10 Wrestlers Fans Have No Idea What They're Truly Capable Of
8. Shinsuke Nakamura
Is Shinsuke Nakamura still truly capable of his best work, not that it friggin' matters?
He's 41, and has effectively coasted throughout what are considered the wrestler's physical prime years since 2017. He's clearly lost a step, which is less than ideal, since his frantic, scary sprints across the canvas informed the magic of his style: his near-misses looked as frightening as the full brunt of his legitimate strikes. He hasn't wrestled a blow-away awesome match since 2016. Good to very good matches, yes, particularly in a massively underrated series opposite Robert Roode, but nothing that would trouble any Match Of The Year lists, even those limited to his home promotion.
The old Shinsuke Nakamura was an electrifying alien life form with a totally distinct charisma and lethal-looking arsenal. When NJPW developed a buzz that could not be ignored, in the mid 2010s, Nakamura made it feel cool. He dances to the air guitar posturing of a comedy act in 2021.
It doesn't scan as a bitter disappointment. Nakamura seems content and isn't entering committed performances in grim futility.
But he's capable of something none of us have seen in years, surely. Everybody thought Dean Ambrose was cooked in 2018.
That's the WWE effect.