Shinsuke Nakamura is a great talent. But he’s a terrible challenger to Roman Reigns’ WWE Championship due to his past booking.

WWE WrestleMania Backlash is approaching, and Roman Reigns looks set to defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship prize for the first time. After defeating his biggest challenge to date in Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 39, he is undoubtedly at the top of the mountain, though it isn’t entirely clear how long he will remain in that position, with it being unclear when his eventual fall will come. It certainly won’t be at Backlash, where he is primed to go head-to-head with Shinsuke Nakamura based on recent events on Smackdown, who may be one of the least credible challengers he has had over the last two years as Universal Champion, with Nakamura also being a poor choice for Reigns’ first defense as the Unified Champion.

If WWE Booked Nakamura Correctly, He Could Be A Strong Challenger
When branding Nakamura as a poor challenger, it has absolutely zero to do with his talents as a performer. When Nakamura walked into NXT a few years back, he was presented as a huge star, and even when he first got called up to the main roster, the fans were firmly on his side. He is someone with a unique ring style, different from everything seen in WWE, bringing “Japanese Strong Style” to the company. He also has a very special type of charisma, that he can convey without cutting any promos, and that was working for a while in WWE too.

Roman Reigns encountered Shinsuke Nakamura for the first time at Royal Rumble 2018 when The King of Strong Style punched his ticket to WrestleMania by eliminating The Tribal Chief.

In the contest’s final moments, Nakamura countered Reigns’ Spear with a Kinshasa, which allowed him to throw his opponent over the top rope. It was a hard pill to swallow for The Tribal Chief as The Artist snatched away his second Rumble victory.

Since then, the two have faced each other twice in singles matches. Interestingly, Shinsuke walked into both of these matches as the Intercontinental Champion. So, what was the result each time Reigns and Nakamura collided?

What are the singles match record between Roman Reigns and Shinsuke Nakamura?

Roman Reigns has a 2-0 lead over Nakamura in singles matches. The duo first locked horns in October 2019, when The Artist defended his Intercontinental Championship against The Big Dog.

It was a great match that ended in a disqualification. Baron Corbin attacked Reigns with his royal scepter, which prevented him from winning the championship.

The two met again during The Tribute to the Troops event in November 2021. It was a Champion vs. Champion bout, where the Universal Champion looked to finally earn a pinfall victory over The King of Strong Style.

Shinsuke Nakamura stepped up his game and gave The Tribal Chief a tough fight. However, following a vicious Spear, The Tribal Chief got a three count.

Reigns said The Usos need to head to Raw to unify the SmackDown and Raw tag titles.

For Roman Reigns, being the undisputed champion with his cousins, The Usos, at his side with the SmackDown tag team championship is not enough. While detailing the next step for The Bloodline on Friday’s SmackDown, Reigns said The Usos must head to Raw to unify the tag titles the same way he unified the WWE and universal championships by beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.

Reigns would ultimately be interrupted by a surprising presence as Shinsuke Nakamura came to the ring for a confrontation. The Bloodline was one step ahead of Nakamura, however, and ended the show standing triumphant.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

Roman Reigns details The Bloodline’s next move
Roman Reigns closed the show with an in-ring promo with The Usos and Paul Heyman. Reigns noted that he’s one man with two titles, but the Usos are two men with two titles. In order to show the greatness Reigns said his cousins are capable of, he said The Usos needed to unify the tag team titles. Reigns said The Usos need to go to Raw and take the titles, cementing The Bloodline with all the titles.

Shinsuke Nakamura’s music then hit and he made his way to the ring, absent the presence of Rick Boogs, who suffered a quadriceps injury at WrestleMania. Reigns cut Nakamura off before he could speak. Reigns said he understands how Nakamura feels after losing his partner and offered Nakamura a hug only for The Usos to strike with a superkick, putting Nakamura down to end the show.

