Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura
Information
Ring names	Shinsuke Nakamura
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	245 lbs (111 kg)
Born	February 24, 1981 (1981-02-24)
Birth Place	Mineyama, Kyoto, Japan
Debut	August 29, 2002

Shinsuke Nakamura (February 24, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He is currently considered to be one of the important wrestlers of the 4th generation in New Japan (others being Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe and Hirooki Goto). He also holds the record for most IWGP Intercontinental Championship reigns, as the only man with more than one. He's currently in his third.

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New Japan Pro Wrestling (2002–present)

Super Rookie (2002–2005)

Nakamura joined NJPW in March 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. Nakamura would join NJPW during a influx of an "MMA Invasion" of NJPW, and on December 31, 2002, he made his mixed martial arts debut in a match, where he was defeated by Daniel Gracie via submission to an armlock. Nakamura's second MMA match took place on May 2, 2003, when he defeated Jan Nortje with a guillotine choke. He followed that up on September 13 with another submission victory over Shane Eitner in his third MMA match. His impressive MMA showings earned him a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and on December 9, 2003, Nakamura would defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion, thus becoming the youngest wrestler in history to win the title. To prove it was no fluke, at Wrestling World 2004, Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama in a title unification match. However, just a month later Nakamura was forced to vacate the title due to an injury. After returning from his injury Nakamura competed in his to date last MMA match, defeating Alexey Ignashov with a forearm choke on May 22, 2004. On December 11, 2004, Nakamura and his tag team partner Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kensuke Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki in a decision match to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship . On January 4, 2005, at Toukon Festival ~ Wrestling World 2005 Nakamura defeated his own tag team partner, Tanahashi, to win the IWGP U-30 Championship. This match would begin a generational rivarly between the two wrestlers, as it became apparently that these two were going to become the two aces of their generation. During Nakamura's and Tanahashi tag team title reign, the two 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 Cho-Ten (Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan).

Excursion and return (2006–2009)

Nakamura challenged Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on January 4, 2006, at Toukon Shidou Chapter 1, but lost In March 2006. Nakamura announced that he would depart on a learning excursion in order to further improve his wrestling skills. Among other things, he would 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 World Wrestling Entertainment to gain experience in working large American shows; this was reportedly at the request of John Laurinaitis and Dean Malenko. 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, joining Masahiro Chono's BLACK stable, which had the goal of reforming New Japan with Chono as the president and Nakamura as the "Ace". Nakamura had greatly improved his muscular mass during his overseas training and also debuted a new finisher, called the Landslide. On December 10, 2006, Nakamura was unable to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from then-champion Tanahashi and was again unsuccessful on January 4, 2007 at the Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome show, which he lost to Toshiaki Kawada. Nakamura entered the 2007 G1 Climax tournament, where he reached the semifinals, before dislocating his shoulder. The injury sidelined Nakamura for months, but on November 11 he made his return and took over the leadership of BLACK from Chono and reformed the stable under the new name RISE, consisting of himself, Minoru, Milano Collection A.T., Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard, Travis Tomko, and Prince Devitt.Low Ki was later added to the stable after Milano was injured, having impressed NJPW officials during an appearance when he was still with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. On December 9 Nakamura defeated Togi Makabe to earn an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at the following month's Tokyo Dome show.

Nakamura preforming the Landslide on Hiroshi Tanahashi

On January 4, 2008, Nakamura defeated his rival Tanahashi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He followed that up with defeating Kurt Angle on February 17, 2008 to win the IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and unify it with his own NJPW version of the title. He lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to All Japan Pro Wrestling representative Keiji Mutoh in Osaka on April 27, 2008.

September 5, 2008 Nakamura and stablemate Hirooki Goto challengedTogi Makabe and Toru Yano for the IWGP Tag Team titles but failed, and afterwards Giant Bernard and Rick Fuller attacked Nakamura and Goto and joined Makabe's GBH (Great Bash Heel) group along with the returning Low Ki. He also failed to win back the IWGP Title from Keiji Mutoh on October 13. On February 15, 2009, Nakamura faced Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but once again failed to regain the title.

Strong Style Resurrection (2009–present)

On April 5 2009, RISE leader Shinsuke Nakamura faced G・B・H leader Togi Makabe in a singles match, at the end of which Toru Yano turned on both Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma and helped Nakamura pick up the win. In the aftermath of the event, Nakamura dissolved RISE and formed new top heel stable CHAOS with Yano, Gedo, Jado, Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson, Takashi Iizuka and Tomohiro Ishii, all of whom abandoned Makabe and G・B・H. Nakamura began to work a much rougher style, using a lot of knees and continuing to use a straight right hand as a frequent move in addition to the Boma Ye, his new finisher. It was the Boma Ye that took him to the finals of the 2009 G1 Climax, where he fell to Togi Makabe. Prior to the final Nakamura had gone undefeated, winning each match with the Boma Ye. The move was also credited for fracturing IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi's orbital bone in the semi-finals of the G1, which forced Tanahashi to vacate the title later that month.

