10 WWE Superstars And The Angles That Made Them Famous

8. Shinsuke Nakamura & The King Of Swag Style

steen generico
NJPW

Don't get me wrong, Shinsuke Nakamura has been a big deal since he first burst onto the New Japan Pro Wrestling scene way back in 2002. Along with fellow rookies Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata, big things were expected of Nakamura. Indeed, he seemed to fulfil his promise when he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 2003, becoming the youngest champion in the history of the title.

It wasn't until an excursion to Mexico's CMLL in 2011 that the penny dropped for ol' Shinsuke however. He had turned heel a year or so earlier, talking of wanting to resurrect strong style wrestling, but his demeanour was still hyper-serious, a man in the ring to kick your head off and not much else.

I don't know what happened in Mexico, but when Nakamura returned he had somehow become the coolest guy in the planet. The seriousness was still there, but it was now hidden under layer upon layer of charisma. He went from your stereotypical strong style Japanese wrestler in black trunks to a veritable walking sex object, complete with strippers and pop star mannerisms.

Without this change, Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE would be a far less imaginable idea.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.