New Title Match Added to WWE SummerSlam Card

The WWE SummerSlam just got a little more interesting as WWE has announced another tite match for the show.

U.S. Champion Shinsuke Nakamura will defend against Jeff Hardy at the event on August 19th. That match itself is not all that unexpected, although most probably expected Randy Orton to be involved given his savage beat downs of Hardy on television in recent weeks. There’s still a pretty good chance that Orton will be added to the match eventually, making it a triple threat.

As things stand right now, these are the confirmed matches for SummerSlam:

WWE Championship Match
AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe

WWE Universal Championship Match
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns

WWE RAW Women’s Championship Match
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Ronda Rousey

WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Carmella (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Seth Rollins

WWE United States Championship Match
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Jeff Hardy

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Drew Gulak

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
TBD (The Bar or The New Day) vs. The Bludgeon Brothers

Money In The Bank Briefcase On The Line
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

Nakamura and Orton have head a tense but on the same page relationship since Orton returned to cost Hardy the title at Extreme Rules. Since that time, Orton has commenced attacking Hardy at will on SmackDown while Nakamura has looked on with interest.

In the scenario presented, Hardy is certainly the underdog and will likely have to overcome two foes in some fashion to once again become U.S. champion. Whether or not Orton is a competitor in the match or involved in some other way remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely that a star of Orton’s caliber would be brought back and not used on the second biggest event of the year.