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Post by Natural Born Farmer on Apr 19, 2022 12:03:34 GMT -5
Dude's definitely going back to New Japan, and the AEW Crossover will only benefit them I would love to see a Time Splitters reunion... If he already relocated to Florida for NXT, I think his North American career is about to explode once his WWE contract is cleared.
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Post by EZ: Brainy Bae on Apr 19, 2022 12:10:03 GMT -5
Kushida's a weird case. Didn't want to be stuck as a Junior in New Japan so he goes to WWE where guys of his stature rarely ascend. He's a great talent. Unfortunately, his style doesn't really flash in any category to grip the higher-ups nor does he have the physical presence that has kept Nakamura around. I'll never blame a guy for betting on himself but this was always the most likely outcome (even before the pandemic).
If there's one silver lining it's that he was so rarely used that he didn't add much wear and tear.
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Post by eJm on Apr 19, 2022 12:12:13 GMT -5
per the Fightful article and WOL the PC was so overcrowded it took 9 months to get a bunch of people back to workout because they had no room for people. Kushida also went this whole time without a locker (he was one of many) Ghetto, hahaha. Worst part is that resources obvs aren’t an issue so it’s just piss poor logistics and straight up not having a plan for a lot of the “prospects” they are bringing in. Could you make this shit sound more undesirable to somebody with actual options, lmao? That bottom part is important because you have to remember, they have the NCAA program kicking off soon with the class potentially coming in. If you’re the Cavinder Twins and you hear about how the training works and they’ll be looking at how you do in six months before they decide your fate and your control over your social media might be given to someone else within the company, why would you choose that when the WNBA when I guarantee you for as underfunded as they are compared to the male counterpart, they’ll at least have lockers for you?
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Post by polarbearpete on Apr 19, 2022 12:20:35 GMT -5
Serious question: Have they ever brought in a Japanese male and booked them well in a way that wasn't a comedy act? Nakamura. Taka when he first came in was booked well and not as a comedy act, but that eventually changed as they got into the Attitude Era.
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Nosnorb
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Post by Nosnorb on Apr 19, 2022 13:10:25 GMT -5
Serious question: Have they ever brought in a Japanese male and booked them well in a way that wasn't a comedy act? Nakamura. Taka when he first came in was booked well and not as a comedy act, but that eventually changed as they got into the Attitude Era. Nakamura has 6 failed WWE Title shots, which makes a mockery of the claim that he has been booked well. Yoshi Tatsu was booked well in the last year of WWECW but was hardly booked after a fork was stuck in the show.
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Post by Jayson Tatum Paxley on Apr 19, 2022 13:20:58 GMT -5
WWE Performance Center 🤝 My High School
sorry we're out of lockers rn
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Post by knsffa on Apr 19, 2022 13:28:13 GMT -5
per the Fightful article and WOL the PC was so overcrowded it took 9 months to get a bunch of people back to workout because they had no room for people. Kushida also went this whole time without a locker (he was one of many) Was it said when exactly that period of time was? Prior to the pandemic start? Or more recent stretch of nine months? Best that I can recall. From Middle March 2020 to end of August 2020 the Performance Center was used as the 'arena' for the main roster shows. Full Sail was still used for NXT from end of March 2020 to end of September 2020. It's possible the main roster stars were occupying a lot of the locker space for a time. The main roster moved to the Thunderdome over SummerSlam 2020 weekend in late August. The PC was said to be in need of renovations...CWC or that and other stuff? It was revealed at the end of September that NXT was going to begin taping at the PC. The news about the PC being turned into the CWC was revealed around the time of Takeover 31 in early October 2020. At some point, don't recall if it was summer or fall, there were reports WWE set up the PC training rings, workout rooms, etc at a warehouse across from the original PC building where the CWC was. In September 2021 they renovated the CWC into the NXT Arena or whatever it's called now. There was a video floating around during the start of the revamp that made it seem like they had to set up the arena each week.
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Post by Zombie Mod on Apr 19, 2022 14:01:30 GMT -5
Serious question: Have they ever brought in a Japanese male and booked them well in a way that wasn't a comedy act? Well there was Lord Tensai but it just didn't work out Something ruined he Tensai gimmick?
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Post by polarbearpete on Apr 19, 2022 14:10:00 GMT -5
Nakamura. Taka when he first came in was booked well and not as a comedy act, but that eventually changed as they got into the Attitude Era. Nakamura has 6 failed WWE Title shots, which makes a mockery of the claim that he has been booked well. Yoshi Tatsu was booked well in the last year of WWECW but was hardly booked after a fork was stuck in the show. I don’t think winning the world title is required for someone to be booked well. He’s been a featured act nearly his entire time in NXT and WWE, fluctuates between midcard, upper mid card and main event, has certain championship accolades and a Royal Rumble win. He hasn’t been made “the guy” but he’s been booked fairly well, and not as a comedy act.
