WWE SmackDown: 10 Things You Might Have Missed (Aug 9)

5. How Much Nakamura's Pre-Tape Did For Him

Shinsuke Nakamura Renee Young
WWE

It's been written before that Shinsuke Nakamura needs more of a journey in WWE before winning the top titles. His feuds against Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin have been lacklustre, and there's a sense the Japanese rock star hasn't fully connected with WWE's more casual fan base. This week took strides towards achieving that.

Finally, Nakamura was given some context as he spelled out exactly why he had come from his homeland to WWE. That was never explained before, so it was nice to see WWE dive into Shinsuke's own ambitions. It was about time. Better late than never though, right?

In one simple interview with Renee Young, Nakamura told the world that he had always wanted to come to WWE and face the best. Straight away, statements like that do far more to ingrain Shinsuke to WWE's world and establish him in it than any number of matches against Ziggler or Corbin ever could.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.