Shinsuke Nakamura paid tribute to a fellow Japanese wrestling legend on this week’s episode of SmackDown from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The US Champion was defending his title against LA Knight in the main event of the show. The match originally set for last week was re-scheduled after the passing of Nakamura’s friend and veteran wrestler Osamu Nishimura.
The ending of the bout saw the King of Strong Style accidentally spitting the mist on the referee instead of Knight, which took the official out of the match.
Shinsuke Nakamura Pays Tribute To Meiko Satomura
Nakamura used the opportunity to take out his opponent with a kick. The wrestling veteran followed this with a tribute to fellow Japanese wrestler Meiko Satomura, using her finishing move Scorpio Rising on the challenger:
The US Champion then grabbed the steel chair he had introduced in the match earlier to finish Knight once and for all. The challenger however, managed to kick the chair out of Nakamura’s hand, and he delivered a BFT on the chair itself to finally get the pin.
After a career spanning 3 decades, Meiko Satomura is set to retire from active competition later this month. Her final match will be taking place at the Sendai Girls event ‘Satomura The Final’ on April 29, 2025.
In her illustrious career, Satomura has wrestled for promotions such as WCW, Stardom, DDT and more. She also competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic and held the NXT UK Women’s Championship for 451 days.
