Shinsuke Nakamura: ‘Most People In WWE Are Underrated’

January 5, 2019

Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated recently interviewed SmackDown Live Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura. The former United States Champion opened up about the influence his grandmother had on his love for professional wrestling, “In the late nights, my grandma watched a wrestling show. I watched Jushin Thunder Liger wrestle at the Tokyo Dome, and I decided I wanted to wrestle just like him. I learned a lot of things from him. Once, we went on tour to Italy for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. No one there knew Shinsuke Nakamura, but they knew Jushin Liger. He’s still my idol.” Nakamura enjoyed a 14 years NJPW career before coming to NXT in 2016. Since then he has turned his WWE dreams into championship gold, winning both the NXT World Championship and the United States Championship.

While much of the wrestling world turned its attention this past week to New Japan Pro-Wrestling and its Wrestle Kingdom 13 pay-per-view, Nakamura pointed to the talent on WWE’s roster, “Honestly, most people in WWE are underrated. I can choose so many people. They have so much ability but can’t show everything on TV. Everybody has a great ability to wrestle, and you can see that at the house shows. Tye Dillinger, Shelton Benjamin, Primo and Epico, the Bludgeon Brothers, the New Day, they’re all underrated.”

Readers may find Justin Barrasso’s Sports Illustrated column in its entirety HERE.