Well SummerSlam 2017 has come and gone and it has brought another loss in WWE for "The King of Strong Style" Shinsuke Nakamura.
That was WWE's last chance to properly do something with him, in my mind, and they didn't. Again.
Which leads me to believe that the only place Nakamura needs to be is either in an indie promotion like Ring of Honor or back home and in New Japan Pro Wrestling. To understand why I think that you need to realize how talented a wrestler Nakamura is and why the WWE is just doing nothing but making him look bad.
To be fair they gave him a decent NXT run, relatively, with a debut against Sami Zayn before his main roster call up to a good feud with Samoa Joe over the NXT Championship. So, Nakamura did at least win the NXT Championship in his homeland of Japan during a WWE tour that landed them with a stop in Osaka but that is the extent of his WWE accomplishments. After he was called up to the main roster that's when things took a turn for the worse. He landed on SmackDown Live which to me brought some huge superstar power to the less important show so I had optimism because I said, "Nakamura is going to be a main eventer from the beginning on this show". Then they immediately tossed him into a feud with Dolph Ziggler and he lost one of his matches and didn't look strong in the process. I love Dolph Ziggler, he's a talented wrestler and a workhorse, someone who is on my list of underutilized wrestlers but IF you make Nakamura lose you at least need to make the King of Strong Style look STRONG and not weak. Their next match was much better and then Nakamura had a semi-small feud with Baron Corbin. The worst part is that none of this was going anywhere and then came Money In The Bank and he was one of the highlights of that match, especially the glimmer of hope that we get an NJPW rematch between Nakamura and AJ Styles. He didn't win but finally we saw him get a push and even beat John Cena on route to a SummerSlam WWE Championship match. The man went in the HUGE favourite to win by the fans, they wanted to see him win, the reaction from the crowd featured below shows how much support he had behind him.
That was WWE's last chance to properly do something with him, in my mind, and they didn't. Again.
Which leads me to believe that the only place Nakamura needs to be is either in an indie promotion like Ring of Honor or back home and in New Japan Pro Wrestling. To understand why I think that you need to realize how talented a wrestler Nakamura is and why the WWE is just doing nothing but making him look bad.
To be fair they gave him a decent NXT run, relatively, with a debut against Sami Zayn before his main roster call up to a good feud with Samoa Joe over the NXT Championship. So, Nakamura did at least win the NXT Championship in his homeland of Japan during a WWE tour that landed them with a stop in Osaka but that is the extent of his WWE accomplishments. After he was called up to the main roster that's when things took a turn for the worse. He landed on SmackDown Live which to me brought some huge superstar power to the less important show so I had optimism because I said, "Nakamura is going to be a main eventer from the beginning on this show". Then they immediately tossed him into a feud with Dolph Ziggler and he lost one of his matches and didn't look strong in the process. I love Dolph Ziggler, he's a talented wrestler and a workhorse, someone who is on my list of underutilized wrestlers but IF you make Nakamura lose you at least need to make the King of Strong Style look STRONG and not weak. Their next match was much better and then Nakamura had a semi-small feud with Baron Corbin. The worst part is that none of this was going anywhere and then came Money In The Bank and he was one of the highlights of that match, especially the glimmer of hope that we get an NJPW rematch between Nakamura and AJ Styles. He didn't win but finally we saw him get a push and even beat John Cena on route to a SummerSlam WWE Championship match. The man went in the HUGE favourite to win by the fans, they wanted to see him win, the reaction from the crowd featured below shows how much support he had behind him.
BUT
Rather than roll with a popular superstar that is over with the fans, they stuck with Jinder Mahal. To be clear I have nothing against Mahal as a person I just think he's a dull and boring wrestler who's last promo before SummerSlam was boring nonsense on Nakamura that just left me going, this guy is the champ, that's all. If he had more to him I could totally get behind the guy as a good heel champion but he's not worth me investing my time into. Nakamura is a solid babyface and would be a champ which they haven't had in awhile but he didn't get it and I think I know the two big reasons: 1) WWE still has aim at the Indian market and 2) Big Vince was furious with Shinsuke for dropping John Cena on his neck during the #1 Contender match.
So where does this leave Shinsuke Nakamura after SummerSlam ??
Honestly, in career shambles. He lost to someone that very few people see as a guy that should be the champion, to me he just lost a match against a jobber who does not feel like a main event guy yet and still the worst member of 3MB because yes Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater are better wrestlers and more charismatic than Mahal. Shinsuke Nakamura lost his chance at the WWE Championship to someone that is not even in his league of wrestling. The league that very few people would be in: AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Kenny Omega, etc. those are guys in Nakamura's league. MEGA STARS and not whatever the current champ is.
