WWE Hall of Famer says Shinsuke Nakamura is not "championship material"(Exclusive)

Though WWE legend Teddy Long feels Shinsuke Nakamura is a great in-ring worker, he believes he lacks the spark a world champion must possess.

Earlier this month, Nakamura challenged Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Payback 2023 in the night's main event. The duo went to war for nearly 25 minutes, with the former NXT Champion coming inches close to dethroning The Visionary on multiple occasions.

However, in the end, Rollins won and kept the title intact around his waist. While many believed this could end their feud, it wasn't the case, as Nakamura and Rollins are on course to have another bout soon.

On Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine podcast hosted by Mac Davis, Teddy Long first mentioned that he considered Shinsuke Nakamura a "great wrestler."

However, Long feels the Japanese legend wasn't "championship material" and that WWE was unlikely to put a world title on him.

"Don't get me wrong. Shinsuke is a great wrestler. But I just don't see him being championship material. Maybe this is just my feeling about it. When you put a title on somebody, there has to be a lot of charisma; there needs to be a lot of excitement. And he has some of that. But like I said, I could be wrong, but I don't see them putting the title on him," said Teddy Long. [7:32 - 7:57]

Check out the full video below:

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Vince Russo was underwhelmed with Shinsuke Nakamura's WWE RAW match

On the latest episode of Legion of RAW, Vince Russo didn't hold back before blasting WWE for booking a match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Ricochet as it meant little.

Russo explained that it was abundantly clear from the beginning that Seth Rollins would make his presence felt and cause the match to end in a DQ.

"There is no point. Just so that they could have a good match, this is a great match for the marks, bro. Nakamura against Ricochet, this is probably five stars. We can put them out there for as long as we want. Four and three-quarters, we won't have a finish because Rollins is going to hit the ring. That's all this is. It all means zero," said Vince Russo.

It remains to be seen when a rematch between Rollins and Nakamura goes down and whether the latter could win the World Heavyweight Title.

Do you think WWE should put the world title on Shinsuke Nakamura? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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