Shinsuke Nakamura Lays Out Seth Rollins Following Main Event Of WWE Raw

A new challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship may have emerged on Monday night’s episode of “WWE Raw,” which closed on the image of Shinsuke Nakamura walking away from the ring, having just demolished the champion, Seth Rollins, with a Kinshasa knee strike. The attack came after Nakamura and Rollins were both on the winning team in the evening’s main event, a six-man tag in which they partnered with Cody Rhodes against The Judgment Day.

Nakamura’s inclusion in the match was unplanned, at least within the fiction of the show — Rhodes and Rollins were originally set to team with WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champion Sami Zayn, but after he was attacked backstage by JD McDonagh, Nakamura stepped up to take his place. The notoriously eccentric Japanese star had wrestled a match earlier in the evening, coming out victorious against Bronson Reed.

WWEs next premium live event, Payback, is scheduled for September 2 in Pittsburgh, and it’s possible the promotion is preparing Rollins vs. Nakamura as a potential headlining match. Nakamura, who is a former WWE Intercontinental, United States, NXT, and tag team champion, in addition to his laundry list of accomplishments overseas, hasn’t challenged for a world title since 2018, when he had a series of matches with then-champion AJ Styles.