Last week’s dream match between Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena saw the King of Strong Style punch his ticket to SummerSlam. For Cena, his was nearly punched for a hospital visit.
In the match’s closing moments, Shinsuke hit an “exploder” suplex. Instead of making a full rotation to land on his stomach, Cena landed on the back of his head. The WWE Universe held its breath until Cena displayed normal function.
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Luckily that was all of the physical scares the match had for us, and most of us have moved on. But not Vince McMahon. In a report from SI.com, McMahon was allegedly furious backstage over the potential disaster:
“Yet Nakamura did not escape the wrath of McMahon, who has come to depend on Cena as the face of his company for the past decade.Despite McMahon’s anger, which was more in defense of Cena than it was an indictment of Nakamura, he has not lost faith in the Japanese star.”
SI finished up their report with an ominous condition concerning Nakamura:
“However, if Nakamura makes another mistake on a grand stage, Sports Illustrated learned through channels close to WWE, then McMahon will have an entirely different opinion of Nakamura.”
I’m glad that @JohnCena was up and moving after that, I thought he broke his neck… @WWE #SDLive pic.twitter.com/C42KK1BUeU
โ Brandon Salmon (@BrandonSalmon) August 2, 2017
Cena was clearly dazed as the referee kneeled to check to see if the 16x Champion could continue. He was able to shake it off just in time for Shinsuke to land the Kinsasha for the win. Nakamura’s finishing maneuver is usually pretty violent, but last night, it was laid in tenderly by the King of Strong Style. That’s because Nakamura knew he may have injured Cena.
Keen eyes caught this moment after the match:
Worlds have collided. pic.twitter.com/NhAmtwbw4w
โ TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) August 2, 2017
A humbled Shinsuke clearly says “I’m sorry,” to which Joh Cena says “Dont’ be sorry!” It may take a couple views, but it’s there.
For Nakamura, the rocket has officially been strapped to his back. A clean win over John Cena in a great match may have just given him the magic fairy dust. He’ll face Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam for the WWE Champion. The Brooklyn crowd will likely adore him.
For Cena, he’ll be squaring off against the Lone Wolf Baron Corbin. SmackDown General Manager, Daniel Bryan made their showdown official on last night’s Smackdown. It’s an odd match to handicap as Cena is reportedly leaving SmackDown for RAw the very next day. A win for the lame duck Cena carried some questionable logic, but WWE could justify Corbin’s loss by having him cashing in his money in the bank contract.
Interesting times.
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