3 Potential Opponents for Shinsuke Nakamura Before Winning the WWE Title
By Adam O'Brien
WWE.com
2. John Cena
Before we jump into this one, there’s a particular quote from last year that springs to mind as we begin to think about the prospect of John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.
As Finn Bálor was preparing to say farewell to the NXT brand ahead of the WWE Draft, openly pondering the immediate future of his career, he found himself confronted by the brand’s newest rising star in Shinsuke Nakamura.
“The King of Strong Style” had these choice words for the former NXT Champion:
"“When I was in Japan, I watched you. You became the icon of NXT. If I want to be the champion, I have to beat the icon. I have to beat you.”"
There’s no organic way to lead into a rivalry between Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena. They have no conflicting interests, they’re both babyfaces and if memory serves, they haven’t even wrestled on the same show let alone shared a segment.
But John Cena is undoubtedly the biggest name produced by WWE over the last decade and a half, and as someone who’s expressed interest in taking on the best and brightest that any company has to offer in order to increase his own stock, Shinsuke Nakamura will most definitely be watching closely when Cena makes his return.
Cena has made a habit of putting over newcomers like Kevin Owens and AJ Styles over the last two consecutive years, and Shinsuke Nakamura would make it a trifecta if these two squared off in one of the biggest contrasts of styles we’ve ever seen.