WWE: Daniel Bryan Should Become Shinsuke Nakamura’s Manager

Shinsuke Nakamura would benefit immensely from sharing the WWE screen with Daniel Bryan.

Despite his incredible charisma and popularity, Shinsuke Nakamura still faces a notable barrier in WWE: promos. While he can converse in English, his accent is still very pronounced, which makes it difficult for some people to hear him clearly. Then there’s the fact that Nakamura wears a mouth guard almost all the time, which only convoluted his speech even further.

Since WWE emphasizes promos all the time, Nakamura needs to cut good promos if he hopes to have sustained success. This is why Nakamura should have a manager do his talking for him. But not just any manager; Nakamura should be managed by none other than Daniel Bryan.

Pairing Nakamura with Daniel Bryan would make a lot of sense. These two guys know each other quite well, as both of them worked together when they were both rookies in the early 2000s. Prior to his retirement, Daniel Bryan wanted to wrestle Nakamura in what truly could’ve been a ‘dream match’. The two of them would likely have great chemistry together as students of the stiff Japanese wrestling style.

But there are storytelling elements to justify this pairing as well. Daniel Bryan still gets those monstrous ‘YES’ chants whenever he appears. Moreover, that chant has now evolved into a regular thing among WWE’s fans; they chant this Bryan-inspired catchphrase whenever they show overwhelming approval of something.

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If Nakamura were to start associating himself with Nakamura, he’d get those same chants if they were to enter an arena together. This would, in turn, cause more fans to cheer for Nakamura by emulating those fans that engage in the ‘YES’ chants. That would cause more skeptical and unconvinced fans that might still not be familiar with Nakamura to be more likely to cheer for him because him being associated with Bryan would be a clear sign that he’s popular and a big star.

Then there’s the elephant in the room: Nakamura cannot cut promos to the standard set by his predecessors. Even though he understands English well enough to cut promos, his accent is far too obvious for some fans and backstage observers to ignore.

Why do you think Akira Tozawa was paired with Titus O’Neil? Titus is a superior speaker, and has managed to – in storyline terms – lead Tozawa to championship success. Nakamura has the same issue; while his charisma cannot be overstated and his popularity on the main roster has already grown, promo ability is essential to one’s success in WWE.

In this case, WWE is the opposite of New Japan; over there, a wrestler could very well get over with in-ring skill and something of a gimmick without having to cut too many promos. Just look at Kazuchika Okada: he’s arguably the best wrestler in the world today and rarely cuts his own promos. NJPW’s bookers know this isn’t his strength, and so they have Gedo – a proven speaker in the country – speak on Okada’s behalf, which works wonders for Okada in situations in which a more colorful speech is needed.

Daniel Bryan could be the Gedo to Nakamura’s Okada. Bryan could abandon his role as GM and instead act as Nakamura’s manager and mouthpiece, selling him to the audience wherever he goes.

This way, Bryan would get to be involved in in-ring segments and sell a rivalry without his health being risked by getting involved in dangerous actions. Nakamura can do that on Bryan’s behalf, acting as the fighter to Bryan’s speaker. This has the potential to be an excellent pairing that would definitely lead to some interesting promos on the blue brand.

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Finally, a more personal relationship between Bryan and Nakamura could lead to a perfect tease for a potential match between the two men down the road. While WWE is adamant right now that Bryan will not be cleared to wrestle, that can change in the future. After all, everyone thought Shawn Michaels was done forever after his 1998 injury, yet he returned after a four-year hiatus and had some of the best matches of his career.

If Bryan’s condition were to improve enough over the coming ears, he could have one last big match to end his career on a high note. If, in the rare chance WWE would allow such a thing to happen, the most logical decision would be for Bryan to have a dream match against someone with whom he could have an out-of-this-world match. And at this point, the only person that can have such a match with Bryan is Shinsuke Nakamura.

No matter how much WWE tries to claim it changes with the times, some things stay the same. One of those static concepts is the idea that one must cut promos well to become a top star in the promotion. This is Nakamura’s biggest weakness right now, making him one of the few wrestlers today that would really benefit from a manager. If Brock Lesnar can have Paul Heyman do all his talking for him, why can’t Nakamura have his real-life friend Daniel Bryan do the same for him?

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If the ultimate goal is for an excellent speaker to sell the importance and greatness of a wrestler that might not speak very well, WWE really is leaving money on the table by ignoring the potential drawing power of this pairing.