WWE's Shinsuke Nakamura Suffers Injury; Reportedly Bit in the Leg by Police Dog

Shinsuke Nakamura will be unable to wrestle Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship on SmackDown Live Tuesday night.

WWE announced Nakamura was injured during a live event Monday. As a result, Hardy will issue an open challenge for the title with Nakamura unavailable:

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Nakamura was bit in the leg by a police dog at the Bakersfield arena on Monday.

An injury is the last thing Nakamura needs coming off his underwhelming feud with AJ Styles.

On paper, a long-term rivalry between Nakamura and Styles should've been great. Instead, any momentum behind the story fizzled out shortly after WrestleMania, and what was a very good match at Money in the Bank was too little too late.

More importantly, Nakamura had four shots to take Styles' WWE Championship and either lost or wrestled to a stalemate. Even for a star as big as Nakamura, falling flat in four high-profile matches is bound to color the perception of his status as a serious title contender.

Perhaps Tuesday's announcement is merely part of Nakamura's storyline with Hardy, and he'll show up perfectly healthy on SmackDown Live to attack the U.S. champion.

While that would help add to Nakamura's heel credentials, a secondary title chase is unlikely to get the former NXT champion back to where he was entering WrestleMania 34.