WWE has certainly done plenty of work to get to Usos vs. RK-Bro, with the teams meeting for multiple weeks on Raw. The idea of unifying the tag belts is certainly appealing. But more appealing is a short program featuring Nakamura challenging Reigns. There are much worse ways to kill a few weeks than Nakamura getting a main event program. He’s clearly not seen as a top player, but he remains wildly over and can hold up his end in this program. Grade: B+

What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
Ronda Rousey challenged Charlotte Flair to an “I quit” match at WrestleMania Backlash. Flair responded by saying she didn’t quit at WrestleMania and that “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” is a myth. She then shot down the challenge, telling Rousey to “get in the back of the line.” Rousey vowed the match would happen regardless.
Xavier Woods def. Butch via pinfall with a small package. Butch was livid after the loss, throwing chops and punches at teammates Sheamus and Ridge Holland.
Gunther def. Joe Alonzo via pinfall with a powerbomb. Ludwig Kaiser (Marcel Barthel with a new name) and Gunther made their SmackDown debuts with Kaiser introducing Gunther ahead of the squash match.
Raquel Rodriguez (former NXT women’s champion Raquel Gonzalez) made her SmackDown debut. Los Lotharios attempted to get a kiss from Rodriguez only to be blown off.
Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss brawled during “Happy Talk” when Corbin told Moss it was his fault Corbin lost to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania. Corbin said Moss — who won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal — made the weekend all about him.
Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn via countout. Zayn told Adam Pearce he would wrestle the next man to walk out of the locker room to rebuild his reputation after losing to Johnny Knoxville. McIntyre was that man, and after plenty of McIntyre dominance, Zayn ran from the ring and through the crowd to take the countout.
A pre-taped interview with Lacey Evans aired with Evans discussing her rough upbringing. It appears she is on her way back and will return as a babyface.
Liv Morgan def. Sasha Banks via pinfall when she countered a superplex into a pin. Morgan and Rhea Ripley challenge Banks and Naomi for the women’s tag titles on Monday.

SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match: Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Usos

We go right to the stage and Rick Boogs is out with his guitar. He does the grand introduction and begins performing as partner Shinsuke Nakamura makes his way out. McAfee jumps on top of the announce table and goes wild as Boogs and Nakamura shred down the long ramp. LED boards are lit up on the ringside barrier and the ring apron for The Harder Farmer, a brand of Mike’s Harder Lemonade, and the logo matches the ring gear of Boogs and Nakamura. They stop and pose with a man dressed as The Harder Farmer, and Cole says something about how Nakamura and Boogs had a special drink mixed up for them. They hit the ring and Nakamura poses as more pyro goes off. Fans pop big for Boogs and Nakamura. The music hits and out next come SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos – Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso. We see recent events that led to this match as The Usos hit the ring and pose with the titles in the air. We get formal ring introductions from Samantha Irvin, who is also making her WrestleMania debut.

The bell rings and Nakamura unloads on Jimmy with kicks to start. Nakamura drops Jimmy in the corner and gives him Good Vibrations. Nakamura positions Jimmy in the corner and hits the running high knee for a quick 1 count. Jey tags in and they double team Nakamura as Jey flies off the top while Jimmy holds him. Jey with a slam. Jey points up in the air in the middle of the ring as fans boo.

Nakamura rocks Jey with a right hand but Jey takes him back down and kicks him. Jimmy tags back in for another double team to Nakamura. Jimmy uses the middle rope on Nakamura as the referee warns him. The referee stops Boogs from coming in, which lets Jey deck Nakamura with a cheap shot. Jimmy works Nakamura over while talking trash. Nakamura gets up and fights back with strikes. Jimmy drops Nakamura with an enziguri for a close 2 count. Jimmy grounds Nakamura with a headlock now. Nakamura reaches for a tag but Jimmy stops him. Nakamura blocks a slam and stuns Jimmy with a kick to the face.

Nakamura is down as Boogs rallies for a tag on the apron. Jey and Boogs tag in at the same time. Boogs unloads and then drops Jimmy as he charges in. Jey turns it around and stuns Boogs but then leaps into a bear-hug in the middle of the ring. Boogs powers Jey up into a vertical suplex, but holds Jey, goes down to one knee, goes back up and finishes the suplex. Jey still kicks out at 2. Boogs puts Jey on his shoulders but here comes Jimmy. Boogs has hem both on his shoulders now but Boogs’ knee goes out and they all three fall to the mat. Boogs sells a knee injury now.

Nakamura fights both opponents at ringside now, where Boogs is down. Nakamura goes at it with Jey and hits the big sliding German. Nakamura calls for the Kinshasa but he runs into a superkick instead by Jey. Jimmy tags in and goes to the top for the big Uso Splash but Nakamura kicks out just in time. Jey tags in but Nakamura tries to fight them off. Jimmy superkicks Nakamura, then they hit him with the double team 1D for the pin to retain.

Winners: The Usos