AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura announced for WWE SmackDown
While their WWE Championship feud may have ended at Money in the Bank, AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are already set to face each other again.
Styles vs. Nakamura in a non-title match has been announced for tomorrow’s episode of SmackDown, which is the go-home show for Extreme Rules. Styles will defend his WWE Championship against Rusev at the pay-per-view, and Nakamura will challenge for Jeff Hardy’s United States title. Rusev and/or Hardy getting involved in tomorrow’s match in some form seems like a possibility.
Nakamura hasn’t wrestled since his dog-bite injury from two weeks ago, though Dave Meltzer reported in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he was scheduled to be evaluated today.
Styles retained the WWE title against Nakamura in a last man standing match at Money in the Bank last month. They’ve had four matches against each other on PPV this year, and this will be the second time they’ve faced off on SmackDown in 2018.
Asuka vs. James Ellsworth in a lumberjack match is also scheduled for tomorrow’s SmackDown in Manchester, New Hampshire. Ellsworth ran away during their match last week when Asuka slapped him and laid him out with a spinning back fist.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.