It’s WWE Championship time and Shinsuke Nakamura is out first, aiming to be the last man standing.
WWE Championship
Last Man Standing Match
(C) AJ Styles Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
They lock up and Nakamura takes Styles down, but AJ gets right back up and hits a forearm to the jaw. He catches Shinsuke with a beautiful dropkick to initiate the first count – the counts always start way too early into the match and therefore kills momentum. Nakamura is back on his feet and Styles takes him over the top rope with a modified hurricanrana. Styles then leaps over the top rope with a Phenomenal Forearm all the way to the floor!
Nakamura runs AJ into the barricade, then hits a suplex onto the steel ramp to get another count going. AJ is up and they get back in the ring. Nakamura slows down the pace, catching AJ with some slow kicks as he tries to get up. He hits a hard kick to the chest to knock AJ down for another count. AJ gets back up at five, albeit assited with the ropes. Styles takes a spinning kick to the head to knock him down again. Nakamura performs Good Vibrations in the corner. When AJ gets to his feet, Nakamura puts him on the top turnbuckle for a running knee to the body. Styles tumbles down to the floor and the ref starts his count again. Nakamura slams AJ’s head into the steel steps and then he throws him over the barricade.
They take the fight into the crowd where Styles begins to get some momentum with forearms. They fight around to the opposite side and AJ throws Nakamura back to ringside. AJ tries to leap off the barricade but Shinsuke kicks his foot out from under him and AJ lands hard to the floor. AJ gets up at seven and Nakamura slams him into the steel steps again. Styles flips out of an exploder and hits a Pele kick. He hits a combo of strikes and a facebuster. AJ looks for the Styles Clash but Nakamura swings for the low blow, which AJ avoids, and they botch a Pele kick. Nakamura hits the reverse exploder, and looks for the Kinshasha but AJ is able to counter with a flying forearm!
Styles hits a fireman’s neckbreaker on Nakamura and the referee counts again. Shinsuke is up by eight. AJ takes to the apron and leaps for a Phenomenal Forearm but Nakamura dodges. Nakamura dumps AJ onto the barricade gut-first, then clears off an announce table and suplexes AJ onto it. He clears off the other two tables and runs across all three tables to hit Kinshasha! The ref starts counting AJ again. Styles barely beats the count and Nakamura starts sytematically attacking him with knees to the body. Nakamura grabs and sets up a table in the ring and AJ ends up hitting the leg with his face by mistake. Nakamura takes Styles to the top rope and looks for a superplex through the wood but Styles drops down between his legs Styles aims for a powerbomb but Nakamura kicks him off and styles knocks the table over. Shinsuke picks him up and drops him gut-first onto the edge of the table.
Nakamura leans it in the corner and runs AJ right through it. The Champion manages to beat the 10 count by and Shinsuke can’t believe it. AJ avoid’s being sent into an exposed turnbuckle, but Nakamura ends up running into it with his knee as AJ moves. Styles focuses on working on the injured knee. Styles applies the Calf Crusher and only lets go once he is satisfied with the amount of pain he has inflicted. Shin rolls out of the ring while Styles grabs a chair from the timekeeper. He smacks Nakamura in the knee with it. Then he takes a couple more shots before letting the ref starts his count. Nakamura hits a low blow to counter another chair shot. AJ beats the count again, so Shin lays him out with a Kinshasa using his bad leg. The ref starts to count both men down. Nakamura is back up by five and Styles is up by nine. The Rock Star brings AJ onto one of the announce tables. Styles shoves him off into the steps and hits a flying forearm from the table. He grabs Nakamura for a Styles Clash from the stairs to the floor. Somehow, Shinsuke beats the count.
Nakamura leans on the announce table and Styles is leaning on the ring, staring at each other. Nakamura smiles and shouts “come one!” Styles responds by kicking him square in the crotch! Nakamura collapses, holding himself. Styles climbs back into the ring and leaps off of the ropes with a Phenomenal Forearm to Nakamura, through the announce table! The referee starts counting and AJ makes it to his feet at 7 but Nakamura doesn’t make it at all!
Winner: AJ Styles
What a match! Styles retains over Nakamura and, presumably, moves on to a new feud. I wonder what the future holds for both men.
