10 WWE SummerSlam 2017 Impulse Reactions
2. Knackermura
He's a 'Rockstar'. He's an 'Artist'. He is even, on rare occasion, the 'King Of Strong Style'. What he's possibly not, is a 'WWE Superstar'.
Another woeful night on pay-per-view for Shinsuke Nakamura then, with him continuing to grossly under-deliver thanks in part to booking but also a distinct lack of interest in campaigning backstage with agents and management for what worked about the character so magnificently in NXT. Even his violinist entrance feels more like smoke and mirrors than a post-modern take on pro wrestling as it did back in the heady 'developmental' days of 2016.
Just like he was in the p*ss-poor clashes with Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin at Backlash and Battleground respectively, Shinsuke was portrayed as a cookie-cutter babyface for the bulk of a boring battle, before making a brief comeback only to be undone this time by a bit of heel cheating the once ice-cool NXT Champion would have comfortably circumnavigated.
Jinder Mahal gets no better regardless of who he faces, which only becomes more problematic when considering that this almost definitely won't be the last time these two square off on pay-per-view. It's a frustrating prospect, considering the endurance battle that was a three-match series with Randy Orton, but Mahal and Nakamura's collective suck likely won't derail the company's mishandling of both.