On a recent edition of his “Wrestling With Freddie” podcast, former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. praised the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura at WWE Payback 2023.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at Payback 2023: “I know Japan is watching and loving it … I think it’s really awesome. This was my match of the week. I know I said the girls [Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus] stole the show, but this was my match of the week. The story that these guys told — this was like old, old-school wrestling. Before the ’80s got goofy and everyone got characters … [it] was like ’70s wrestling where you pick a body part, and beat the living hell out of that body part. This was like [an] old school Jerry The King Lawler territory match, where like in the interview he says, ‘I know he’s hurt his back, and I’m going after it.’ This is exactly what these guys did.”
On the Rollins vs. Nakamura storyline: “If that’s the story, then holy s***, they just saved this and made it special. Otherwise, the Seth Rollins thing can get old — ‘I wrestle every week’ — but if it’s him and his pride [against Nakamura] … that’s really cool. That’s the story they told in the ring as well.”
Rollins defeated Nakamura at Payback 2023 to retain his title. The following night on RAW, Nakamura refused Rollins’ offer for an immediate rematch and announced that he would pick the time and place to dethrone the champion.
