WWE News: Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura Compete In Big Match Before ‘SummerSlam 2017’ PPV


Last night’s episode of SmackDown Live featured plenty of action, but it also featured another big match after the live television show ended. Fans saw the big finale as Baron Corbin attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract to win Jinder Mahal’s championship. However, John Cena was on the apron to interrupt his opportunity, allowing Mahal to get a very quick pinfall to retain his title ahead of SummerSlam 2017. Moments after that happened, fans in the arena got to see another big match with several of the superstars who are involved in Sunday’s pay-per-view.

According to Sportskeeda, a dark match was held after the show that featured “The King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura and “The Viper” Randy Orton. While these two superstars have never officially faced one another in the ring, fans will still have to wait for that. However, the two popular SmackDown stars teamed up for a tag team match. On the other side of the ring was Orton’s opponent for Sunday, Rusev, and his tag team partner, Dolph Ziggler. Apparently, Jinder got to take the rest of the night off after back-to-back matches at the end of the show.

Shinsuke Nakamura faced a familiar foe in tag team action after ‘SmackDown’ went off TV. [Image by WWE]

In the dark match, Shinsuke and Orton were able to pick up the win. Reportedly, Orton was able to hit his trademark finisher, the RKO, on Dolph Ziggler. Earlier in the night, Orton hit the move on his upcoming opponent, Rusev. Could this signal that Orton is going to lose on Sunday after gaining the upper hand twice now, or is this simply a warm up for another big win for “The Viper” on Sunday?

A fan in attendance captured 45 seconds of video from last night’s match at Providence, Rhode Island. In the clip, fans see Orton hit his draping DDT move and then get revved up to hit his finishing move. He pounds the mat and gets the fans going wild, but as he attempted the big move, Rusev enters the ring and delivered the Superkick. Nakamura rushed into the ring to hit Kinsasha on Rusev, clearing him of the ring. Right after that, Dolph Ziggler super-kicked Shinsuke and kicked him out of the ring. That allowed Orton to recover and strike with the RKO, putting Ziggler down for the pinfall.

It was noted that most of the competitors in the match pretty much “played it safe” due to having matches on Sunday. There were no huge spots like leaps off the corner through tables or RKOs through the announcers’ table. That’s probably smart for the three guys involved in matches on Sunday. As of this report, Ziggler is not scheduled for anything at WWE SummerSlam 2017, but he hasn’t been doing a whole lot on SmackDown Live either. As far as Shinsuke Nakamura goes, that’s a different story.

Nakamura has arguably his biggest match since joining the main roster this coming Sunday as he contends for Jinder Mahal’s WWE World Championship. Right now, the Irish sports book Paddy Power has Nakamura as the favorite to win on their betting odds for this Sunday with four to 11 odds. The “Modern Day Maharaja” is the underdog at 15 to eight odds for his championship defense at SummerSlam PPV.

WWE star Randy Orton hit the RKO on Rusev during ‘SmackDown Live,’ then he faced him in a tag team match after the show. [Image by WWE]

A victory by Shinsuke Nakamura seems logical based on WWE currently having several other Japanese champions. Asuka is the longest-reigning NXT Women’s Champion. Just this past Monday, Akira Tozawa captured the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. A win by Nakamura allows WWE to promote their stars overseas in another area. A win would also come with an easier night’s sleep for “The King of Strong Style” knowing that Baron Corbin is no longer carrying around that Money in the Bank briefcase.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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