Seth Rollins Beats Shinsuke Nakamura to Retain WWE World Heavyweight Title at Payback

Seth Rollins beat Shinsuke Nakamura at WWE Payback on Saturday to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

Rollins hit Nakamura with the Blackout to retain his title.

Rollins has been a marked man in WWE ever since becoming the inaugural world heavyweight champion in May, and Nakamura is the latest Superstar to step up to The Visionary.

A few weeks ago on Raw, Rollins was supposed to team with Cody Rhodes and Sami Zayn against The Judgment Day, but Zayn was taken out due to a backstage attack at the hands of JD McDonagh.

Rollins and Rhodes had to find a replacement partner as a result, and Nakamura offered to step in and fight alongside them.

Nakamura, Rollins and Rhodes meshed well in a victory, but the celebration was short-lived, as The King of Strong Style shockingly turned heel and hit Rollins with the Kinshasa.

In the weeks that followed, a more ruthless and aggressive side of Nakamura emerged, and he also committed to playing mind games with The Revolutionary.

During a confrontation on Raw, Nakamura whispered something in Rollins’ ear, and it was clear that Seth was disturbed by what Shinsuke told him.

On the next episode of Raw, Nakamura revealed that he told Rollins he knows about his back injury and intended to exploit it during their clash at Payback.

Rollins admitted that he has been dealing with fractures in his lower back for four years before adding that he is unsure how much longer he will be able to perform at the highest level of professional wrestling.

Nakamura seemingly had Rollins’ focus shaken leading up to Payback, perhaps giving Shinsuke his best opportunity yet to win a world title in WWE.

Despite the adversity stacked up in front of him, Rollins retained at Payback and continued to be the standard bearer on Monday Night Raw.

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