10 Things WWE Is Still Awesome At
8. Subverting Low Expectations
Shinsuke Nakamura's match with John Cena on Tuesday's SmackDown, while not as good as his Sami Zayn debut bout nor his criminally underrated matches with Bobby Roode earlier this year, was still excellent.
The relief felt when the bell rang was palpable. John Cena seemed unaffected by the dangerous-looking botch. Nakamura was no longer there to fight from underneath; he looked special, and devastating, once more. He was on his way to the main event of SummerSlam (well, the midcard, Lesnar's going to headline, but you get the idea). There's no suggestion that WWE altered course, strictly speaking. They had plans to push Nakamura as a leading light of SmackDown from the jump. But they altered the direction of the character, not the destination - and thank Christ for that. The match with Cena was a terrific back and forth contest, a reassuring contrast to his underdog positioning in the botched Dolph Ziggler match at Backlash.
WWE has always managed - under duress at times - to deliver when all seemed lost. They did it with Nakamura on Tuesday. They're doing it with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose on Monday nights, and they were as aimless as the White House a month ago.
It's hard to keep the faith, but sometimes it pays off. When there's a Big Four show to promote, at least.