Shinsuke Nakamura’s WWE signing came at an odd time during the WWE’s program schedule. It wasn’t shocking news that broke on a random Saturday when the news day was slow. WWE.com decided to post the story at the most opportune time. It was as if the Ultimate Opportunist, Edge, was writing the headline about Nakamura and his signing.
Immediately after WWE Fast Lane, the news broke that Shinsuke Nakamura was officially signed by the WWE. He made his way over from New Japan Pro Wrestling a week before the announcement was made. His last match was almost a month ago, but it took some time for the former-IWGP Intercontinental champion to pass his physical and make his way over to the states. At last, Nakamura is finally signed and will make his debut at NXT Takeover Dallas.
“Talent is the lifeblood of our company, and the signing of Shinsuke Nakamura further demonstrates NXT’s commitment to bringing in the best talent from all over the world,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative said. “His explosive style will make an immediate impact to an already dynamic NXT men’s division.”
However, it was the timing of the announcement that was interesting. While Fast Lane’s ending was usually the punchline of most fan’s jokes, it became very clear what WWE’s intention was with the public announcement of Nakamura. They knew the fans would forget about Roman Reigns’ win over Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar. At least, that was probably their plan.
Speaking of the Beast Incarnate, at one time, Nakamura and Lesnar were in New Japan Pro Wrestling at the same time. They even had a match, which can be seen on YouTube. Enuhito, who’s a Japanese translator on Twitter, deciphered what Shinsuke Nakamura said recently about Brock Lesnar, and how it affects his main roster future.
When Nakamura went to WWE Performance Center, some wrestlers were watching Nakamura vs. Lesnar match in 2006.
He was like “Hey, stop it”.
— enuhito(English) (@enuhito_eng) February 24, 2016
Shinsuke Nakamura said that one of the the man who he is interested in to wrestle is Brock Lesnar.
Wow. pic.twitter.com/wQP9lJWuB6
— enuhito(English) (@enuhito_eng) February 24, 2016
Nakamura is already set for a big debut in the WWE. He’s going to make his first appearance at the biggest WWE NXT event ever. In a future NXT episode, Zayn’s opponent, who is Nakamura, will be announced to the live crowd. It has already been announced on WWE.com, so the WWE Universe is aware of the huge match. This is a great way to get Nakamura known by the fans.
Despite the Internet Wrestling Community and their knowledge of different wrestling products, the casual fan doesn’t even know who Nakamura is, or what New Japan Pro Wrestling is. That’s not a knock on the part time viewers, but their main wrestling outlet is World Wrestling Entertainment. Even AJ Styles wasn’t well-known by the casual fanbase.
If he was, AJ’s pops would’ve been a lot louder at each WWE Raw or WWE Smackdown following the Royal Rumble. So, WWE officials need to have a great plan in place for Nakamura. He’s a special talent that needs to be treated like one. His wrestling skills are on par with Hideo Itami, but the charisma he has is through the roof. Once wrestling fans from all over see that, he’ll become an instant fan-favorite.
[Image via wwe.com]