10 Times WWE Almost Made A New Star (Then Totally Blew It)

NXT has been home to some of the biggest international and independent stars in the profession, but signing the NJPW icon Shinsuke Nakamura was one of their biggest achievements.

His time in NXT was a little rough around the edges thanks to a couple of lacklustre matches, but his debut bout against Sami Zayn became legendary, and he captured the NXT Championship twice. This momentum carried him through to the main roster, where he debuted with an impact and tottered around waiting to reach his potential.

This all came to a head after a well-thought-out encounter between Nakamura and AJ Styles at Money in the Bank 2017. Fans were desperate to see this match happen, and their wishes were granted when the King of Strong Style won the 2018 Royal Rumble and challenged Styles to a match at WrestleMania.

Everything was set to make Nakamura a star, as he was over with the crowd and was heading into a dream match. However, while the bout itself was lacklustre, the aftermath was where the real mistakes happened, as Nakamura lost and turned heel. From there, he simply became weird, losing matches all over and becoming obsessed with low-blowing AJ Styles until he eventually faded into the lower card.

The company was pushing him in the right direction but fell at the last hurdle instead of committing.