Ex-WWE star says Shinsuke Nakamura takes more bumps during his entrance than he does in matches

Joey Mercury is unsure why Shinsuke Nakamura acts so theatrically during his WWE entrance compared to his matches.

Nakamura and Rick Boogs unsuccessfully challenged The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in the opening match of WrestleMania 38 weekend. The Japanese star excitedly made his way to the ring accompanied by Boogs’ electric guitar. He also fell to his back at one stage during the entrance.

Mercury, a former WWE Superstar and producer, reviewed WrestleMania 38 while speaking to WSI’s James Romero. He questioned why the 42-year-old’s energy in his entrance is not always matched in his in-ring performances:

“He sells more during his entrance than he does during his match. I saw him do his entrance and he takes the big bump where he’s like folded up on his legs and he’s on his back at the high point of the song… He falls flat but then he’ll take a bump in the match and sell it, and it’s not even as impressive as the bumps he was taking during his entrance,” said Mercury. [6:12-6:49]

The WrestleMania 38 match was overshadowed due to a serious injury to Boogs. WWE announced after the event that he suffered a torn quadriceps to patella tendon while attempting a power move on both Usos.

---

Joey Mercury has never understood Shinsuke Nakamura’s character

Nakamura joined WWE in 2016 and has featured regularly on the company’s programming ever since. The highlight of his WWE career so far came in 2018 when he won the Royal Rumble.

While Mercury appreciates that Nakamura has a lot of charisma, he struggles to understand the appeal of the SmackDown star’s character:

“Since I started seeing Shinsuke Nakamura around WWE, I don’t understand what he is. I don’t know what I’m looking at. I know he’s got charisma because I look at him and I wanna keep looking at him, trying to figure it out. After a few years with no further information, I don’t wanna look at it anymore because I don’t know what he is.” [5:41-6:03]

Moving forward, Nakamura looks set to return to singles competition following Boogs’ unfortunate injury. The two men worked as tag team partners for eight months leading up to WrestleMania 38.

Check out the results from the latest episode of NXT here.

---

Please credit WSI and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.