Shinsuke Nakamura wins United States title at WWE Survivor Series

Shinsuke Nakamura is now a three-time WWE United States Champion.

At Survivor Series: WarGames on Saturday, Nakamura pinned LA Knight to win the United States Championship. The title change comes just a couple of weeks after a repackaged Nakamura made his return to WWE programming, targeting Knight in the process. We’ve seen a more sinister version of the Nakamura character since then with changes to his look and entrance.

Nakamura raked Knight’s eyes near the end of the match and delivered a reverse DDT onto the steel connecting the two rings for WarGames. A Kinshasa then got the victory for Nakamura.

Knight had been U.S. Champion since dethroning Logan Paul at SummerSlam this August. The commentary team tonight pushed that Knight did not look right in the match because he was affected by Nakamura’s mind games.

Before this, Nakamura’s most recent title reign was a run with the Intercontinental Championship in 2021-2022. It’s been nearly six years since he last held the U.S. title.

Though he spent several months away from WWE television this year, the 44-year-old Nakamura still worked house shows during that period. He returned to TV on the November 15 episode of SmackDown.