Ho.Lee.Sh**. As someone who had never seen Shinsuke Nakamura wrestle before Friday, this writer still had high expectations based on all accounts of his talent. But dear God, Nakamura made good on the expectations and then some. He and Sami Zayn had a barn-burner of a match. As annoying as the fans were at some points with the constant chants, the Fight forever one rang true. Nakamura certainly has a unique charisma and style that played really well against Zayn. The two trading dozens of forearms (to an appropriate Yay!/Yay! chant) was a sight to behold, and they still had plenty left in the tank. Shinsukes strikes knees and kicks looked every bit as lethal as billed, and the Kinshasa (formerly Boma Ye) knocked Zayn cold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A4RIdSkbk0 Nakamura is 36, so you cant imagine that he will be in NXT for too long. If WWE is planning on capitalizing on its investment in Shinsuke, they will want to get him up to WWE sometime this year. One match in a WWE/NXT ring is not a body of work, but it certainly is a fair indicator that he could make a big impact on the main roster. Until then, enjoy this match over and over and anticipate the next one.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
