I guess my not-terribly-well-informed opinion is that there is word play in the suttas and commentaries, and I’m not sure we should make too much of those word plays. The example I gave: “it wears away, that’s why it’s called the world” is a nice expression that gives a "world weary 
impression. It’s obviously not trying to be an “definition”, but I can see how it would be a great line to use in a talk, something that the students would remember. Similarly, the “bending” word play has some merit as an image.
I do very much appreciate Bhikkhu Nanananda’s talks and I know he discusses nama-rupa in the first Nibbana Sermon Books Archive - seeing through the net but I can’t locate where he says
the meaning “bending” is used in the commentaries as a way to include vinnana into nama.
I’m also not sure that the question in the OP really gets to the heart of the matter. I don’t recall ever seeing much being made of “bending” in discussions of nama-rupa. Can you point to some? I would have thought the key difference in opinion is more to do with whether nana-rupa is “mind and matter” or “name and (apparance of) form”.
See Bhante Sujato’s comments here: How Early Buddhism differs from Theravada: a checklist