10 Ways WWE Fixed Broken NXT Call-Ups
5. Shinsuke Nakamura
Nobody - and not even just the "Nobody" that starts off that Twitter gag - imagined that the Shinsuke Nakamura that lit up his last Wrestle Kingdom in 2016 could do the same on the WWE main roster for an extended period. But few thought his babyface run on Raw or SmackDown following NXT would hit the wall during his very first match.
'The King Of Strong Style' was suddenly 'The Artist', but whatever he painted on the canvas with Dolph Ziggler at Backlash 2017 amounted to little more than a couple of toddlers giving finger-painting their first bash. You force a smile at the outcome so nobody gets their feelings hurt, but you're left wondering what the point of it all was.
A heel turn was less a step-in-the-right-direction and more kneel-forward-and-punch-in-the-d*ck, but his substantially reduced in-ring efforts at least suited a bit of pantomime villainy. Alongside Cesaro, he's become a pretty enjoyable hired goon heel, and a lengthy Intercontinental Title reign said...something about the company's faith in what he's still got to offer.