5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (July 8)

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Shinsuke Nakamura = Solid Choice

Gunther Ludwig Kaiser Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Book this for the SummerSlam undercard and give Gunther vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 10 minutes right now. If that's the plan, then everyone is in for a treat. Nakamura is probably the best possible choice WWE could've picked as Gunther's first feud after dispatching Ricochet.

Seeing Naka run through Ludwig Kaiser in a setup match was also infinitely better than those drab "Contender's" scenarios fans usually see too. There's no need to have Gunther and Shin put hands on one another at all before SummerSlam. In fact, they shouldn't.

Gunther is a prize fighter.

The IC Champ chopped the stuffing out of poor Ludwig for failing to beat Nakamura anyway. 'If he'll do that to his friend, then just imagine what he'll do to Shinsuke at SummerSlam', should've been the battle cry from commentary afterwards.

Nakamura vs. Gunther will be an in-ring delight.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 10 Wrestling Moments That Scared The Sh*t Out Of Fans and 5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (July 4)!

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Contributor

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.