WWE: 4 Reasons Why Shinsuke Nakamura Must Turn Heel

A Rough Start

Nakamura is no stranger to rocky beginnings in the WWE system. Pulling out a match-of-the-year candidate in his first NXT match set the bar astronomically high. It was then the task of Shinsuke and his developmental supporting-cast to maintain that momentum; a task that ultimately proved too difficult.

His only legitimate opponents following his classic with Sami Zayn were Austin Aries, Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode – none of whom could recreate the magic that Zayn contributed to in his final NXT outing. It should be no surprise then that Nakamura stuttered on the main roster too.

The electricity of his debut soon dissipated due mostly to backwards booking. Shinsuke was ushered into lengthy feuds with Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin that cooled him off almost entirely. Then, in the matter of a month, Shinsuke earned a SummerSlam main event and two clean victories over John Cena and Randy Orton.

Essentially, WWE let the hype-train die, then kickstarted it so fast no one could really get on board. Now, Shinsuke is supposedly a bonafide main-eventer and future WWE Champion. If WWE plan to continue pushing the Japanese Superstar, they need focused story-telling. My worry is that a month into Shinsuke’s reign, WWE will become unhappy that he isn’t drawing numbers. They’ll then hastily flip him from babyface to heel because they don’t know what else to do. Nakamura could be a dominant villain, but his character development needs to be carefully planned, unlike the convoluted first chapter of his WWE career. Have him defeat Mahal, and then slowly begin to unveil his dark side.