10 Early Wrestling Predictions For 2017
8. Shinsuke Nakamura Will Become The First Japanese Top Tier WWE Champion
Even if you disregard WWE's revisionist history, Antonio Inoki was only pseudo-champion for a week. Given the epic reigns typical of the era, this equates, adjusted for deflation, to about ten minutes in 2016. If it counts, it also, essentially, does not.
Yokozuna was a Hawaiian man masquerading as an obese Japanese man, so he obviously doesn't count, either.
With two (purported) top tier titles, there is more scope for WWE to award wrestlers with a dry run at lasting main event stardom. The logic behind that is negligible - one need look no further than Jack Swagger for proof of that - but with Nakamura, the tactic would be justified. No other man has captured the imagination of WWE fans in 2016 than him.
With Nakamura, match quality is guaranteed, and while one could say that about many men in this workrate-emphasised era, Nakamura in particular is a wrestling machine - one with a style all of his own.
Obviously, he can't carry the fifteen minute promos so beloved of RAW, so it's likely he'll debut on SmackDown!. Moreover, the Blue Brand will need a major debut to launch the night after the night after WrestleMania trope, and there is nobody better positioned to do that than Nakamura. Mauro Ranallo fawning over his sh*t-kicking offence would never grow old, either.