Awesome / Shinsuke Nakamura

His best match in NJPW and his best match in WWE.

• Nakamura defeating Kurt Angle with an insane flying cross armbar transition from a clothesline to win the IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and unify it with his own New Japan Pro-Wrestling version of the title on February 17, 2008.
• Nakamura finally putting together his current and most iconic gimmick of King of Strong Style that made its debut in NJPW in April 2009.
  • Before that, he appeared as more of a generic Japanese Pride MMA fighter who ultimately lost to Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
  • Since then, he gained more of a larger-than-life wrestling personality. He ended up wearing striking clothing inspired by Michael Jackson.
  • He also sported a new knee-to-the-head finishing move named after what crowds shouted in Lingala at Muhammad Ali during his fight against George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle" boxing match. ^note "Boma ye" or "Kill him", which was eventually renamed in WWE as "Kinshasa" or the place where the match took place.
• Shinsuke Nakamura's legendary run as IWGP Intercontinental Champion that got him some of his highest-rated matches according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He had main-event-tier matches against the "who's who" of NJPW even with a "mere" secondary title. It included feuds with:
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Beginning in Hiroshima 2014, Invasion Attack 2014, and G1 Climax 2014)
  • Kazushi "Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba (Wrestle Kingdom 7)
  • Katsuyori Shibata (G1 Climax 2014)
  • Yuji Nagata (G1 Climax 2014)
  • Hirooki Goto (Dominion 2015 and Destruction In Kobe 2015)
  • Kota Ibushi (Wrestle Kingdom 9)^note The two put on what's still regarded as one of the best Wrestle Kingdom matches of all time.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi is considered the hero of NJPW who took it out of its dark ages. Therefore, it's impressive that this legendary NJPW figure considers Shinsuke Nakamura as his foil and rival.^note Even though the feeling isn't mutual in Kayfabe. WWE really did get a special signee and talent in Shinsuke, especially in light of his rivalry with Tanahashi that arguably made the IWGP Intercontinental Title so prestigious in the first place.
• Nakamura's entrances always amaze, but the sheer power of his stage presence as he enters the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8 ranks among his best. Surrounded by pole dancers and pyro, he only vaguely acknowledges them as his eyes fix on Hiroshi Tanahashi with obsessive, murderous glee.
• Nakamura fighting AJ Styles in their final Tokyo Dome appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Fans are already clamoring for a rematch with both men in the WWE.
• His debut match in WWE NXT with Sami Zayn was an instant classic five-star back-and-forth match. It also helped that he had quite the entrance music ("The Rising Sun" by CFO$) at his introduction that's hummed along by the fans to this day.
  • Even his entrance music is over, becoming the No. 1 iTunes Soundtrack song as soon as it was released.
• Nakamura is so awesome that he debuted on SmackDown Live exactly a year after his NXT debut. He also only required his personal violinist and his entrance theme to get people popping for him. He didn't even need an introductory segment to get such a reaction from the WWE Universe.
  • Even more incredibly, he interrupted The Miz and Maryse, two people who do NOT like it when their spotlight is infringed on in any way. And Nakamura's charisma was so overpowering that they both got out of the ring and just stared blankly at him. Even the commentators at the announce table were COMPLETELY SILENT from the moment Lee England Jr. appeared with that violin, all the way through Shinsuke's entrance, into the crowd chanting Nakamura's name at the top of their lungs.
• During the 2017 Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Nakamura got into a staredown with his Wrestle Kingdom 10 opponent AJ Styles. The crowd immediately popped with "YES! YES! YES!". They then had a one-on-one brawl (to the delight of the crowd) that ended with both men trading blows on top of the ladder before Baron Corbin tipped the ladder over and sent them flying off.
• SmackDown Live!, August 1st, 2017: Nakamura beats John Cena in a number one contender match, clean as a whistle. After surviving two Attitude Adjustments and narrowly escaping a third, at that.
  • The other awesome part? John Cena has kicked out of a lot of the most powerful finishers ever devised. But this time, it only took ONE Kinshasa (helped along by a suplex that dumped Cena right on his neck) to put Cena down for a three count.
    • Adding to this, this is only the second time that Cena has lost clean on cable TV since 2009, the first time being Dean Ambrose in September 2016.
    • Even better: It was a number one contender's match for the WWE Championship at Summerslam. After less than a year on the main roster Nakamura is co-headlining the second biggest pay-per-view of the year.
• Nakamura's match with Randy Orton is even better than his Cena match, with them exchanging counter after counter, particularly a beautiful spot with Shinsuke turning Orton's first RKO into an armbar, and countering the second RKO by jabbing a knee into Orton's back. Like he said, he knows Randy's best shot (Orton gave him the RKO last week) but Randy doesn't know his.
