WWE Royal Rumble 2016: Why AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura Should Debut at the Show
By Carl Gac
With both AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura on their way to WWE, debuting at the Royal Rumble this month should be in the cards.
In the last 24 hours, a lot has happened in the world of WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling. With the news that AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, are apparently set to sign with WWE it looks like two of New Japans biggest stars are on the fast track to the WWE main roster. It’s normal for new signees to head down to NXT to hone their style before making it to the main show. With both men in the prime of their careers, and in their late 30’s, there’s no time like the present to have them mixing with the biggest stars the WWE has to offer.
If the rumors from the Wrestling Observer (h/t Wrestling Inc) are to be believed it’s expected that both men have been signed with the main roster in mind.
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The perfect opportunity to bring both men into WWE is coming up in a few weeks time: the Royal Rumble.
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Both men are expected to debut in the near future. Styles has no more ties to NJPW so is free to make his move whenever. Seeing Kenny Omega attack Styles with the rest of Bullet Club at NJPW’s New Years Dash earlier today turned him face and gave him his send-off in front of the Japanese fans.
Nakamura, however, still holds the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, a belt that Omega looks set to challenge for in the near future. While it’s unlikely to see him debut in WWE whilst holding that belt, it’s not a totally impossible scenario.
With the Royal Rumble now having the WWE World Heavyweight title as it’s prize for the winner, it would lend some more weight to the match if WWE could come to an agreement with NJPW to have Nakamura come in holding the belt. He could then head back to defend (and lose) the belt to Omega before jumping onto WWE full-time. Seeing Nakamura in a WWE ring is something that a lot of fans never thought possible, that dream is shortly set to come true.
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Both Styles and Nakamura are amongst the top 10 wrestlers in the world right now. If you need any proof of that you only have to watch the match they contested at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 at the weekend. There’s no doubt that they will both probably have been signed to pretty high money contracts to get them to leave New Japan, they have to be allowed to come in and justify those contracts.
The Royal Rumble has always been a great way to bring in new superstars. You have two men here who need to be thrown in with a hot start. This is the match made in heaven. Right now it may be something that a lot of fans expect to happen so why disappoint those fans? Whilst a large portion of the WWE Universe may not have watched Wrestle Kingdom, it’s hard to imagine that they’ll have missed the rumours/news about these men coming into the company.
If you need them both to come in and make an instant impact you need them to debut in the Rumble match. Right from the off they can mix with the big stars, the likes of Roman Reigns, Sheamus and Chris Jericho are all capable of giving them an instant rub with fans who only watch WWE. Right from the off you can push them as equals to the men at the top of the card in WWE and instantly you have new main event stars to freshen up the stale WWE upper echelon.
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Styles and Nakamura can be the impetus to boost WWE on the road to WrestleMania. The thought that both men could feature on WWE’s biggest show of the year will excite wrestling fans around the world. One place that WWE could do with a boost is in the Japanese market, a place where they have coincidentally just launched the WWE Network. Styles and Nakamura are coming, it will happen soon, it should definitely happen at the Royal Rumble!