The Man With “Strong Style”
By Anthony Zevoteck
If you watched NXT TakeOver: Dallas over Wrestlemania weekend, then you saw one of wrestling’s all-time greatest matches.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT debut against Sami Zayn quickly became regarded as Match of the Year four months in. These two laid everything on the line and gave the fans a spectacle of epic proportions.
“The King of Strong Style” made his pro wrestling debut in August 2002 and everyone knew that someday the world as we knew it would change. Nakamura made his start with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and continued to work for them for the majority of his career.
On his way to gaining multiple championships, he took time off from wrestling to improve his in-ring skills and gained the knowledge he’d need to become one of the world’s biggest stars and even trained with Brock Lesnar to increase his muscle mass.
At age 36, Nakamura made a bold move and left his home country that provided him with global fame to sign with WWE.
Fans rejoiced as one of the world’s best wrestlers would soon be kicking down doors to the “promised land” with a needed combination of unabashed aggressiveness and flamboyance.
As the good news kept rolling in, we found out that Nakamura would start out on NXT, already one of the wrestling’s best things going nowadays, and his first match would be with Zayn.
The simple concept of all this was enough to make fans’ heads explode with sheer excitement.
Backing up everyone’s predictions, these two put on a great physical contest. A great WWE introduction for a man that’ll start a new revolution in the industry.
The most important question though – where does Nakamura go from here?
It appears that for the time being, Nakamura will stay in NXT, exactly where he should be right now. Displaying his talents against talent like NXT Champion Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Hideo Itami, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa will showcase his immense athleticism and heart.
As we saw on the Raw after Wrestlemania, a few NXT superstars made their main roster debuts and even more on that week’s Smackdown. With rumors swirling of eventual departures by Balor and Joe to the main roster, there’ll be a huge hole left on NXT roster that Nakamura can appropriately fill.
Eventually, Nakamura will debut on the main roster, but let’s wait for that. A perfect time for that (if WWE Creative is patient) would be making Nakamura a 2017 Royal Rumble entrant. The pop could rival AJ Styles’ from this year.
Upon the main roster, Nakamura could take off in many ways. He needs to be instantly thrown into a Title picture to elevate the whole show and said Title. A good fit for him would be the Intercontinental Championship, as the belt usually goes to the notoriously hardest worker in the locker room.
Another viable option could be the Tag Team Championships, especially if you pair him up with say, fellow countryman Itami. These two together would be a treat for fans and an instant threat.
Nevertheless, Nakamura’s stock appears to be in singles competition and we could salivate at all the fantasy matches we’ll hopefully someday see – Nakamura against the likes of Cesaro, Kevin Owens, John Cena, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt – the list goes on. A money feud could brew with Lesnar, telling a story of two guys with profound respect and friendship (a rarity in a Lesnar feud) battling intensely.
This is a golden age for WWE, where thanks to NXT, we’re seeing top global talent come make their mark on the big stage. Rest assured, Nakamura’s will resonate for a long time to come. “The King Of Strong Style” has truly just gotten started.
Posted on April 14, 2016, in Misc and tagged Anthony Zevoteck, Austin Aries, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, John Cena, Johnny Gargano, Kevin Owens, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, NXT, Opinions, Pro Wrestling, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, TakeOver: Dallas, Tommaso Ciampa, WWE. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
Leave a comment
Comments 0