The Nakamura Banality

Nakamura is just another guy, and that's a symptom of Smackdown's worst problem
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Shinsuke Nakamura has become something of a hot take battlefield in the wrestling world. He came over from New Japan Pro Wrestling with great fanfare, spent way too much time in NXT, and now has become just another guy on Smackdown. NJPW didn't have a problem keeping his aura special, but the structure of its booking allows it to more easily protect the mystique of more of its wrestlers. Nakamura didn't wrestle singles matches on every show, and he didn't have to do character work week in and week out. WWE is a different beast, but that's not an excuse for the fact that the only guys who feel like stars right now are all on RAW and all are in a main event stratum that few can dare to touch. The fact that The Miz feels on the edge of that stratum through sheer force of his own will is an anomalous miracle, but that's another topic for another post altogether.

That being said, Nakamura has found a niche that is drastically different from the bill of goods presented at his signing. Since moving up to Smackdown and being asked to wrestle almost every week, he's become one of the more reliable week-to-week television workers on the roster. It's both a change in his grand, sweeping epic reputation from his biggest matches, but also a pleasant surprise from the "lazy Nakamura" reputation he gained in, well, nearly every match in NXT after the Zayn debut. Starting with the Austin Aries match, Nakamura didn't exactly light the world on fire in NXT, only really reaching a consensus positive opinion with the Bobby Roode matches in San Antonio and Orlando. It didn't exactly bode well for him on Smackdown, especially since his reputation for turning it on only for the biggest matches preceded him. Many longtime fans of NJPW noted his seeming lack of effort reappearing in NXT.

However, it would appear that the grind has disabused Nakamura of that habit. He's become one of the most solid workers on the Smackdown roster. He's really gotten into a groove with results ranging from excellent (his match with John Cena to determine Jinder Mahal's challenger at SummerSlam) to solid (last night's match vs. Kevin Owens). Additionally, he's gotten the best matches out of Mahal during his title reign, which is no small feat. Mahal is raw in the ring, to say it in the most complimentary way possible. Nakamura was tasked with something nearly impossible, and he passed well enough.

That being said, that bill of goods promised a spectacular worker, and outside of the Zayn match at Takeover: Dallas, Nakamura hasn't delivered. One could speculate that the only person in WWE who really knows how modern NJPW really works is AJ Styles, and the two haven't wrestled in this company yet. However, as with most that's wrong with modern WWE, the blame can easily rest on WWE's booking patterns. When Nakamura burst onto the scene in NXT, he was special, and the half-developmental, half-prestige arm of the company preserved it enough so that when he showed up on Smackdown, it was still a huge deal. Over the last seven months, WWE, through overuse of his talents in the ring and booking that missed the entire point of who Nakamura was supposed to be, turned him into just another guy. One could say that the only important person on Smackdown is Shane McMahon, but honestly, is a dude that barely shows up week to week and just appears to put someone over really special? Smackdown, whether by design or poor booking, is a land of parity, and Nakamura has probably suffered the most from it.

So while Shinsuke Nakamura turning into a solid hand on a decent roster might be laudable without context, it feels like vindication for everyone who said WWE ruined him. When you're the biggest swinging dick in New Japan Pro Wrestling, becoming a popular lump of flesh on a faceless roster isn't enough, and to say it's his fault is disingenuous given not even the boss' son really stands out. I mean, you know that Nakamura, McMahon, Kevin Owens, Styles, Sami Zayn, and Randy Orton are supposed to be important, but do they pop off the screen like their RAW counterparts Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Samoa Joe, The Miz, and ESPECIALLY Braun Strowman? It's hard to say yes. That's not a Nakamura-only problem, but with a guy with his unique set of talents and his special aura, it's the biggest shame.