On September 27, 2009, Nakamura avenged his G1 loss and defeated Makabe in a decision match to win the IWGP Heavyweight title for a third time. Upon winning the title, Nakamura drew the ire of the likes of Antonio Inoki by announcing his plan of wanting to restore the "Strong Style" of New Japan by capturing the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt from Inoki to replace the fourth generation title belt Nakamura himself has. This was to lead to an NJPW vs IGF angle, but it was quietly dropped. On October 12, he successfully defended the title against Shinjiro Otani. On November 8 at Destruction '09 Nakamura successfully defended his title against previous champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. On December 5, he retained the title by defeating Yuji Nagata. On January 4, 2010, at Wrestle Kingdom IV in the Tokyo Dome, Nakamura successfully defended his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Yoshihiro Takayama in a rematch of their 2004 Tokyo Dome title unification bout. After defeating Takayama he was challenged by Manabu Nakanishi, whom he would pin on February 14 at New Japan's ISM show in Sumo Hall, making his fifth defense. On April 4, Nakamura made his sixth successful title defense against the 2010 New Japan Cup winner and former team mate Hirooki Goto and afterwards accepted Togi Makabe's challenge for the title. On May 3, 2010, at Wrestling Dontaku 2010 Nakamura lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Makabe. Following the loss, Nakamura was sidelined with a shoulder injury, until he returned on June 19, defeating Daniel Puder. Simon Inoki and Atsushi Sawada of IGF appeared at the show and seemed to eye up Nakamura after the match. On July 19 Nakamura received a rematch for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but was once again defeated by Togi Makabe. The following month Nakamura entered the 2010 G1 Climax, where he won four out of his seven round robin stage matches, including one over eventual winner Satoshi Kojima, and was leading his block heading to the final day, where he wrestled Pro Wrestling Noah's Go Shiozaki to a 30 minute time limit draw and thus missed the finals of the tournament by a single point. The draw with Shiozaki led to a No Time Limit match at a Pro Wrestling Noah show on August 22, where Shiozaki was victorious. Despite losing to Hirooki Goto in a number one contender's match on October 11, Nakamura was hand–picked by the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Satoshi Kojima, as his first challenger. The title match took place on December 11 and ended with Kojima retaining his title. On January 4, 2011, Nakamura avenged his loss to Go Shiozaki by defeating him in a singles match at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome. On May 3, Nakamura failed in his attempt to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Hiroshi

Shinsuke Nakamura celebrating his G1 Climax win

Tanahashi. After this, Nakamura would go on a excursion to CMLL in Mexico, where the first time since he's heel turn, he would start wearing red on tights again. On August 1, Nakamura entered the 2011 G1 Climax and, after winning seven out of his nine round robin stage matches, finished first in his block to advance to the finals of the tournament. On August 14, Nakamura defeated Tetsuya Naitō to win the 2011 G1 Climax and earn another shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Nakamura went on to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on September 19, but failed to recapture the title from Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves

• Boma Ye! (Running knee Strike; sometimes to the back of the head)

  

  Nakamura preforming the Boma Ye on Naito

• Landslide (Samoan driver)
• Shining Triangle (Nakamura steps off one of the kneeling opponent's knees and quickly applies a triangle choke)
• Cross armbar
• El Niño (Springboard moonsault)
• Multiple suplex variations

• Cradle, sometimes followed by floating over into a heel hook submission
• Bridging / Release German
• Bridging / Release belly to back

• Front facelock sleeper hold
• Death Valley driver

• Nicknames

• Super Rookie
• Black Savior

• Theme music

• "Moving City"
• "Subconscious"

Championships and accomplishments

Shinsuke Nakamura is a record three-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion

• Inoki Genome Federation
  • IWGP Third Belt Championship (1 time)¹
• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • G1 Climax (2011)
  • G1 Climax Tag League (2006) - with Masahiro Chono
  • IWGP Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
  • IWGP Intercontinental Championship (3 times)
  • New Japan Cup (2014)
  • IWGP U-30 Championship (1 time)
  • IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • NWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)²
  • 10,000,000 Yin Tag Tournament (2004) – with Hiroyoshi Tenzan
  • Teisen Hall Cup Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2003) – with Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto
  • Yuko Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2004) – with Blue Wolf and Katsuhiko Nakajima
  • Heavyweight Tag MVP Award (2005) with Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • New Wave Award (2003)
  • Tag Team Best Bout (2004) with Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Masahiro Chono on October 24
  • Technique Award (2004)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #7 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010

¹After winning the IWGP Third Belt Championship, the title was unified with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which Nakamura also held at the time.
²After winning the NWF Heavyweight Championship, the title was unified with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which Nakamura also held at the time.

See also

• Shinsuke Nakamura's event history

External links

• Jujigatame Puroresu profile