Has anyone else noticed that Shinsuke Nakamura hasn’t been on Smackdown TV a lot recently?
Thought to be one of the best workers in the entire world, Nakamura came into WWE with
a lot of hype around him.
Those who hadn’t seen his work in New Japan were instantly hooked by his undeniable charisma
and incredible in-ring work in his debut match against Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover: Dallas.
He then captured the NXT Championship twice and had great feuds with Samoa Joe and Bobby
Roode [5] before being called up to the main roster two days after WrestleMania 33.
But what has his main roster run amounted to?
A very boring feud with Dolph Ziggler – which exposed Nakamura’s lack of promo skill – an
even more boring feud with Baron Corbin – which resulted in probably Nakamura’s worst match
of his entire career – and being fed to Jinder Mahal during The Modern Day Maharaja
year-long failed experiment.
His series with Jinder is perhaps the worst example of Nakamura’s booking on the main
roster.
With Mahal coming out to cut promos on him for pulling funny faces and making slightly
racist remarks against Nakamura’s ethnicity, which resulted in The Artist losing two PPV
championship matches with only slight interference from The Singh Brothers.
All of that fire that came with Nakamura was put on ice.
The lone highlight of his main roster run was a brief stare-down with AJ Styles during
the Money in the Bank ladder match way back in June.
But something has changed in the Smackdown Live landscape as of late – and they have
seemingly taken a page from the book of NXT.
Because the development brand only has one one-hour show each week, wrestlers are used
sparingly.
Former NXT Champion Drew McIntyre wasn’t on TV every week, and neither was his championship
challenger Andrade Cien Almas.
The Undisputed Era aren’t on screen every single week, and neither are SAniTY.
This keeps wrestlers fresh.
You don’t get tired of seeing them do their entrances or have matches because you only
get to see them every once in a while.
That way the show can build towards a Drew McIntyre match, or an appearance from The
Undisputed Era.
It’s the polar opposite of Raw, which feels like it has to have Roman Reigns on every
show, Braun Strowman on every show, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Alexa Bliss, Bayley, etc, etc.
As a counter to Raw’s overexposure of everyone on the brand, let’s look at Shinsuke Nakamura
and the weeks leading up to Survivor Series.
He was first part of the Under Siege beat down on Raw, but didn’t have a match the
following night.
Instead they hyped that he would face Kevin Owens in a Survivor Series qualifier the following
week.
Nakamura won that match, but it would be his last one before the PPV – only appearing
either backstage or in the angle before Survivor Series to hype the 5-on-5 main event.
Following Survivor Series, he was at ringside for the lumberjack match between Kevin Owens
& Sami Zayn vs. The New Day, and he wasn’t on this week’s show either.
Rusev wasn’t on this week’s Smackdown Live, or Tye Dillinger.
Sami Zayn only interfered in the main event, and Bobby Roode and Baron Corbin were only
seen in a backstage segment.
Instead the show was built around Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton and the debut of The Riott
Squad.
The point is, we’re not seeing the same faces week in and week out on Smackdown Live.
And while the show has been either average or diabolically bad over the last month or
so because the main focus is on Shane McMahon, there are some positives to be taken from
this new attitude.
Particularly when it comes to Shinsuke Nakamura.
When Nakamura first came up to the main roster, he was on TV every week.
Viewers got to see his unique entrance over and over again, rendering it less and less
special with each passing strobe light.
But with his last TV match being over a month ago by this point – October 31st to be exact
– his next match will feel like an event for Smackdown Live.
There is a lot that can be learned from WWE’s treatment of Brock Lesnar.
Now a lot of this is due to contractual stipulations, but The Beast is treated like an attraction
for Raw.
‘You’d better tune in to Raw next week folks – The Beast is coming!’.
There’s a reason Lesnar gets one of the biggest reactions from the WWE fanbase – he’s
barely on TV and he’s protected.
He’s barely at live shows, he’s barely on PPV.
He feels like a special feature, an unlockable mode or hidden boss in a video game.
Lesnar is the extreme example of this, but guys like Nakamura can be given the same treatment.
It doesn’t work for everyone and it shouldn’t do.
AJ Styles is a guy you can put on TV each and every week and he will still feel like
the main attraction because he’s so damn good [23].
But someone like Randy Orton can only benefit from missing several weeks of TV and making
sporadic appearances.
As the old saying goes, we can’t miss you if you don’t go away.
To play Devil’s Advocate, there is an argument that I’m projecting this situation and the
truth of the matter is Nakamura is kept off TV because WWE have lost faith and don’t
know what else to do with him.
After all he was at ringside like a geek for the lumberjack match, and he was just in the
background during Shane O’Mac’s Gettysburg Address.
That could certainly be the case and I wouldn’t tell you you’re wrong for thinking that,
but it does feel like WWE are saving Nakamura for something special.
A big moment, a big match.
Maybe even winning the Royal Rumble.
Maybe winning the Royal Rumble to take on WWE Champion AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34.
What about those awesome NXT call-ups from last week?
And what was the exact moment The Attitude Era started?
Click the videos to the left to find out more.
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I’ve been Luke Owen and that was wrestling.