Shinsuke Nakamura recently spoke with Sports Illustrated. Among other topics of discussion, he talked about who his idol is, on WWE having many underrated talents.
On the topic of his idol, Shinsuke revealed that the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger is his idol. He said his love for pro wrestling largely came from spending time with his grandmother as a child.
“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 also talked about WWE having many underrated talents, which includes the likes of Tye Dillinger, The Colons, The New Day, The Bludgeon Brothers and Shelton Benjamin.
“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.”
While Nakamura’s contract will expire this year, he made it clear that he had no intention of returning to Japan. Nakamura lost his United States Championship to Rusev recently. He told Sports Illustrated that he will be re-establishing himself in the WWE world title picture in 2019. He also said that he was not done with Rusev and the United States Title.