WWE: Pairing Sami Zayn with Shinsuke Nakamura is a blessing in disguise

Last night saw WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura align himself with Sami Zayn and things can only go up from here.

The latest episode of SmackDown Live saw Sami Zayn appear as a guest on The Miz’s self-titled Miz TV segment. Miz wanted to talk to Zayn about his recent losing streak (which, really, Miz is one to talk in that department). Zayn spoke about being underappreciated as an “artist.” Cue a wild appearance from WWE Intercontinental Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura. Which is even wilder considering he disappeared for several weeks despite having a whole championship, but I digress.

Zayn revealed himself as, essentially, Nakamura’s new manager. Why? Because Shinsuke Nakamura does not speak English. Which, hey, we’ve seen Nakamura speak perfect English in candid interviews, but in kayfabe, he forgot how to speak the language. Again, I digress.

Zayn said that with Japanese being the IC Champion’s first language, Zayn relates to a “poet’s” pain of not being able to articulate the pain within his soul, and Nakamura cannot possibly articulate that pain in English to a primarily English speaking audience. So Zayn has offered his services to do just that. So he explained before Nakamura unleashed a language everyone can understand – violence – onto The Miz.

This was brilliant. I hate to boast such high praises when an angle has barely kicked into high gear yet, but I thought everything from Zayn’s reasoning to the decision to bring these two together was just brilliant and has brilliant potential. It’s no secret that both men have been in a sort of booking limbo as of late.

Nakamura because WWE has no idea how to book him beyond “foreign heel is foreign.” Zayn because WWE has no idea how to book him beyond having him lay down and have someone cover on top of him for a 3-count. But WWE does understand two things: Zayn does excellent heel work on the mic while Nakamura is excellent at wrestling.

Zayn is excellent at wrestling in his own right, given the fact that he got an entire hometown Canadian crowd to go from cheering him unapolegetically to booing him mercilessly in a span of five minutes, it seems he’s a wee bit better on the mic (which is saying something).

WWE took two guys they had no clue what to do with, but understood their strengths enough to understand that one could compliment the other onscreen. It makes sense and it’s one of the smarter decisions WWE have made all year round.

Now, we just have to wait and see if the partnership pays off for both parties in dividends.