a PPV-quality match on free TV. You are fans, enjoy it.

Cena probably loses, even though he shouldn't. He's better in every way and a much bigger star. Cena should end this Jinder madness.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Fans question a dream match on television. What a time to be alive.

It's a fight we don't have to pay for. Neither men are going to be less for wear if they lose. If Nakamura loses, it was to Cena, the face of pro wrestling. If Cena loses, it's to Nakamura, someone the crowd reveres. There really isn't a negative here. Sure, it could and most likely will end with a screwy finish, but that's wrestling and we got to see it for free. WWE is handing us ice cream and some of y'all would rather watch it melt instead of eating it.