Ranking all former NXT Champions' main roster careers

#9 Shinsuke Nakamura

Already in trouble.

It might seem strange to place Nakamura so low on this list considering he has competed for the WWE Championship since being promoted to Smackdown Live. Perhaps the problem with measuring his success so far on the main roster is that given the amount of promise and intrigue surrounding the King of Strong Style, we haven't really had anything but a disappointment.

Shinsuke wasn't supposed to be just another NXT call-up, he was ideally going to be the trendsetter for how high-profile Japanese stars would be handled by the WWE. With a very noticeable rise in the levels of attention given to the New Japan product from the US audience these days, it seems likely that more and more Eastern stars will be tempted by a career in the States.

However, if the company's handling of Shinsuke is anything to go by so far, one would assume guys like Okada and Naito will be thinking twice about making the move.

The problems seemed to originate from his very first Smackdown Live feud. Instead of giving him to a heel that could assist with his lack of spoken English in promos, they sent him at Dolph Ziggler, a man who might be known for selling others moves but not somebody who typically puts together memorable talking segments.

Ziggler even did a poor job of selling Nakamura's 'Strong Style'. The Showoff seemed all too prepared for it when he should really have been treated as more of an enigma. While the former IWGP Champ might still have time to redeem himself, quite a lot of damage has already been done.