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Nosnorb
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Post by Nosnorb on Apr 19, 2022 14:35:22 GMT -5
Nakamura has 6 failed WWE Title shots, which makes a mockery of the claim that he has been booked well. Yoshi Tatsu was booked well in the last year of WWECW but was hardly booked after a fork was stuck in the show. I don’t think winning the world title is required for someone to be booked well. He’s been a featured act nearly his entire time in NXT and WWE, fluctuates between midcard, upper mid card and main event, has certain championship accolades and a Royal Rumble win. He hasn’t been made “the guy” but he’s been booked fairly well, and not as a comedy act. The problem isn't him not winning the title, it's having a dude fail so many times to get the job done, which kills off a large part of his heat. Nobody is buying him as having a chance in hell against Roman. When you look like the biggest bitch in a ring that has The Usos, that is a problem right there.
This is the first time Nakamura has been in the main event since 2018, and thanks to all those failures, it's going to be the devils job to build him up as a legit threat to Roman because the audience has been shown time and time and time again, when the chips are down, Nakamura chokes. And one of those failures was against Jinder Mahal after that promo - instead of Shinsuke leaving the champ and leaving Jinder in a pool of his own blood and bacne pus, he failed to get the job done.
Nakamura, as it stands, is pretty much useless in the main event because everyone knows how the story ends.
When a dude could have a Choking Hazard Warning Sign on his gear and it be totally fitting, no way in hell can you call that dude well booked.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 14:39:28 GMT -5
I think Nakamura has been booked significantly better than most Japanese wrestlers in WWE, historically, but that's a LOW bar to clear.
Given the fact that he came into WWE as a 36-year-old at the back end of his wrestling prime, as an extremely hyped NJPW main eventer during an era when WWE was far more willing than ever to strap a rocket to guys who had made their names elsewhere, I would have expected him to have done far, far more than he has. Using AJ Styles as a comparison point, it's hard to say that Nakamura has been used well or has achieved his potential.
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Post by polarbearpete on Apr 19, 2022 14:43:15 GMT -5
I think Nakamura has been booked significantly better than most Japanese wrestlers in WWE, historically, but that's a LOW bar to clear. Given the fact that he came into WWE as a 36-year-old at the back end of his wrestling prime, as an extremely hyped NJPW main eventer during an era when WWE was far more willing than ever to strap a rocket to guys who had made their names elsewhere, I would have expected him to have done far, far more than he has. Using AJ Styles as a comparison point, it's hard to say that Nakamura has been used well or has achieved his potential. AJ Styles was an established North American wrestler and still in his prime physically, and also received a push far beyond what anyone expected, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Nakamura had definitely lost a step in-ring, was not known to the American audience to the extent Styles was (which is why one started in NXT and the other on the main roster), and of course Vince places a certain value on the ability to cut promos in English (for better or worse). I think, given everything, I’d be hard-pressed to say that Nakamura hasn’t had a good run. Booked well and booked near-perfectly are two different things to me. I too think he should’ve won the world title in 2018, but I still think he’s overall been booked well.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 14:58:45 GMT -5
I think Nakamura has been booked significantly better than most Japanese wrestlers in WWE, historically, but that's a LOW bar to clear. Given the fact that he came into WWE as a 36-year-old at the back end of his wrestling prime, as an extremely hyped NJPW main eventer during an era when WWE was far more willing than ever to strap a rocket to guys who had made their names elsewhere, I would have expected him to have done far, far more than he has. Using AJ Styles as a comparison point, it's hard to say that Nakamura has been used well or has achieved his potential. AJ Styles was an established North American wrestler and still in his prime physically, and also received a push far beyond what anyone expected, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Nakamura had definitely lost a step in-ring, was not known to the American audience to the extent Styles was (which is why one started in NXT and the other on the main roster), and of course Vince places a certain value on the ability to cut promos in English (for better or worse). I think, given everything, I’d be hard-pressed to say that Nakamura hasn’t had a good run. I get what you're saying, and I do think that it's unfair to judge a performer's WWE run based solely on the number of world titles won. Nakamura has been a consistently featured performer at or near the top of the card for the better part of 5 years at this point. It's been a good, solid, run. I just would have expected him to do more. It's not quite a 1-to-1 comparison with AJ Styles, but, really AJ is 4 years older and I'm not sure Shinsuke had lost any more of a step in the ring upon signing, at least in terms of ability to work the WWE style. Styles was more well-known to the American audience given his run in TNA, but at the time he was brought into WWE he was especially hot because of his New Japan run, same as Nakamura. Styles had to overcome a Southern drawl and somewhat questionable promo skills by Vince standards (which, I know, is not the same as not speaking English fluently), and I would argue that his WWE run has been the best of his entire career at this point. AJ feels like a WWE guy, through and through. Nakamura has never quite shaken the feeling that he's an "outsider," to me. Like Bronson said above, there's never really been any reason to believe that he would actually win a match of significant consequence in his main roster WWE run. And it's a shame, because there was a time when he was, bar none, my favorite wrestler.
