SmackDown saw a new face debut on Friday night as NXT star Rick Boogs debuted shredding an electric guitar at the side of Shinsuke Nakamura.
Boogs interrupted Nakamura’s rival in recent weeks King Corbin during a promo before Corbin’s rematch with the Japanese star. The week prior the two men met one on one with Corbin coming out on top. After that match, however, Nakamura taunted the King of SmackDown by stealing his crown. With Corbin in full flow on the microphone, Boogs cut in with his guitar before telling Corbin that he was there to stand with the real king of the blue brand. Nakamura then made his entrance adorned with Corbin’s crown while Boogs played along with his entrance theme.
During the match itself, Boogs kept distracting Corbin by playing at ringside. This ultimately allowed Nakamura to counter the End of Days and roll Corbin up for the victory. After the match, Rick Boogs left with the victorious Nakamura playing along with his theme song once again.
Boogs first made his debut on NXT in 2017 under his real name of Eric Bugenhagen. In January 2019, he made his first appearance on NXT TV in a losing effort against Drew Gulak. Boogs caught the imagination of the NXT crowd and built a following for himself on social media.
Boogs’ last match so far for the black and gold brand came over one year ago in March 2020 where he defeated Tino Sabatelli.
There’s no word as of yet what this new partnership between Boogs and Nakamura means, but with SmackDown’s resident Artist still in possession of Corbin’s crown, the rivalry between them is sure to be far from over.