Here's How Shinsuke Nakamura's Booking Screwed Over Andrade 'Cien' Almas

At first the WWE Universe wasn’t sure how to react to Shinsuke Nakamura’s heel turn at WrestleMania 34. Almost three months later, he’s received a lot of praise for the change of character. He wasn’t able to capture the WWE Championship from AJ Styles and a lot of people thought their feud went on for too long, but Shinsuke’s heel run will continue.

WWE officials have transitioned him into an interesting rivalry with Jeff Hardy over the United States Championship. Hardy vs. Nakamura should be a bizarre, yet exciting mix of personalities to the US Title. Unfortunately, WWE officials may have unintentionally screwed over Andrade Almas in the process of moving Nakamura in the US Title hunt.

According to a report from DirtySheets, Vince McMahon was grooming “Cien” Almas for a feud with Jeff Hardy. The expectation was Almas would have won the title from Hardy because Vince loves a foreign heel holding the championship. Nakamura is getting that spot now that he’s moved out of the WWE Title hunt, which leaves Almas with nothing.

Obviously, WWE officials are trying to compensate for The King of Strong Style failing to capture the WWE Championship from AJ Styles, so they are giving him the US Title. The logic is sound for Nakamura’s sake, but it’s unclear where “Cien” Almas goes from here.

Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: SmackDown LIVE, June 12, 2018

Almas is still finding his footing on the main roster and a brief feud with Sin Cara wasn’t going to get him over. There are plenty of faces for him to work with for now, but WWE officials need to ensure he doesn’t become irrelevant to the audience because he doesn’t have as many chances to get over with the crowd as he did during his time in NXT.

Are you excited to see Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy for the US Title?