Shinsuke Nakamura

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Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura is not to be confused with Shunsuke Nakamura, the Japanese football player.

Shinsuke Nakamura (中邑真輔; Nakamura Shinsuke) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

1 Career
2 Profile
- 2.1 Finishing and signature moves
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Shinsuke Nakamura joined NJPW in 2002 and quickly began making a name for himself as a bright prospect for the company. Having earned the nickname "Super Rookie", Nakamura impressed both NJPW officials and fans with an excellent combination of strength, speed, and technical skill. On December 9, 2003, Nakamura defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Heavyweight Title, thus becoming the youngest wrestler in history to win the title. Nakamura held the IWGP World Tag Team Championship with Hiroshi Tanahashi after winning it in a decision match by beating Kensuke Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki at the end of 2004. They left for an excursion to Mexico where they feuded with Los Guerreros del Infierno and defended their titles against Rey Bucanero and Olímpico. A few weeks later, on October 30, 2005, they lost the titles to Masahiro Chono and Tenzan.

Shinsuke Nakamura also has competed in Vale Tudo against the likes of Alexey Ignashov and "Giant" Nortje in various mixed martial arts events.

Nakamura challenged Brock Lesnar for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on January 4, 2006, but lost.

In March 2006, Nakamura announced that he will depart on a learning excursion in order to further improve his wrestling skills. Among other things, he will travel to Mexico, Brazil and Russia, as well as train with Brock Lesnar at his personal gym in order to gain muscle mass.

NJPW President Simon Inoki later suggested that as part of his learning excursion, Nakamura would be loaned to WWE to gain experience in working large American shows; this was reportedly at the request of John Laurinaitis and Dean Malenko.^[1] However, it proved to be mostly speculation and never came to pass, as Nakamura was urgently needed back in New Japan due to Lesnar's departure.

On September 24, 2006, Nakamura made his long awaited return to New Japan. He had greatly improved his muscular mass during his overseas training and now weighs 245 lbs. He also debuted a new finisher, called the Landslide, to take advantage of his newly-acquired strength. Despite his increased muscular mass, Nakamura still remains as mobile in the ring as he has ever been. However, due to not being entirely used to it, he fell on December 10, 2006 in a IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge to champion Tanahashi and January 4, 2007 in the Tokyo Dome to Toshiaki Kawada.