United States Championship Changes Hands

WWE taped next week’s Christmas episode of SmackDown Live following tonight’s live episode. During the tapings, a title change occurred.

During tonight’s SmackDown tapings, Rusev defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the United States Title.

You can view the video of the finish below.

The bout between the two men was announced on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live and served as the main event during the tapings.

https://twitter.com/TheNextBlGThing/status/1075249130857947136

Rusev was originally scheduled to face Nakamura on the Nov. 27 episode of SmackDown, but Nakamura attacked Rusev prior to the bout.

This is now Rusev’s third WWE United States Championship run, with the gold firmly in his grasp. Rusev is looking to carry the momentum all the way through to the Royal Rumble.