10 Biggest Problems Facing WWE Creative At The Moment
5. Preserving Shinsuke Nakamura's Star Power
While Shinsuke Nakamura has been regularly thrust into winning positions since joining the main roster, he is in real danger of becoming “just another guy” on SmackDown. Sure, he has three successive pinfalls over Kevin Owens to his name, but ‘The King Of Strong Style’ feels less special every time we see him, and his star aura is already fading.
The problem started during the Dolph Ziggler feud, which should have been a fine platform to introduce Nakamura, but culminated in a bland 50/50 match that somehow presented ‘The Showoff’ as the bigger star, despite his loss. Nakamura has gradually drifted away thereafter, and it’s clear that the main roster writers have no idea how to preserve the importance that he carried throughout his NXT run.
It’s far too early to call Nakamura a main roster flop, but aside from his trademark gestures and gesticulations, there’s little to distinguish him from the pack at the moment. SmackDown have a genuine superstar on their hands, but they’re treating him like a faceless upper-midcarder. If his push does bomb, and Nakamura ends up as indistinguishable as the past few weeks suggest, it’ll be the most damning indictment of WWE’s broken star-making machine yet.