What’s the story?
During the recently-concluded Raw pay-per-view, Payback, play-by-play announcer Michael Cole announced that Shinsuke Nakamura will make his in-ring TV debut at the upcoming pay-per-view for his brand, SmackDown Live, Backlash.
In case you didn’t know...
On the episode of SmackDown Live immediately following WrestleMania 33, Shinsuke Nakamura made his main roster debut and did nothing more than interrupt The Miz, which inevitably led to nothing.
It was, however, a nice way to introduce him to mainstream audiences who were unfamiliar with his work in Japan or on NXT. That same evening, after the show concluded, Nakamura competed in a dark match with – and defeated – Dolph Ziggler.
Since then, Nakamura has not competed in a match on live television, and so he is yet to have his actual in-ring debut.
The heart of the matter
WWE has likely been reserving Nakamura’s debut to build anticipation. For casual fans, this is probably so that they can be introduced to his style in a spectacle, rather than in just any other match on SmackDown.
On the other hand, for fans who are familiar with him, it is possible that this is being done so that they would have more incentive to tune in to Backlash on the 21st of May in order to watch him perform. Backlash will take place at the All-State Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
What’s next?
The biggest question as of now, of course, is who Nakamura’s opponent will be, and as of now, the most likely candidate is Dolph Ziggler. Not only was Nakamura’s first dark match against Ziggler, but the two have been going back and forth in promo battles and physical assaults.
They are likely to continue as such, probably with one challenging the other to a match at Backlash, which will see their feud find a focus and head towards that. It could be expected that Nakamura emerges victorious at Backlash, but WWE has had top stars lose debut matches in the past, so Ziggler cannot be counted out.
Author’s take
The plan to hold off on Shinsuke Nakamura’s TV debut has been wise. Not only is it a fresh debut style, as opposed to the usual squash match debut, but it also gives him some weight amongst casual fans who may be unaware of his previous work.
I do not think a feud with Ziggler should go on into SummerSlam, but a few back-and-forths would be nice to see.
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