The first of seven different title matches on tonight’s (Sun., Jan. 27, 2019) WWE Royal Rumble event at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, took place on the pre-show, as Rusev put the United States championship on the line against Shinsuke Nakamura.
The story between these two coming in was that Rusev won the U.S. title from Nakamura and in an attack in retaliation, Shinsuke inadvertently hurt Lana. This was, then, driven by The Bulgarian Brute’s rage, which commentary tried to get over as a liability.
Naturally, Lana was involved in the finish, as she hopped on the apron to shout that Nakamura was cheating as he was trying to expose a turnbuckle. When he confronted her, Rusev charged in and ended up knocking his wife off the apron to the floor below, where she was grabbing at her ankle.
Nakamura then took advantage, winning the title back.
Nakamerica is back.
Get complete Royal Rumble results and coverage of the entire card right here.