Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: Shinsuke Nakamura Doesn't Need Money in the Bank Win

1. MITB Not Necessary for Nakamura

The final image of Tuesday's WWE SmackDown featured Shinsuke Nakamura atop a ladder pulling down the Money in the Bank briefcase and staring at it with a palpable hunger.

That need not be how Sunday's pay-per-view ends. Becoming Mr. Money in the Bank would be superfluous for The King of Strong Style. He's a magnetic star who will easily earn his way into the WWE Championship, briefcase or no briefcase.

Credit: WWE.com

The Money in the Bank concept is best suited for two types of wrestlers—the underdog and the slimy opportunist.

For the former, the briefcase offers a means to take down bigger opponents. We saw Daniel Bryan rip the world title from Mark Henry's mitts in 2011, for example. 

WWE doesn't have to tell that kind of story with Nakamura. He could believably tear down Jinder Mahal's kingdom without the element of surprise.

He's not a plucky scrapper who needs a leg up. Nor is he the type of character who would wait for his prey to be half-eaten before pouncing. 

Nakamura is a badass with a rock-and-roll sensibility. He's the coolest guy in the room, a gladiator who feeds on great competition, a two-time NXT champ who has taken down the likes of Samoa Joe and Finn Balor.

WWE would be better off building him up as a contender by having him kick people's heads in. 

He can continue his current hot streak, beat up on midcarders and further excite his fanbase. After only being on the main roster since April, the focus, for now, should be for the audience to get know him better. There's no reason to have his journey climax with a world title reign anytime soon.

Letting anticipation build for a potential Nakamura reign is a smarter move.

And it's not as if he needs the Money in the Bank narrative device to get him a crack at gold. Believing that Nakamura holding the briefcase on Tuesday night meant he wouldn't win on Sunday, Jake Barnett of ProWrestling.net wrote: "I'm wondering if that means Nakamura goes after Kevin Owens and the US Championship next."

That's a more than plausible scenario.

Nakamura has already thrice pinned Owens. A U.S. title shot is a natural next step.

And should he dethrone Owens at some point, Nakamura could easily move up to the WWE title picture. WWE has sold him as a big deal since the moment he signed with the company, hyping his debut and keeping him in the spotlight. It clearly holds him in high regard and has big plans for him.

That backing from the WWE machine will carry him to the top, no boost from Money in the Bank needed.

2. In Lesnar's Absence

Brock Lesnar stormed back into the Raw landscape on June 12 after not appearing for WWE since April 3.

In that span, the Universal Championship was an absentee title while the WWE Championship was handled far differently. Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal have both been far more prominent than The Beast Incarnate as their brand's top titleholders. 

Credit: WWE.com

Raw's Payback PPV was sans title match. SmackDown, meanwhile, featured Mahal dethroning Orton at Backlash and will see those two go at it again at Money in the Bank on Sunday.

The Maharaja has defended the title in two dark matches as champion, per CageMatch.net.

And on SmackDown, Mahal stole the WWE Championship in a memorable scene. After winning it, Mahal gloated during a "Punjabi celebration."

While Lesnar had zero matches following WrestleMania, Orton took on Erick Rowan and Baron Corbin in non-title action as champion, as seen on WWE.com. On May 9, Orton battled in a six-man tag match. When Mahal won the title, the champ crushed Mojo Rawley's Money in the Bank dreams by beating him in non-title action.

One may argue that Lesnar's schedule makes him and the title feel special, but it's been far more entertaining to see what's unfolding with the WWE title scene.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: Mitsuharu Misawa 

Mitsuharu Misawa passed away eight years ago on June 13, 2009, after losing consciousness in the ring. Hideo Itami paid tribute to the Japanese great on Twitter just before that somber anniversary.

It's only natural to start reflecting on Misawa's career and pulling up old clips of his work at this time of year.

Mr. Triple Crown's 2007 bout against Samoa Joe is one of his more underrated efforts. Misawa's elbow-strike acumen was on display here in a hard-hitting showdown. 

It's hard not to feel melancholic looking back at Misawa in action, though. He is missed and will be for a long time.

4. Tozawa Must Avoid Titus Brand

Titus O'Neil is trying to recruit Akira Tozawa to a part of his Titus Brand, and the cruiserweight has to hope that partnership doesn't come to pass.

O'Neil has done next to nothing for Apollo Crews. His presence at Crews' side has only made him feel like a joke. O'Neil isn't adding spark to Crews' act. He's a flat character with a poorly defined "brand" that would only make Tozawa feel like a low-card also-ran.

WWE should instead be letting Tozawa tell his own story as he works his way toward a Cruiserweight Championship showdown with Neville. Lumping Tozawa into the tractionless Titus Brand is easy, not smart.

