Does Asuka Make Nakamura Seem a Bit Old Hat?

[Uncle Sam]

Eccentric, unusual, hard-hitting, badass, charismatic, Japanese. As much as it pains me to list their nationality as a fundamental characteristic, Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura definitely seem to share a lot of attributes. My question is, is there room for a prominent role for Nakamura in NXT, or will people be saying, "Hang on, you've already got one of these guys!"?

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Aw hell naw. If anything, Asuka was a bridge from the heavily toned down and straight forward Hideo Itami to the all out carnival of awesome that is Nakamura.



First off, Asuka hasn't really displayed too much character beyond kicking peoples heads off. Yea, she is a big eccentric, but its not a huge emphasis in the appeal of the character.


Nakamura on the other hand, has the hair, the mannerisms, and the captain crunch jackets. Most of his appeal is charisma and being delightfully weird as shit.


Were Asuka has been cast into the role of somewhat odd assassin, Nakamura will (hopefully) be.......Nakamura.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Aw hell naw. If anything, Asuka was a bridge from the heavily toned down and straight forward Hideo Itami to the all out carnival of awesome that is Nakamura.



First off, Asuka hasn't really displayed too much character beyond kicking peoples heads off. Yea, she is a big eccentric, but its not a huge emphasis in the appeal of the character.


Nakamura on the other hand, has the hair, the mannerisms, and the captain crunch jackets. Most of his appeal is charisma and being delightfully weird as shit.


Were Asuka has been cast into the role of somewhat odd assassin, Nakamura will (hopefully) be.......Nakamura.

Though I do see where you're coming from Sam, I think NorCal nailed this.

If anything Asuka helps pave the way for Nakamura's transition.

Also as big a star as Kana was in the Joshi world, she is no Nakamura. Shinsuke's international star is massive. As the most popular member of the company that sits as the world's number two promotion by an extremely wide margin, Swagsuke is likely the biggest free agent pick-up by the WWE post WCW who wasn't a fixture of the Monday Night Wars. Ultimately in my mind he is an exponentially bigger signing than even the likes of Styles, Steen, KENTA, Kana, Devitt, Generico, Pac, Joe, etc.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

I mean yeah they're the same. Except for the fact that Nakamura is a million times better in every single attribute of pro wrestling. But you;re right, they ARE both Japanese.

This is completely ridiculous.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't know a whole helluva lot about Nakamura but based on what I've seen, read and heard about the guy, he seems to be more charismatic rather than...hmmm...well eccentric? Is that the right PC word for Asuka?

Asuka is strange, though in an unusual, energetic sort of way and that does seem to go hand in hand quite a bit with a good deal of Japanese pop culture. She's bright, colorful, energetic and has sort of a vibrant strangeness about her. Not too change the subject, but does anyone else think she has a killer, sexy smile? It just seems that when she smiles during a match or whatever, she gets this sort of wild, gleeful look in her eyes when she smiles and is sort of the look that every guy dreams about seeing in the eyes of a woman. You know, the "I wanna rip your clothes off and ride you like a wild mountain goat" sort of gleam.

Nakamura seems more traditionally charismatic, or charismatic in the sense that's more traditional for American pro wrestling fans. He's got the goofy jacket, he's got the swagger when he walks, the mannerisms, and, from what I understand, she speaks English very well, so that in & of itself will go a very, very long way.

Of course, that's not to insinuate that what Asuka has is somehow bad, because it isn't. As I've alluded to, she has a colorful personality with a very expressive sort of style in the ring and uses her facial expressions to help convey a bit of a story. She doesn't look like a bikini or fitness model, which is what many Divas look like, and it translates well. Given that women's wrestling has finally started to mean something in the last 6 months on the main roster, a variety of different "types" of women are going to be needed just as there are different "types" of male counterparts.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I mean yeah they're the same. Except for the fact that Nakamura is a million times better in every single attribute of pro wrestling. But you;re right, they ARE both Japanese.

This is completely ridiculous.

As big a fan of Nakamura's as I am, this statement is extremely disrespectful to Asuka for no reason. Let's not forget that upon her signing, even Dave Meltzer speculated that she might be the best in-ring talent under WWE contract, MALE or FEMALE. So as good as Nakamura is(and I have labeled him the most entertaining pro wrestler on the planet), you're statement downplays how good Asuka is(note she's easily arguable as the best female worker to ever be featured full time by a major American wrestling company), and is at least equally ridiculous to Sam's query.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Is Nakamura going to NXT? I thought he'd be main roster bound ike AJ, but if he is going to NXT that's cool too. I don't think he'll be considered "old hat" he wrestles a very unique style, certainly different from Asuka's. He should stand on his own merits, him being Japanese shouldn't be a factor, hopefully WWE won't make it so

 

[Papa Pillman]

Is Nakamura going to NXT? I thought he'd be main roster bound ike AJ, but if he is going to NXT that's cool too. I don't think he'll be considered "old hat" he wrestles a very unique style, certainly different from Asuka's. He should stand on his own merits, him being Japanese shouldn't be a factor, hopefully WWE won't make it so

The same reports that correctly predicted that Styles would forgo NXT also speculated that the other NJPW signings- Machine Gun, Gallows, and indeed Nakamura as well, would be showing up to the Performance Center and kicking off their WWE tenures as parts of NXT.

Having never wrestled an American style(even his learning excursion was primarily in Mexico), its not surprising that the WWE would want to see how Nakamura performs with NXT talent first. Also he will surely be treated as a big deal instantly by the NXT fanbase which will help his reactions once he transitions to the main roster.

As for the remaining Bullet Club members, they are likely NXT bound purely for the purpose of an instant alignment with Balor.

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

Asuka is absolutely talented, make no mistakes, she IS great.

But Nakamura is on a whoolleee different level. He is in a league of his own. The guy its not only full of charisma, he is full of talent, he knows the business like very few do. Nakamura is a BIG signing for WWE, they will need the entire creative team inspired to bury this guy, otherwise he will raise to the top because he is that good.

 

[YatesA]

Many people say Nakamura's English is good, I've not heard it yet but how good? Is he fluent in English?

 

[Papa Pillman]

Many people say Nakamura's English is good, I've not heard it yet but how good? Is he fluent in English?

Well he's obviously not as fluent as a native speaker, and like most Japanese residents who have never lived extensively in a predominantly English speaking country, Nakamura can be more difficult to understand than most western world-ers who took on English as a second language. But he does possess the ability to say what he needs to say, and can also clearly understand the language as its being spoken. As a side note, he also speaks French, Polish, and a limited amount of German and Spanish.

Here's a video which features him doing an interview with MVP in English(Nakamura appears around the 12:20 mark of the video):

 

[ISkye]

I really hope people don't say that. I am pretty sure they won't. NXT crowds have seemed to be pretty respectful to debuting bigger names and other occurrences. Also if anyone really thinks Asuka is in any way better...They most likely have either never seen a Nakamura match or just watch NXT. I might be a little biased out of being a fan, but Nakamura is better in a lot of ways opposed to seeing Asuka's in ring performance. I'll have to brush up on it.

But yeah. I can't wait to see Nakamura and how they plan to debut him

Note: Apparently he is debuting at NXT Takeover Dallas to take on Sami Zayn...
I'm not even going to slightly worry now.