NJPW And Shinsuke Nakamura Officially Announce Departure

Earlier today, Shinsuke Nakamura officially announced his departure from New Japan Pro Wrestling. At the press conference called by NJPW, he was also officially stripped of his IWGP Intercontinental Title.

Speaking at the press conference, Nakamura didn’t specially mention WWE but says he’s leaving Japan to further his career as he feels like he’s “stuck in a rut” after helping out the younger talent in the NJPW dojo

Nakamura’s final NJPW dates will be the January 29 and 30 Road To The New Beginning shows.

As we reported earlier in the month here, Nakamura is expected to head to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando Florida, early next month then travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to have some medical tests done. This is now standard procedure for all new prospective WWE talents.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter have also reported that Nakamura will debut on the WWE main roster as opposed to the earlier reports of him debuting in NXT.

Ski’s Take – This was announced a few weeks ago by ourselves here at TJRWrestling, but what is newsworthy of note is that he mentioned he was “stuck in a rut”. Did he mean that after helping the younger talent that he was burnt out? Jaded from helping the young boys? Did he go as far as he could possibly go in NJPW?

In steps the largest wrestling (Sports Entertainment) company in the world to show Shinsuke new beginnings, new goals. And by the sound of it, he has taken the opportunity with both hands. Will we see a rejuvenated Nakamura, full of vigor and life? Eager to impress? Surely he must have seen his former colleague AJ Styles make his debut last night at the Royal Rumble and see the instant impression he made, and is now thinking to himself “I can’t wait”.

I sincerely hope he is, as Shinsuke has been wowing the Japanese for years and deserves to wow the rest of the world. Along with Styles, Nakamura has the ability to shake up the WWE in a very very good way.