WWE WrestleMania 34: 10 Most Insane Things That Happened!
2. Rumble Winner Shinsuke Nakamura Loses Dream Match That Somehow Contrives To Disappoint, Turns Heel
The 2018 Royal Rumble pay-per-view meant nothing, ultimately. Asuka lost - and was weirdly happy at the prospect, but hey, she just loves to entertain! - and so too did Shinsuke Nakamura. Incidentally, Asuka seemed more concerned about her streak on Mixed Match Challenge than at WrestleMania. Something is amiss there.
Equally weird was the match structure, a dull and ill-advised deviation from their prior NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 classic. Slow and heavy on rest holds, the two men wrestled as if they too had watched the draining show from behind the curtain. Nakamura on his WWE 'Chronicle' special spoke of "exchanging energy" with the crowd. This was something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Though well-worked and logical, those are tame descriptors for a marketed 'Dream Match' performed by two dynamic wrestlers with a scorching precedent.
The clean finish arrived out of nowhere, following a babyface selling spell Nakamura used once too often in NXT, which justified his shocking post-match heel turn. On the evidence of a disappointing match, he sorely needs it to become a somebody once more.
Stephanie McMahon worked a better match than AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 34. There's a sentence you never thought you would read, etc. etc.