Is Nakamura’s Delayed Debut A Good Thing?

After years of anticipation, after months of speculation, it finally happened!

And now we wait…

…wait…wait that doesn’t sound right…

Nope, nope that is indeed correct.

It was April of 2016 that one of the biggest stars in Japan, Shinsuke Nakamura, made his in-ring debut with NXT. The Match of the Year candidate that he had with Sami Zayn showed the NXT/WWE Universe that they had a star on their hands.

There will obviously be some time between the time a superstar makes their NXT debut and their main roster debut, but Nakamura was one that had us all thinking it could happen any day from day one. When he lost the NXT Championship for the first time to Samoa Joe at TakeOver:Toronto in November, the call up seemed imminent.

Instead, Nakamura did something that had not been done before – he became the first two-time NXT Champion by defeating Joe. That’s great and all, but come on! When is The King of Strong Style going to be on Raw or SmackDown?

Would he be a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble? No.

Would his debut be a part of the Road to WrestleMania? No.

Would the WWE Universe get their first taste of Nakamura at WrestleMania itself? No.

That one stings a little hearing what I have heard. The rumors are that original plans called for the Miz/Daniel Bryan feud from 2016 would go on through WrestleMania where Miz would officially challenge Bryan. The SmackDown Live’s General Manager’s response would be that he is still in no condition to compete, but he can find someone would could at WrestleMania.

Guess who that was supposed to be?!?

Then John Cena decided to get engaged, and here we are.

At least we did not have to wait that much longer though. It was on the first SmackDown Live after WrestleMania where a mysterious violinist took the spotlight and played Nakamura to the WWE ring for the first time.

The man described as a combination of Shawn Michaels and Freddy Mercury has finally arrived!

From the looks of his debut, it looked like we would first see Nakamura against the man he was originally scheduled to face at WrestleMania, The Miz. Then the Superstar Shake-Up happened and they were now on different shows.

Instead, its Dolph Ziggler that will be the first counterpart. OK, sounds great! Ziggler is great in the ring and really has nothing going on at this point, another loss wouldn’t mean anything to him.

But WWE is doing things a little different, they’re making us wait. Nakamura debuted in early April and will have his first match this coming Sunday in Chicago at Backlash. Six SmackDown’s have come and six SmackDown’s have gone with no ring bell sounding with Nakamura in the ring.

As we finally approach the long-awaited in-ring debut, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of keeping Shinsuke out of the ring until Backlash.

The biggest positive to waiting is simply the anticipation. The wait has made Nakamura’s debut seem that much more special than just any ol’ debut – and it should. Nakamura is a star around the world. To those who are unfamiliar with him, the fact that they aren’t able to see this guy unless they pay for it means something.

This is the same formula used for Brock Lesnar. A pay-per-view main event is centered around who gets the right to have a match against Lesnar at the following pay-per-view. A Lesnar match is something to see. This is what they are trying to do with Shinsuke. The big different with Nakamura is that after the match at Backlash, he will still be on weekly TV. This is not a one and done for the next few months situation.

On the flip side, well, the build has been difficult to execute. If Nakamura isn’t in the ring, then the only way to build to the match at Backlash is through the microphone. Maybe not the best for the Japanese superstar.

I will say though, Shinsuke’s English is pretty good. If you watch NXT, you saw him deliver a long farewell address to the NXT crowd, and it sounded good. He can talk, but there is still a strong accent there that can make it a little difficult for some to understand.

The fact that he is delivering these promos with a mouth guard the size of Sasha Banks’ forehead doesn’t exactly make it any easier to understand.

Either way, the wait is almost over. Strong Style is here!

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? WAS IT THE RIGHT DECISION TO HOLD NAKAMURA’S DEBUT UNTUIL BACKLASH? WOULD IT BE BETTER IF HE WENT TO RAW AND ALREADY HAD A PAY PER VIEW MATCH? IS DOLPH ZIGGLER THE RIGHT OPPONENT? LIKE OUR NEW PAGE ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LET US KNOW!53