Is WWE Sabotaging Shinsuke Nakamura On SmackDown Live?
In a promotion with zero significant history of major Japanese stars, Nakamura became just that in NXT, where he debuted with a match of the year candidate (the match was ranked No. 2 on WWE.com in 2016) against Sami Zayn.
NXT's brilliance in making Nakamura an immediate breakout star was its lack of micromanaging. Nakamura was simply allowed to do everything that made him a legend in Japan without tinkering or overanalyzes from WWE's at-times meddling producers.
In NXT it was hands-off, Shinsuke thrived on subtleties, using his signature body mannerisms to connect with fans. But in just over a month on the main roster, Nakamura is like The Migos if they suddenly became Jeff Sessions favorite rappers.
Nakamura was a two-time NXT champion and, despite being one of the top wrestlers on the entire WWE roster, the 37-year-old rookie remained in NXT for an entire year.
Nakamuras star power helped the hybrid developmental brand sell out venues worldwide, including standing-room-only shows in the budding Japanese market. The template for Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE was created in NXT, and minimal adjustments were needed from WWE.
Unfortunately, since Nakamura landed in WWE, the ill-advised adjustments have not stopped.
Nakamura, now known as "The Artist" and/or The Rockstar in the vein of Prince or Michael Jackson or WWE being out of touch, has been made to speak in the majority of his television appearances on SmackDown Live.
Tuesday night was especially painful as Nakamuras attempt at a promo mirrored the desperate rally he needed in order to come from behind and defeat Dolph Ziggler,More on that later.
Nakamura's English is very limited, which is fine. His palpable mystique transcends the English language as it is. He doesnt need it,Not a single word of any language is spoken during his theme song, and fans still sing along to it.
WWE, however, has made the odd choice of exploiting Nakamuras one glaring weakness by having him struggle through brief sentences that are difficult to understand.
When given the chance to exploit his strengths—the palpable charisma and star power; the all-time entrance music; the all-world wrestling—WWE somehow fumbled.
NXT fans became accustomed to Nakamrua's grand entrances, which often featured live violinists strumming his intoxicating entrance theme.
At Backlash, however, Nakamura's charisma and fanfare were muted with a generic entrance despite weeks of his heralded in-ring debut.
His all-world wrestling was cast aside in favor of a basic WWE matchup where Dolph Ziggler enjoyed the majority of the offense before Nakamura made an uninspiring comeback to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat.
The all-important casual fan who missed the match, or simply skipped it due to WWEs over-saturation of content these days, can see a preview of the match on YouTube. In said preview, Nakamuras sole highlight is kicking out of the Zig Zag.
It didn't help Nakamura's star power that his overhyped match was slotted in the ominous curtain jerker position.
After building the entire pay-per-view around Nakamura, the aforementioned casual fans who were less familiar with his work likely came away thinking "this is the guy I've been hearing so much about for the past five weeks?".
WWE has stuck to its guns in its questionable booking of the high-profile veteran who, after years of working the supremely physical Japanese style, is on borrowed time.
Perhaps WWE is protecting Nakamura for the long haul, opting to pick its spots for the type of instant classic the Nakamura may be running out of as he approaches 40.
But, then again, this is the same promotion that allowed AJ Styles to be AJ Styles from Day 1, where the Phenomenal One had one of the greatest rookie years in WWE history.
With Shinsuke Nakamura, the less WWE bells and whistles the better,It's a classic case of hiding his weaknesses and emphasizing his strengths.
WWEs top three markets are the United States, the United Kingdom and India, but Japan is also a hotbed for professional wrestling. Earlier this year, WWE signed a multi-year deal to air its flagship shows, Raw and SmackDown Live, on DAZN.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has succeeded in making North American wrestlers into stars, so much so, its announced tour of Long Beach, California this summer immediately sold out.
WWE can have similar success increasing its presence in Japan with the success of Asuka, who recently passed Goldberg for longest win streak in pro wrestling history, and Nakamura. The key for WWE is to just let go.
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