The background
Nakamura, who is perhaps best known for his time in NJPW, signed with the WWE in 2016 and added a new dimension to his career. He made his in-ring debut at NXT Takeover: Dallas and defeated Sami Zayn with ease.
Following this, he put on good matches against the likes of Austin Aries and Finn Balor and established himself as a force to be reckoned with. In August, he defeated Samoa Joe to win the NXT title for the first time in his career.
However, in November, he lost the title to Joe at the NXT Takeover event. A few weeks, ‘The King of Strong style’ regained the belt at an NXT live event.
Unfortunately, this reign did not last too long as he lost the title to Bobby Roode at NXT Takeover: San Antonio in January. On the first SmackDown after WrestleMania 33, Nakamura made his main roster debut and interrupted The Miz and Maryse.
Shortly thereafter, he confronted Dolph Ziggler and set the stage for a match against him. At the Backlash PPV, he defeated the ‘Show Off’ in what was his first match as part of the main roster.
The heart of the matter
Austin appeared on Wade Keller’s PWTorch: Livecast and stated that the Ziggler-Nakamura match did not live up to his expectations as it lacked a sense of urgency.
However, at the same time, ‘The Texas Rattlesnake’ added that the match did indeed have some good moments and nice exchanges of offence. Besides this, he also commented on Ziggler and Nakamura’s in-ring styles and said that the former Spirit Squad member does not put enough ‘malice’ in his strikes, while the Japanese star often panders to the crowd.
What’s next?
Nakamura and Ziggler are a part of the MITB ladder match which will take place at the eponymous PPV on June 18. As such, we can expect their rivalry to continue in the days to come.
Author’s take
Ziggler and Nakamura are two highly talented workers. As such, I would really like to see them square off against each other in singles competition again. Enough said!
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