All that aside that's what it comes down to his career is in shambles and it's thanks to WWE's garbage booking and terrible decisions, the best thing for Nakamura is to do something that I believe many guys have proved you can do recently. Leave WWE and still be a star, hell look at Cody Rhodes, but see the thing is Nakamura doesn't need to win anyone over because if he does indie work or especially heads back to New Japan, he's already a wrestling god. And what I wouldn't give to see a bout between Nakamura and Rhodes or Nakamura and Omega, etc. You don't need the WWE to succeed in wrestling is the rule these days, sure it's no Monday Night Wars where you could make loads more money in WCW but you can make a decent living wrestling the indies or in NJPW and the schedule isn't as rigorous which at Nakamura's age maybe is a good thing because he's no young gun anymore.
Shinsuke is a megastar wrestler that is wrestling in a promotion that is basically willing to just let him be a star, we have enough stars in the WWE what we need now is megastars in that company and knocking them down with awful booking. Not just Nakamura. There are a ton of guys that WWE fished from NJPW or from indie promotions their top talent and then turned them into watered down versions of their former selves with no plans for these awesome talents going forward. Getting Nakamura back, then hopefully Finn Balor, if he comes to his senses CM Punk, all of these guys and maybe a few more will help New Japan Pro Wrestling become something that more people in North America will want to watch. It's already well worth it but the more talent the better.
In order to recapture his stardom status and make him the star he once was, Nakamura needs to head home and re-join New Japan Pro Wrestling. Back to where we can truly see "The King of Strong Style" strike again and not whatever shell of a man he has become since joining the WWE. We can only hope.
Rather than roll with a popular superstar that is over with the fans, they stuck with Jinder Mahal. To be clear I have nothing against Mahal as a person I just think he's a dull and boring wrestler who's last promo before SummerSlam was boring nonsense on Nakamura that just left me going, this guy is the champ, that's all. If he had more to him I could totally get behind the guy as a good heel champion but he's not worth me investing my time into. Nakamura is a solid babyface and would be a champ which they haven't had in awhile but he didn't get it and I think I know the two big reasons: 1) WWE still has aim at the Indian market and 2) Big Vince was furious with Shinsuke for dropping John Cena on his neck during the #1 Contender match.
So where does this leave Shinsuke Nakamura after SummerSlam ??
Honestly, in career shambles. He lost to someone that very few people see as a guy that should be the champion, to me he just lost a match against a jobber who does not feel like a main event guy yet and still the worst member of 3MB because yes Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater are better wrestlers and more charismatic than Mahal. Shinsuke Nakamura lost his chance at the WWE Championship to someone that is not even in his league of wrestling. The league that very few people would be in: AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Kenny Omega, etc. those are guys in Nakamura's league. MEGA STARS and not whatever the current champ is.
All that aside that's what it comes down to his career is in shambles and it's thanks to WWE's garbage booking and terrible decisions, the best thing for Nakamura is to do something that I believe many guys have proved you can do recently. Leave WWE and still be a star, hell look at Cody Rhodes, but see the thing is Nakamura doesn't need to win anyone over because if he does indie work or especially heads back to New Japan, he's already a wrestling god. And what I wouldn't give to see a bout between Nakamura and Rhodes or Nakamura and Omega, etc. You don't need the WWE to succeed in wrestling is the rule these days, sure it's no Monday Night Wars where you could make loads more money in WCW but you can make a decent living wrestling the indies or in NJPW and the schedule isn't as rigorous which at Nakamura's age maybe is a good thing because he's no young gun anymore.
Shinsuke is a megastar wrestler that is wrestling in a promotion that is basically willing to just let him be a star, we have enough stars in the WWE what we need now is megastars in that company and knocking them down with awful booking. Not just Nakamura. There are a ton of guys that WWE fished from NJPW or from indie promotions their top talent and then turned them into watered down versions of their former selves with no plans for these awesome talents going forward. Getting Nakamura back, then hopefully Finn Balor, if he comes to his senses CM Punk, all of these guys and maybe a few more will help New Japan Pro Wrestling become something that more people in North America will want to watch. It's already well worth it but the more talent the better.
In order to recapture his stardom status and make him the star he once was, Nakamura needs to head home and re-join New Japan Pro Wrestling. Back to where we can truly see "The King of Strong Style" strike again and not whatever shell of a man he has become since joining the WWE. We can only hope.