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Post by polarbearpete on Apr 19, 2022 15:13:42 GMT -5
AJ Styles was an established North American wrestler and still in his prime physically, and also received a push far beyond what anyone expected, so it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Nakamura had definitely lost a step in-ring, was not known to the American audience to the extent Styles was (which is why one started in NXT and the other on the main roster), and of course Vince places a certain value on the ability to cut promos in English (for better or worse). I think, given everything, I’d be hard-pressed to say that Nakamura hasn’t had a good run. I get what you're saying, and I do think that it's unfair to judge a performer's WWE run based solely on the number of world titles won. Nakamura has been a consistently featured performer at or near the top of the card for the better part of 5 years at this point. It's been a good, solid, run. I just would have expected him to do more. It's not quite a 1-to-1 comparison with AJ Styles, but, really AJ is 4 years older and I'm not sure Shinsuke had lost any more of a step in the ring upon signing, at least in terms of ability to work the WWE style. Styles was more well-known to the American audience given his run in TNA, but at the time he was brought into WWE he was especially hot because of his New Japan run, same as Nakamura. Styles had to overcome a Southern drawl and somewhat questionable promo skills by Vince standards (which, I know, is not the same as not speaking English fluently), and I would argue that his WWE run has been the best of his entire career at this point. AJ feels like a WWE guy, through and through. Nakamura has never quite shaken the feeling that he's an "outsider," to me. Like Bronson said above, there's never really been any reason to believe that he would actually win a match of significant consequence in his main roster WWE run. And it's a shame, because there was a time when he was, bar none, my favorite wrestler. A lot of what you say is fair. I do think that Nakamura could not really go in the ring to the level that Styles could, at least from what I saw of their WWE/NXT work. I also think that there were definitely reasons early in Nakamura’s main roster run where there was reason to believe he would win a match of consequence. He beat Cena clean on Smackdown, he beat Orton and Owens, he won the Royal Rumble and many expected him to beat Styles for the title. Since then, it seems Vince decided he’d be more of an upper midcard stalwart and that’s pretty much where he’s been ever since.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Apr 19, 2022 16:07:22 GMT -5
First Kyle O'Reilly. Now Kushida. Von Wagner is one dangerous mofo.
Seriously though I always liked Kushida so I'm disappointed to hear this. He was definitely the better half of Jacket Time.
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Post by Raw is Doodie101 on Apr 19, 2022 16:29:04 GMT -5
Serious question: Have they ever brought in a Japanese male and booked them well in a way that wasn't a comedy act? As people have mentioned, Nakamaura. I think another question is has any North American Promotion with a major tv contract ever been able to market a non-English speaking wrestler consistently long-term? People always talk about WWE not being able to do this as a flaw but has anybody ever been able to do better than Nakamura? For better or worse, most American wrestling companies are built on English-speaking promos. Even the great AEW has pushed their Joshi wrestlers to Dark in favor of others. Pushing talents long-term who aren't good English speakers is hard as hell.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2022 16:42:29 GMT -5
First Kyle O'Reilly. Now Kushida. Von Wagner is one dangerous mofo. Seriously though I always liked Kushida so I'm disappointed to hear this. He was definitely the better half of Jacket Time. Remember when Von Wagner was randomly on SD that one time?
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Post by oxbaker on Apr 19, 2022 16:42:51 GMT -5
Serious question: Have they ever brought in a Japanese male and booked them well in a way that wasn't a comedy act? As people have mentioned, Nakamaura. I think another question is has any North American Promotion with a major tv contract ever been able to market a non-English speaking wrestler consistently long-term? People always talk about WWE not being able to do this as a flaw but has anybody ever been able to do better than Nakamura? For better or worse, most American wrestling companies are built on English-speaking promos. Even the great AEW has pushed their Joshi wrestlers to Dark in favor of others. Pushing talents long-term who aren't good English speakers is hard as hell. The worst of it is I remember Nakamura cutting a promo early in his main roster run with his freaking mouthpiece still in — his English is rough enough without trying to talk with a mouthpiece in his mouth, lol.
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 19, 2022 16:47:35 GMT -5
I'd say Nakamura has been booked alright, but that doesn't mean he's been used to his potential, like, obviously far from it. He's someone they should have pulled the trigger on multiple times.
If we're talking most accomplished Japanese wrestlers in WWE of all time, it's probably him, Asuka, and Tajiri, with the first two naturally higher on that totem pole.
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Post by Dub H on Apr 19, 2022 16:58:16 GMT -5
This is a good showcase of why NXT itself needed the change. Because sure as hell Vince wouldnt and there was a giant disconect on people that NXT hired and people Vince wanted
And if you say "Well what is the issue with NXT having its own sepearate roster?"
Well I bet KUSHIDA didnt want to be hired to be on NXT Forever.
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