4 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Backlash 2017

by Scott Carlson

1. Nakamura Introduces Himself

Shinsuke Nakamura Dolph Ziggler
WWE.com

Shinsuke Nakamura at 50% is still better than about half of the roster, so it’s safe to call his SmackDown debut match Sunday night a modest success.

Nakamura battled Dolph Ziggler in what was a slower-than-expected match, with Dolph controlling with some basic stuff early on and Shinsuke coming back with kicks and knee strikes. Things picked up at the midpoint, with Dolph hitting a massive DDT for 2 and the two trading some high-impact moves.

Ziggler made a fatal mistake by spitting in Nakamura’s face, leading the King of Strong Style to decimate him with knees and then hit a reverse Exploder suplex and Kinshasa for the win. While the match wasn’t anything like his NXT debut against Sami Zayn, Shinsuke gave casual fans enough of a sampling to let them know what he’s capable of.

Here’s hoping however that Nakamura will get a chance to go full tilt sometimes in the near future, because Nakamura at 50% will get old after a while.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.