Nakamura or Lazymura

[GOOZEKING]

The first thing I wanna say is that I never watched nakamura in Japan but that shouldn't really matter since this is WWE.

Anyway I was watching him wrestle against rusev last night and I was thinking does nakamura do any moves besides kick and a couple rest holds.

I want to like Nakamura, I think he's a very entertaining character and has better facial expressions than half the roster but when I'm comparing him to others like Aj styles, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens or even Sami Zayn, he doesn't do anything.

You can say he is the king of strong style but then you have to at least build him up that his strikes do so much damage that the opponent falls over. I know the match with AJ will be good because AJ is amazing but I'm just wondering can Nakamura do any moves beside kick. Can he do any interesting body twisting holds? Can he do any flips? Can he do any power moves? Is wwe holding him back from doing these moves? Show me something

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Personally, I don't know if he's able to do other thing but seriously, I really don't care. The fact is, the guy is a superstar and adapted his style to the wwe style so that he can wrestle a safer style and not injured anybody by doing the strong style stuff that he was famous for in new Japan. So in the end, I would say that wwe is probably holding him back more out of necessity then anything like the hold pretty much everybody else back in doing certain things they feel are too dangerous.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Lazymura? I don't think so. For as long as I've seen him wrestle, he's always been kick-heavy with submission holds here and there. I don't know about body twisting holds, but he still does the flying cross armbar from time to time. He also did the shining triangle move. In Japan he did the bridging German suplex and an inverted exploder. I haven't seen him doing the inverted exploder as often or at all ever since he almost broke John Cena's head in their match. All of his powerful strikes are really in his kicks and they were stiff in Japan and you'd think he'd kick his opponent's head off. Since this is the WWE version of Shinsuke Nakamura, of course he's gonna look tame in comparison. I think because of his charisma, his kicks look really cool when he does them. The Kinshasa still looks like it would knock your block off. As for flip moves? He used to do a moonsault. Anyway, I like his style fine. I just hope that he and AJ Styles are allowed some more leeway for their WrestleMania match so that we can actually see one or two more moves from either of them that we normally don't see in WWE. I would mark out if Shinsuke Nakamura did do the landslide and AJ Styles did his spiral tap.

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

He's a Japanese Stebe Blackman.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If you listen to what some of the dirt sheet writers say, they'll try to say that WWE just hasn't used him right or some other nonsense. I think the answer is much simpler than all that. Nakamura, while entertaining and fun, is somewhat overrated in my eyes. It's true that he wasn't being used right, they were jobbing him out to Jinder Mahal for a while, but IF a wrestler needs a minimum of 25 minutes to put on what's deemed a good match by the dirt sheets, then it's the wrestler more so than the company that has too many shortcomings.

The only alterations Nakamura has made to his style is that he's not as stiff as he once was. Other than that, he's basically doing the exact same thing in WWE that made him one of the biggest stars in Japan. Nakamura's "King of Strong Style" schtick means that he relies primarily on Strong Style, which is ultimately mostly about stiff, or at least stiff looking, strikes with a little submission and mat wrestling thrown into the mix. He uses the same moves in the ring, he does the strange mannerisms and unusual charisma and people enjoy it.

I'm not an expert on Japanese wrestling or anything. I've watched enough over the past few year to generally know what it's all about, the strengths, the weaknesses, etc.. Prior to that, I heard IMMENSE buzz about guys like Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada to such an overwhelming extreme that I thought that they brought something to the table that nobody else had but, in actuallity, that's not really the case at all. I'm of the opinion that there are a fair number on the WWE roster, and both main and NXT, that I think are just plain better. With Tanahashi, given his build and the ravings about him, I expected him to be some super athletic hybrid between RVD, Chris Jericho and maybe a touch of John Cena and, again, while he's really good, he's hardly the end all-be all and doesn't bring anything that sets him on different levels than anyone else. As for Okada, a top guy for good reason and the reason for that is that he's basically Randy Orton when Randy Orton was motivated.

