#5 Shinsuke Nakamura
A lot of people weren’t entirely satisfied with how Shinsuke Nakamura was booked at BackLash, barely limping past the challenge of Dolph Ziggler despite coming in with all this mystique and ‘vibe’ surrounding him.
While their criticism sounds fair, one also has to take into account that much of the mainstream fanbase would have had no idea about who Shinsuke Nakamura was. He neither wrestled extensively in the United States Indie scenes like Kevin Owens and Daniel Bryan nor was he a fixture on free television like AJ Styles was before he signed on with WWE.
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As such, his performance against Ziggler – while no means dominant – displayed heart, grit and the gumption to overcome obstacles; all of which are qualities that would have endeared him to the general fan.
Yes, he would have looked better had his entrance been longer than the actual match, but there really isn’t much use crying over spilt milk now. Now, the million dollar question is ‘What next for Shinsuke Nakamura?’.
Surely, the WWE has plumped for him to be main event material right from the onset... at least from what we hear, he’s on main event level money with the company. So why not book him into it good and early?
He’s got bucketloads of charisma, in-ring aptitude and the ability to draw in international audience far more convincingly than Jinder Mahal.
And since the WWE isn’t afraid to experiment by putting the WWE title on one international Superstar, pairing him up in a program with another – especially if that is Shinsuke Nakamura – is a no-brainer.
