During the SmackDown after WrestleMania 33, Shinsuke Nakamura debuted on WWE’s main roster. The WWE Universe embraced him and showed immediately that he’s going to be a big star for the company. Nakamura’s first televised match will happen at Backlash next month.
Related: Shinsuke Nakamura’s Opponent For WWE Backlash Revealed
However, WWE originally had much bigger plans for The King of Strong Style’s debut on the main roster. In fact, he almost made his debut on the grandest stage of them all. It’s being reported by Sportskeeda that Nakamura vs. The Miz was being planned for WrestleMania 33.
The original plans were for the beef between Daniel Bryan and The Miz to build to the latter keeping the IC Title until Wrestlemania. Heading into the event, Miz would have defended the title in an open challenge against an opponent of Bryan’s choosing. The plan was for the man in question to be Nakamura, who would have become the IC Champion on his very first night.
However, John Cena agreed to do the match with Miz and the proposal to Nikki Bella on the grandest stage of them all. The idea was scrapped, and Shinsuke Nakamura was kept in NXT until the post-WrestleMania edition of SmackDown.
another reason for me to hate john cena. can you imagine the pop for shinsuke at mania?