 

[GOOZEKING]

If you listen to what some of the dirt sheet writers say, they'll try to say that WWE just hasn't used him right or some other nonsense. I think the answer is much simpler than all that. Nakamura, while entertaining and fun, is somewhat overrated in my eyes. It's true that he wasn't being used right, they were jobbing him out to Jinder Mahal for a while, but IF a wrestler needs a minimum of 25 minutes to put on what's deemed a good match by the dirt sheets, then it's the wrestler more so than the company that has too many shortcomings.

The only alterations Nakamura has made to his style is that he's not as stiff as he once was. Other than that, he's basically doing the exact same thing in WWE that made him one of the biggest stars in Japan. Nakamura's "King of Strong Style" schtick means that he relies primarily on Strong Style, which is ultimately mostly about stiff, or at least stiff looking, strikes with a little submission and mat wrestling thrown into the mix. He uses the same moves in the ring, he does the strange mannerisms and unusual charisma and people enjoy it.

I'm not an expert on Japanese wrestling or anything. I've watched enough over the past few year to generally know what it's all about, the strengths, the weaknesses, etc.. Prior to that, I heard IMMENSE buzz about guys like Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada to such an overwhelming extreme that I thought that they brought something to the table that nobody else had but, in actuallity, that's not really the case at all. I'm of the opinion that there are a fair number on the WWE roster, and both main and NXT, that I think are just plain better. With Tanahashi, given his build and the ravings about him, I expected him to be some super athletic hybrid between RVD, Chris Jericho and maybe a touch of John Cena and, again, while he's really good, he's hardly the end all-be all and doesn't bring anything that sets him on different levels than anyone else. As for Okada, a top guy for good reason and the reason for that is that he's basically Randy Orton when Randy Orton was motivated.

Ok if Nakamura's gimmick is that he is a very stiff worker and that his strikes and kicks are what is special about him. Then WWE should focus on his strengths and make those strikes and kicks a major focus. I don't mean you have nakamura become more stiff, just have his opponents sell more during his strikes. 90% of the matches Nakamura has been on the main roster has seen him get little offense and just do a couple kicks and punches and kinshasha thats it. They should try to build up his strikes and have his opponents sell them more.

 

[d_henderson1810]

The first thing I wanna say is that I never watched nakamura in Japan but that shouldn't really matter since this is WWE.

Anyway I was watching him wrestle against rusev last night and I was thinking does nakamura do any moves besides kick and a couple rest holds.

I want to like Nakamura, I think he's a very entertaining character and has better facial expressions than half the roster but when I'm comparing him to others like Aj styles, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens or even Sami Zayn, he doesn't do anything.

You can say he is the king of strong style but then you have to at least build him up that his strikes do so much damage that the opponent falls over. I know the match with AJ will be good because AJ is amazing but I'm just wondering can Nakamura do any moves beside kick. Can he do any interesting body twisting holds? Can he do any flips? Can he do any power moves? Is wwe holding him back from doing these moves? Show me something

Hey, I just want to warn you that there is an unwritten rule that no-one can criticise Nakamura on this site, otherwise mod Dagger Dias calls you a "racist".

I mean, we must consider the sensitive SJW petals who come on this site and get upset when someone criticises Nakamura and Asuka, even when their race has nothing to do with the criticism, or get upset when Hulk Hogan loses his job for saying something in private in an illegally taped conversation (and no-one seems to have a problem with the illegality of Hogan's private conversation being taped and used by Gawker (glad they went bankrupt. Good on you Hogan for suing that shit site to oblivion)).

But then, that's what happens when a site like gives SJW mod status.

I agree. I think Nakamura is overrated, but the match against A.J. at Wrestlemania will still be good.

(Watch as Dagger Dias mods me and brings up how I hate on SCSA and Daniel Bryan, despite me not even mentioning them on this post. He is like a dog with a bone.)