5. The Warriors Are Indeed Imperfect

The Golden State Warriors looked immortal en route to spanking the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The new NBA champs, though, did give us an odd, bungled moment, like something straight out of Botchamania. Draymond Green tried to catch a tumbling Klay Thompson but struggled to hold him up. 

MLB Network host Robert Flores noted it looked like a botched wrestling move:

Green may not be able to snatch someone out of midair as gracefully as Cesaro, but he can sure kick a man in the onions on par with Undertaker.

6. A Welcome Invasion

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is making a concerted effort to break into the North American market, and that's a beautiful thing.

The Bullet Club and NJPW is headed to Los Angeles for the G1 Special on July 1 and 2. This is the just latest stage in the company's attempt to get a foothold in the United States.

Wrestling fans should be elated about this development. For one, NJPW has long produced some of the best in-ring action in the world. And if the company puts one more shows in the U.S., it means more American fans can discover talents like Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

And over time, if NJPW can start siphoning WWE's fanbase, the biggest wrestling company in the world will be finally be invigorated by the power of competition. WWE's lack of real rival means it doesn't have to be as innovative, bold and aggressive as it was during the Monday Night War in the late '90s.

NJPW pushing WWE down the road would be huge for the industry overall.

7. History Awaits

The Money in the Bank PPV will be a landmark event for women's wrestling.

Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch lead the field set to compete in the first-ever women's Money in the Bank ladder match. The event promises to be statistically significant beyond that, too.

If Lana defeats Naomi to claim the SmackDown Women's Championship, it will be the first time a women's title would have changed hands at the event, per the Internet Wrestling Database.

The 2017 edition of the PPV will be only the third time Money in the Bank has featured two women's matches on the card. And only one women's match has ever gone over 10 minutes at the PPV. None have reached the 12-minute mark.

That's poised to change as the Money in the Bank ladder match won't be contained in that small of a space.

8. Classic Brawls

Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar's pull-apart brawl on Monday night was a beautiful sight to behold.

Those two hosses carried on a longstanding tradition of wrestlers going at it. Lesnar himself has been in his share of these scraps, tangling with Undertaker and John Cena in the past. Long before The Beast Incarnate reigned, though, wrestling's bruisers and behemoths were trading blows outside of the comfort of a sanctioned match.

Check out some of these wild brawls from decades past for a look at the art of the wrestling brawl:

(Note: Some footage is graphic)

• Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee vs. Larry Latham, Wayne Farris: Memphis Wrestling (1979)
• Ricky Morton, Eddie Gilbert vs. Atsushi Onita, Masa Fuchi: Memphis Wrestling (1981)
• Jerry Lawler, Tommy Rich vs. Dirty Rhodes, Ron Bass: Memphis Wrestling (1986)
• Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bruiser Brody: World Wrestling Council (1987)
• The Fantastics vs. The Heavenly Bodies: Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1992)

Memphis was home to more than its share of these. There was always a chaotic energy pulsing through that territory.

Anyone who joins WWE Creative should be required to sit down and binge-watch old Memphis footage, looking at how Lawler and others gave the medium a sense of gritty realism.

9. Give Emma the Spotlight

Emma returned to Raw on Monday night after recovering from a shoulder injury.

She immediately found herself lost in a crowded stage as WWE crammed her into a six-woman tag team match. It wasn't a triumphant return. She didn't earn a win or lay out a rival. Instead, Sasha Banks bent her backward with the Bank Statement to force her into submission.

And with that, Emma stepped back into her place in the middle of the pack.

Too often, the company has presented Emma as just another member of the roster. She needs to be a bigger focus of the division, however. She's one of the more compelling female characters the Raw brand has to offer and a promising performer overall.

She excels as a cocky, vindictive heel. She's produced when given prime spots on NXT cards against Paige and Asuka.

Raw has to start showcasing her at that level.

She'd make an ideal rival for Banks or Bayley. She'd thrive as Alexa Bliss' right-hand woman, the obstacle babyfaces had to charge through to get to the champ. Anything other than making her ordinary is the way to go.

10. Scurll on the Danger of the Squared Circle

In the midst of an eight-man tag team match over the weekend, Mark Andrews rolled out of the ring and held his neck in pain. Moments later, medical staff carried him off on a stretcher.

And just like that, the thrill of in-ring WWE action turned to unsettling concern.  

Andrews luckily escaped suffering a major injury. WWE.com reported: "A CT scan of Andrews came back negative, with just bruising evident."

Former Progress Wrestling world champ Marty Scurll tweeted about the power of the moment Andrews went down:

Every dive outside the ring, every suplex, every power move could leave a wrestler paralyzed or worse. We've seen these athletes suffer broken necks and cervical damage. We've seen men die in the ring.

A healthy supply of cajones is among the many skills wrestlers must have in their tool box.