{"id":36096,"date":"2016-12-09T14:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T20:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=36096"},"modified":"2016-12-09T14:37:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T20:37:52","slug":"nxt-tracker-shinsuke-nakamura-weekly-assessment-predictions-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/12\/09\/nxt-tracker-shinsuke-nakamura-weekly-assessment-predictions-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT TRACKER &#8211; SHINSUKE NAKAMURA: A weekly assessment and predictions on the prospects of an NXT wrestler&#8217;s main roster future"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-635981113\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hello gang, and welcome to the NXT TRACKER, where I\u2019ll pick an NXT\u00a0wrestler, assess their progression to this point, and make bold (sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect) predictions about their future prospects. Typically I expect to focus on young talent, but I wanted to start with a bang, so we\u2019re going to open with Shinsuke Nakamura.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Man<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nakamura was hugely successful in New Japan, where he was a three-time IWGP Champion. The version of Nakamura that we know in the States was largely forged during a heel turn in 2009, where he started to adopt strong style.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it looks like he has all the potential in the world, there isn\u2019t a lot of time. To give you an idea of how long he\u2019s been around, in the same month as his New Japan debut, Maven battled Goldust at WrestleMania.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Signature Wins in NXT<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Nakamura\u2019s biggest wins didn\u2019t come in the States, he\u2019s had plenty of chances to shine here since his debut (televised) victory over Tye Dillinger in April. His 30-minute match with Sami Zayn at Takeover: Dallas was a great sendoff for Zayn that also set the stage for Nakamura to be placed at the top of the card, and his victory over Samoa Joe at Takeover: Brooklyn II was his first title victory. He won the title a second time in a just-aired match with Joe in Osaka, Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Live Reactions<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nakamura didn\u2019t need work in this area. It wasn\u2019t a given that American audiences would take to him as much as Japanese audiences had, but all doubt was silenced with his debut. I saw Nakamura live with my daughters in a tag team match, and when he was announced, my elder daughter was so overwhelmed by him that she had tears in her eyes. She\u2019s young, yes, but that\u2019s a pretty clear indicator of the guy\u2019s ability.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Booking<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Normally I\u2019ll include an in-ring progression as well, but with Nakamura being a long-established talent, that part seems superfluous. The booking of Nakamura has allowed him to be quiet but meaningful on the mic, which has worked, though it could be difficult to stay on top of\u00a0Raw\u00a0or Smackdown with limited ability to talk up a major match. I\u2019m not a fan of the hotshot title switch to Samoa Joe and back to Nakamura. Although this gave him the chance to win the NXT title in front of Japanese fans, it did take his undefeated mystique away from him as a sacrifice. Granted, Nakamura is charismatic enough to be somewhat bulletproof. In general throughout, the booking of his character has been very strong.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Future<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Honestly, the future has to be now. Shinsuke Nakamura is 36 years old, and there\u2019s no telling how long he\u2019ll be willing and able to do this. His title loss to Joe could either have meant the win in Osaka that occurred or that Nakamura was destined to move to the main roster; I would have preferred the latter, though I can see the business side, as NXT doesn\u2019t have another top-level babyface unless they pull a big trigger on Tye Dillinger or No Way Jose. Despite this, If Nakamura is going to impact the WWE in a meaningful way, he only has a few years to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Predictions<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think Bobby Roode will be the next NXT Champion. I want to see this match, and I don\u2019t see anyone else down there having the strength of character to pull off a win over Nakamura, unless Joe takes it back and never heads up to the main roster. Once Roode wins the title, Nakamura gives a requisite rematch where he\u2019s screwed out of another title by Roode\u2019s chicanery and he heads up to\u00a0Raw\u00a0directly into the main event picture to be yet another stopgap to give Roman Reigns more time in his neverending quest for fan acceptance.<\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-459005917\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think Nakamura will be a main roster World Champion, though his reigns may be short as he lacks the interview skills in English to do the long talking segments that the main roster loves. My hope is that at some point, we get to see him face Brock Lesnar so they can play it up as the blowoff from their feud ten years ago in New Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>(Kelly Wells will present the NXT TRACKER every week with a categorical look at a particular wrestler or other talent on the NXT roster and predict their main roster prospects.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-847942735\"><div id=\"pwtor-1998873933\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Hello gang, and welcome to the NXT TRACKER, where I\u2019ll pick an NXT\u00a0wrestler, assess their progression to this point, and make bold (sure-to-look-hilarious-in-retrospect) predictions about their future prospects. Typically I expect to focus on young <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/12\/09\/nxt-tracker-shinsuke-nakamura-weekly-assessment-predictions-prospects-nxt-wrestlers-main-roster-future\/\" title=\"NXT TRACKER &#8211; SHINSUKE NAKAMURA: A weekly assessment and predictions on the prospects of an NXT wrestler&#8217;s main roster future\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4381,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-nxt-tracker","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/07\/Nakamura_3x2TG.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36097,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36096\/revisions\/36097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}