After failing to win the WWE championship from AJ Styles in multiple attempts, Shinsuke Nakamura immediately went down to challenge Jeff Hardy for the United States championship. The first title match between the two went down at tonight’s (Sun., July 15, 2018) Extreme Rules pay-per-view at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It lasted about 4 seconds.
As the referee was taking the title over to the ringside area, Nakamura hit Hardy with a patented low blow and had him in deep trouble before the bell ever rang. Once he gave the clear for the referee to ring it, Nakamura hit him with Kinshasa and scored the pinfall.
Just like that, we have a new U.S. champion.
There has been word that Hardy has been dealing with various injuries, which could explain this booking. Or they just wanted to make Nakamura look strong.
Either way, that’s what we’ve got.
Get complete Extreme Rules results and coverage of the entire card here.