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What's the story?
This Sunday, United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura is set to take on Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins for the first time ever. While the build hasn’t received much attention, this is a match that many fans are clamoring to see at Survivor Series. The Intercontinental Champ talked about Nakamura, stating that, “he'a generational talent” in an interview on www.app.com.
In case you didn't know...
Both men started in the professional wrestling world on similar lines. Shinsuke made his professional debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling back in 2002. Throughout the years, Nakamura’s brand would grow and evolve over time as he managed to capture the IWGP 3rd Championship (which he defeated Kurt Angle to unify into the Heavyweight title), IWGP Heavyweight Championship, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, IWGP Tag Team Championship, and the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship before heading to NXT in 2016.
Seth Rollins made his pro debut in 2005, but he’s mostly known for his time under the Ring of Honor banner as Tyler Black. Before heading to WWE’s developmental, Rollins left the company with a ROH World Championship and ROH World Tag Team Championship reign under his belt.
Despite both being stars have been a part of the business for a long time, they have never crossed paths due to Nakamura being based in Japan for a good portion of his early career.
The heart of the matter
During an interview on www.app.com – which was done back in June but wasn’t published until now - Rollins stated that "Shinsuke's great, man, He's a generational talent. They don't come along like him very often and he's a special cat, just a crazy guy to be around. (He's) just got so much charisma and so much going on for him."
Rollins also cited that he would love to have a match against ‘The King of Strong Style’ in the future.
The United States Champ also discussed Rollins, praising his technical abilities in the ring and wanting to wrestle Rollins due to his high-ability:
“He has amazing abilities, he can do everything," said Nakamura. "I don’t do everything, I always choose like one or two things, three things, in the ring, but he ... can do everything. So I love to wrestle like a high-ability guy, so maybe we can make huge chemistry in the ring, I think. I look for that.”
What’s next?
Of course, Nakamura and Rollins are set to do battle in a match that has a strong chance at being the sleeper hit of the show. If these guys are given a chance to tell a good story with a good amount of time, then this match could be one of the best WWE matches in 2018.