  • Not only was it a great match, but Nakamura beat Orton CLEAN. How many guys can say they've beaten John Cena clean? How many guys can say they've beaten Orton clean? Now how many of them have beaten both clean? Nakamura did it in the span of about a month.
  • And once again, just like with John Cena, it only took one Kinshasa to put Orton out.
• Nakamura winning the 2018 Royal Rumble, lasting more than 44 minutes and surviving a final four with John Cena, Finn Balor and Roman Reigns, with Nakamura eliminating Reigns last for the victory to one of the greatest pops ever seen in the history of the Rumble. Afterwards, Nakamura is immediately presented with his choice of opponent at Wrestlemania between either Brock Lesnar for the Universal title, or AJ Styles for the WWE title. Given the history between the two, there can be only one obvious choice:
  Nakamura: A. J. STYLEEEEEES!
• The arguable match of the night at Backlash 2018. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura. Highlights include:
  • A heel Nakamura ramming Styles' back into the ring apron with a knee.
  • Styles launching a chair at Nakamura's knee, which rebounded and hit AJ on the cheek.
  • The finish is both men hitting simultaneous low blows on each other, with AJ retaining when both were unable to answer the count of ten.
• Nakamura makes the best (English) promo of his career here while making a case for himself in winning the Royal Rumble for the second time. He claims that in the last three years, he sort of forgot who he was even though he won almost every title except the world title in the WWE, so now the King of Strong Style is back and intends to to win the Royal Rumble and face Roman Reigns.
  Nakamura: I forgot who I am almost.
• The match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Seth Rollins at Fastlane 2021. The King of Strong Style is indeed back with this banger of a match. Even though it was for a losing effort, Shinsuke was able to showcase the best that Strong Style has to offer in terms of simulated violence mixed with WWE-style storytelling.
• On the May 21, 2021 edition of SmackDown, Rick Boogs plays Shinsuke Nakamura's theme to the ring to face King Corbin.
  • Soon after, at the "Battle of the Crown" match on the June 19, 2021 edition of SmackDown, the King of Strong Style defeated King Corbin, thusly dethroning him as the King of WWE.
• The Gunther vs. Nakamura match on the August 13, 2022 edition of SmackDown. A very good TV match and another amazing title defense for Gunther.
  • The match started quite slow but heated up with Nakamura's work on Gunther's arm that convinced the audience that he could win. The crowd heated up during the match that resulted in a great finish.
  • Seth Rollins praised the Gunther vs. Nakamura match stating, "Gunther vs. Shin rocked." It was a losing effort, but Shinsuke gave good account of Antonio Inoki's Strong Style all throughout the match.
• The WWE actually allowed Shinsuke Nakamura to wrestle in Pro Wrestling NOAH against The Great Muta in New Year's Day 2023.
  • In the Great Muta's farewell tour match itself, Shinsuke used his Combat Pragmatist abilities to kiss and suck out the green mist from Muta's mouth and use it against him before delivering a hard Bomaye/Kinshasa to his head.
• On the May 5, 2023 edition of Friday Night SmackDown in Puerto Rico, Shinsuke Nakamura arrives to the rousing sing-along of his theme by the Puerto Rican crowd. He still got it.
• Letting Shinsuke cut a promo in his native tongue in the August 14, 2023 edition of Monday Night RAW is *chef's kiss* perfection. Sure, the live crowd won't understand it, but once the subtitles are applied, you can really feel the gravity of his words.
  • It was also perfectly done for the backstage promo after the August 21, 2023 edition of RAW as well. Shinsuke Nakamura's promos simply hit so much harder in Japanese.
  • The periodic moment of English to emphasize the point just makes the promos work even more. These kinds of promos can really work to build the match-up. This is how you make a powerful heel.
• On the November 27, 2023 edition of Monday Night RAW, Shinsuke Nakamura blindsided Cody Rhodes and caught him with a vile concoction: The red mist he inherited from the Great Muta.
  • The King of Strong Style had been hinting at a major feud over the past month or so, with many fans believing his target was CM Punk. Instead, it was the Grandson of a Plumber, Cody Rhodes, all along.
• Shinsuke's promo against Cody Rhodes back in RAW 12/5/23, makes him sound like a yakuza boss. It's this sort of presentation is what's been missing in Shinsuke's booking, because his wrestling abilities hasn't been lacking in the least.
  • Shinsuke's follow-up promo on RAW 12/11/23 after spitting red mist on Cody's face offers a mix of his native tongue and Animesque animation, which gives a great aesthetic panache to the presentation of his promo, like it's something straight of 1990s MTV or Liquid Television.
• Shinsuke Nakamura had a banger of a street fight with Cody Rhodes on the January 8, 2024 edition of Monday Night RAW, with Cody getting the win by Shinsuke accidentally hitting the table and then receiving the Cross Rhodes as the Coup de Grâce.