As we saw on Smackdown, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated John Cena to get the opportunity to face Jinder Mahal for the WWE title at Summerslam. It was a slight surprise as many people expected it to be John Cena. However, with the rumors of him moving over to RAW after Summerslam, it shouldn’t be a shocker. Now we will be getting Nakamura fighting Mahal for the WWE title.
I won’t give my full Summerslam predictions for a few weeks, but I see Nakamura winning the belt. For starters, Mahal has had a nice run as the WWE champion, but personally i can not see him staying in the main event scene. Also, reports have been going around that Mahal was probably dropping the belt at either Summerslam or the September Smackdown pay-per-view. Personally, i see him dropping the belt at Summerslam. You can give Nakamura his major WWE moment. While it will be nice to see Nakamura win the belt, I don’t see it being for that long.
For most of the Summer, Nakamura has been feuding with Baron Corbin, who is the current Money in the Bank winner. If Nakamura wins the belt, I see Corbin cashing in. In all honesty, I could see the cash in happening at either Summerslam or on the Smackdown episode that Tuesday. The WWE sees something in Corbin that they feel he can carry the company for some time. While I suspect Nakamura to be in the WWE, he won’t be carrying the company for that long.
Corbin is part of the future of the company and the WWE really needs to start building him into one of the top heels in the company. Since Corbin has been on the main roster, he really has done nothing memorable before he won the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Summerslam is in three weeks as the WWE crashes into the Barclays Center for four nights towards the end of August.