Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
On last night’s episode of WWE SmackDown, Shinsuke Nakamura popped up for the first time in around two months or so to pick up where he left off on the long-stretching but going-nowhere storyline of himself having issues with Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga. Now, he’s saying that he’s not alone, and that “he and I” are going to take the fight to the MFTs.
He implies naturally just one person, not a faction, even though that could just be a botch on WWE’s part or the start of what could eventually build into a stable. At the very least, one person is going to be joining Nakamura soon.
My question for you today is “Who do you think Nakamura’s partner will end up being?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
My mind immediately goes to Hiromu Takahashi. He’s been rumored to join WWE for a long time and they’ve recently trademarked some new names that could apply to him, such as Bakusai, which I certainly don’t anticipate being the new ring name for someone like Tate Wilder, do you?
Naraku made the jump from New Japan into NXT, and the same thing could happen with Takahashi. After all, Robert Stone was talking to another free agent this week on the show. But I think that would be more so someone like Richard Holliday. Having both Takahashi and Naraku in the NXT system right now might lead to some overlap while if Takahashi joins SmackDown, we’ve got a new tag team for that division, which desperately needs more groups after WWE stupidly let go teams like Motor City Machine Guns and The New Day.
Pairing Takahashi with Nakamura makes sense. They have a history together, Takahashi can learn from Shinsuke about how WWE does things and as part of a tag team, it isn’t entirely on him to just adapt 100% solo, and it would also tie back into how this storyline seemingly revolves around everyone’s time in NJPW. If it were Finn Balor, there wouldn’t be a need for it to be secretive.
Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anyone else who would make any sense to me. No free agents, NXT talent waiting in the wings, or other roster members to be traded over could fit into this storyline better than Takahashi. Until they say otherwise, that’s going to be my guess.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
