What’s the story?
In what may well be the least surprising WWE rumour of the day, Cageside Seats speculates that Shinsuke Nakamura could well be in line for a big babyface push. Nakamura is currently involved in a small feud with Dolph Ziggler, but the King of Strong Style is expected to be vaulted into the main event scene sooner rather than later.
In case you didn’t know...
Those Shinsuke Nakamura fans who expected WWE to treat the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history poorly have been proven ever so wrong over the last year. Nakamura was NXT’s most protected star for the early part of his run, defeating Sami Zayn, Austin Aries and more on his way to winning the NXT Championship.
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His first defeat came in losing that title to Samoa Joe, but he regained the championship soon after.
Nakamura recently arrived on SmackDown Live following WrestleMania 33. He is yet to compete in the ring on TV but has been embroiled in verbal confrontations with ‘The Showoff’ Dolph Ziggler’ for three weeks. A match between the two is expected to take place at Backlash.
The heart of the matter
Nakamura is expected to make quick work of Ziggler at Backlash. The SmackDown Live main event scene is currently short on Superstar talent, with AJ Styles and Kevin Owens battling over the United States Championship, so elevating Nakamura as quickly as possible seems like a no-brainer.
The Japanese Superstar is already one of the most popular performers on SmackDown after all.
Randy Orton is expected to carry the WWE World Championship over the summer, and the vast majority of fans will agree that The Viper is much better suited to wrestling as a heel. Baron Corbin has been rumoured to be moving up the card, but The Lone Wolf may well still be considered too inexperienced for the position.
Nakamura has performed in front of huge crowds before and knows what it means to main event and therefore, his ascension makes perfect sense.
What’s next?
It will be interesting to see just how WWE decides to book the Nakamura vs. Ziggler match at Backlash. The reality is that Nakamura should make short work of Ziggler, who is a talented performer but certainly not on Shinsuke’s credibility level right now.
All will become clear following Backlash when WWE begins to set up the stories that will carry the blue show over the summer.
Author’s take
As mentioned before, this news isn’t surprising in the slightest. Shinsuke Nakamura is the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, the man who made the IWGP Intercontinental Championship the title it is today and one of the most charismatic professional wrestlers on the planet.
Why wouldn’t he be the main event? Nakamura is the sort of performer who can reignite interest in a flagging product. This is long overdue.
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