5 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Aug 1)

1. Cena & Nakamura Tear The House Down

Shinsuke Nakamura is clearly one of the most talented wrestlers in the world, but it’s fair to say that he hasn’t shown his best work lately. ‘The King Of Strong Style’ often gives the impression that he’s coasting, which is understandale. He’s had a long, gruelling career, and he knows that nine times out of ten, he can get by on his electric charisma without having to go all-out in the ring.

The trouble is that this isn’t particularly exciting to watch, but Nakamura fortunately willed himself out of second gear for last night’s match with John Cena. This was the hardest that the Japanese star has worked since his NXT feud with Samoa Joe, which shouldn’t be a huge surprise, given he was in there with one of the sport’s most tireless performers.

The main event delivered on every level, and with a shot at Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship was on the line, Nakamura won cleanly. He countered John’s Attitude Adjustment into an inverted Xploder, then hit the Kinshasa for the victory, and Cena raised his hand after the bell, showing his respect.

Whether or not Nakamura is up to the task of dragging a respectable PPV main event out of Mahal is another matter entirely, but he was fantastic last night, as was Cena. A tremendous, fast-flowing main event to close one of the best SmackDowns of 2017 so far.