Shinsuke Nakamura was one of the biggest stars on the NXT roster last year and the WWE Universe eagerly anticipated his main roster debut.
When Nakamura was called up the night after WrestleMania 33, it seemed that he was the man that the company were looking at to replace John Cena on SmackDown Live, which could have been too much pressure, too soon. The Japanese star has been unable to deliver the same way he once did in Japan and on NXT, and it seems that the WWE Universe are not the only ones who have noticed.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently appeared on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, where he was asked about his thoughts on the former NXT Champion’s current SmackDown run.
He said: “It’s bell to bell, we are lacking what we know is there, we are not getting. I would love to see him return to that. Remember the match where he finally squared off with AJ, that’s your match and maybe AJ is the best in the world. I got to call a match or two of their’s and they were unbelievable.
WWE has teased Nakamura versus AJ Styles on SmackDown Live over the past few months and it is now heavily speculated the match could happen at next year’s WrestleMania.
“I understand Kenny Omega who WWE I am sure would love to sign he has proven he is sound and connects with an audience, he will want to get there someday because the older you get, you can’t work that crazy style with multiple big bumps per match and they do a lot of bumps on the apron which is very dangerous. Omega and Okada had three great matches this year but I thought that the Nakamura/AJ matches that I called were up there with them so it’s subjective right.”
Nakamura is currently embroiled in the main event picture on SmackDown Live, but he isn’t the standout star that he once was in NXT, so it will be interesting to see if this changes in the new year.