 

[Ceen]

Nakamura, as every WWE superstar, is limited by Vince. Just watch him in NXT, NJPW, watch AJ in his days outside. Just rewatch Cena vs Punk/Owens/AJ and Cena normal. Nakamura is gold as they keep him as he should be. Even Roman can wrestle, just keeping them limited is bad for business, as HHH proves it

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Ok if Nakamura's gimmick is that he is a very stiff worker and that his strikes and kicks are what is special about him. Then WWE should focus on his strengths and make those strikes and kicks a major focus. I don't mean you have nakamura become more stiff, just have his opponents sell more during his strikes. 90% of the matches Nakamura has been on the main roster has seen him get little offense and just do a couple kicks and punches and kinshasha thats it. They should try to build up his strikes and have his opponents sell them more.

If Triple H was in charge of the main roster as he is with NXT, I have a feeling that's exactly what they'd do. Why? Because that's what Triple H did with Nakamura while he was part of NXT and it worked just fine. It worked just fine because it was sensible and it's what had helped make him a major name in Japan in the first place.

Vince, on the other hand, is going more for a more "sports entertainment" themed aspect. That's why he has the commentators call him "WWE's resident rock star" or "the artist known as Shinsuke Nakamura." Corey Graves will sometimes bring up Nakamura's use of strong style, he even gets away with calling him "the King of Strong Style" every so often, but Vince wants to play down that aspect to some degree.

As to why he does, I can only guess but my guess would be because Vince doesn't think that Nakamura looks like a tough guy. Physical appearance and/or image of a wrestler is often pretty important to Vince, even if his reasoning doesn't make sense to anyone else but him. For instance, do you know why the Antonio was dropped from Cesaro's name? Allegedly, it was because Vince didn't believe someone named Antonio sounded tough enough. When it comes to toughness, Nakamura may well be among the top guys in the locker room as he's someone that's had extensive martial arts training in his life but. and I'm just guessing here, because he doesn't "look like a tough guy", then the tougher aspects of his persona are played down.

 

[stingray11214]

The first thing I wanna say is that I never watched nakamura in Japan but that shouldn't really matter since this is WWE.

Anyway I was watching him wrestle against rusev last night and I was thinking does nakamura do any moves besides kick and a couple rest holds.

I want to like Nakamura, I think he's a very entertaining character and has better facial expressions than half the roster but when I'm comparing him to others like Aj styles, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens or even Sami Zayn, he doesn't do anything.

You can say he is the king of strong style but then you have to at least build him up that his strikes do so much damage that the opponent falls over. I know the match with AJ will be good because AJ is amazing but I'm just wondering can Nakamura do any moves beside kick. Can he do any interesting body twisting holds? Can he do any flips? Can he do any power moves? Is wwe holding him back from doing these moves? Show me something

I can give you a very good reason for why Nakamura does what he does in WWE: Career longevity. I do not care who it is, you cannot wrestle in WWE like you can in Japan for the reason that the schedules are LIGHT YEARS different from each other. Why do you think you have wrestlers in Japan that can still go well into their 60's?. Let me give you a scenario:

Let us say Nakamura lived in the Tokyo area, and wrestled for NJPW. Let's say he lived in Chiba. Thursday night, show in Sumo Hall in Tokyo. He hops on a train in Chiba and reaches Tokyo in an hour. Show ends around 9:45. He showers, changes, runs to catch the train for Chiba. He grabs the 2316 out of Tokyo, arrive in Chiba just after Midnight. Home about 10 minutes later. Next day. Breakfast with the wife. Walks the kids to school. Hops the 10AM to Tokyo, gets there in an hour. Trains, does his interviews, meets the Media, does a show. Home just after Midnight. Sunday night is a special show in Sendai. Ends at 8:30. Grabs the 9:30 out of Sendai. Back home about a quarter after Midnight. In his house. In his bed. This was probably his schedule on most nights. The schedule is 140-150 days long.

