10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2019 Facts

8. From Royal Rumble Winner, To The Pre-Show

Royal Rumble 2019 Shinsuke Nakamura Rusev
WWE.com

It's no secret that the rose came off the bloom spectacularly for Shinsuke Nakamura in the second half of 2018 and beyond.

The year had started off white-hot for the King of Strong Style, with Nakamura winning the 2018 men's Royal Rumble and going on to cement himself a shot at AJ Styles' WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. A defeat in that 'Mania contest ushered in a heel turn for Shinsuke, and he spent the summer hitting the Phenomenal One in the d*ck while still managing to come up short in his quest to become WWE Champion.

As an indicator of just how far Nakamura had fallen from the 2018 Royal Rumble PPV to the 2019 edition of the January spectacle, Shinsuke found himself competing on the pre-show of the 2019 Rumble event.

There is a silver lining, for Nakamura defeated Rusev to become the United States Champion on said pre-show. But still, from Royal Rumble winner to winning a secondary title on the pre-show is quite the fall from grace.

Shinsuke would be a part of the 2019 men's Rumble match later in the night, of course, although that was an uneventful 17-minute appearance that saw him score just one elimination.

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