5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (May 6)

1. Next Challenger, Huh?

Sami Zayn Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Shinsuke Nakamura's issues with The Bloodline and Roman Reigns were largely forgotten about over the past few weeks. Then, here, Shin suddenly popped back up for a backstage promo, and he was clearly presented as somebody who will get a crack at Reigns' Undisputed Title soon.

Then, WWE made an arse of that too.

Naka was already struggling to convince in the challenger role, but his count out loss to Sami Zayn has arguably killed off his chances completely. One has to wonder why WWE are so fond of setting wrestlers up to fail - that's what they did here. Shin spoke passionately, then lost via sh*tty finish to Zayn.

Can they rescue things? Of course. Should they have to? No, not really. Surely it would've been better to stack up wins for Shinsuke over the past few weeks rather than have him disappear, suddenly reappear and then lose to a comedy heel.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.