Now, Nakamura is in WWE. Lives in Orlando. Has a show in Dayton on Friday. Goes to the Airport. Takes his shoes off. Goes through security, waits to get on the plane. Gets on the plane. Plane arrives in Cincinnati. Meets his travel partner. Gets the rental car. Drives an hour to Dayton. Does the show. Next day is Detroit. Soooo, they hop in the rental car around Midnight, and drive 4 hours to Detroit. Flop in a motel bed. Spend $10 on a guest pass to work out. Drop $20 at Chipotle to eat. Gets to the live show. Next night: Lansing! Back in the car. 2 hours drive to Lansing. Flop in a Motel bed. Guest pass to work out. Eat at Chipotle/Waffle House/Denny's. Oh, BTW, the WWE schedule is 300 days a year.

Now, do you understand WHY he has to wrestle the way he is wrestling? He would not last too long if he did not.

 

[GOOZEKING]

I can give you a very good reason for why Nakamura does what he does in WWE: Career longevity. I do not care who it is, you cannot wrestle in WWE like you can in Japan for the reason that the schedules are LIGHT YEARS different from each other. Why do you think you have wrestlers in Japan that can still go well into their 60's?. Let me give you a scenario:

Let us say Nakamura lived in the Tokyo area, and wrestled for NJPW. Let's say he lived in Chiba. Thursday night, show in Sumo Hall in Tokyo. He hops on a train in Chiba and reaches Tokyo in an hour. Show ends around 9:45. He showers, changes, runs to catch the train for Chiba. He grabs the 2316 out of Tokyo, arrive in Chiba just after Midnight. Home about 10 minutes later. Next day. Breakfast with the wife. Walks the kids to school. Hops the 10AM to Tokyo, gets there in an hour. Trains, does his interviews, meets the Media, does a show. Home just after Midnight. Sunday night is a special show in Sendai. Ends at 8:30. Grabs the 9:30 out of Sendai. Back home about a quarter after Midnight. In his house. In his bed. This was probably his schedule on most nights. The schedule is 140-150 days long.

Now, Nakamura is in WWE. Lives in Orlando. Has a show in Dayton on Friday. Goes to the Airport. Takes his shoes off. Goes through security, waits to get on the plane. Gets on the plane. Plane arrives in Cincinnati. Meets his travel partner. Gets the rental car. Drives an hour to Dayton. Does the show. Next day is Detroit. Soooo, they hop in the rental car around Midnight, and drive 4 hours to Detroit. Flop in a motel bed. Spend $10 on a guest pass to work out. Drop $20 at Chipotle to eat. Gets to the live show. Next night: Lansing! Back in the car. 2 hours drive to Lansing. Flop in a Motel bed. Guest pass to work out. Eat at Chipotle/Waffle House/Denny's. Oh, BTW, the WWE schedule is 300 days a year.

Now, do you understand WHY he has to wrestle the way he is wrestling? He would not last too long if he did not.

I never said I wanted him to wrestle like he did in Japan. The main reason for starting the post was to ask other people that have seen Nakamura wrestle before if he does anything beside kick and a few holds because I as well have heard great things from him and would like to see some other unique moves.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

For fuck sakes.

Nakamura is actually a real professional wrestler. He gets over because of his charisma and connection to the people. He doesn't need to rely on a bunch of stupid flips and shit because he's actually over. Having a sustainable wrestling career is about pacing yourself, and Nakamura has done that consistently throughout his career in Japan, made easier by the frequent use of tag team matches, and now in the WWE. You don't need to do a bunch of dumb as fuck dives and high spots on TV every week or on house shows in front of live crowd. Best case scenario, you don't have to do it at all. He's not lazy, he's an actual worker.

I once say Eddie Gilbert work a match for 10 minutes without touching his opponent or doing a sngle move. He was just bailing out of the ring, ding heel shit, and rattling the fans. The people were into it, because he was working them.

Scott Hall said it best. If you can get the crowd to react to your moves, you're good, if you get the crowd to react to nothing you're even better. Wrestling is smoke and mirrors, it's about making the msot out of as little as possible to send the people home happy and not get yourself hurt.

Nakamura was and is an excellent worker, even as he's approaching 40 years old.