wrestling / News

Jim Ross & Steve Austin Talk WWE’s Booking of Shinsuke Nakamura

July 26, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
WWE Shinsuke Nakamura WWE Smackdown

– Jim Ross was a guest on a recent edition of The Steve Austin Show (transcript via wrestlinginc.com), here are some highlights…

Ross on Wanting Nakamura vs. Styles at Wrestlemania: “I think Shinsuke Nakamura, we haven’t seen his best yet and I think AJ Styles may be as good of a worker as I’ve seen in years. He may be the best worker in the world right now.” Ross recalled, “you felt something in the crowd at [WWE Money In The Bank] with Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ. The fans that’ve followed their career know they’ve got a great history. And they’ve, I’ve seen it, had one of the best matches I’ve ever seen with Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ. We haven’t seen that yet in Shinsuke, but that WrestleMania match would be a great wrestling match.”

Austin Agreed: “I know that Styles is going to bring the best out of Shinsuke because I don’t think, from what I’ve seen, we’ve seen Shinsuke’s best in [WWE].” Austin added, “I’m sure he will get the best of that guy. I’m sure they’re great friends from way back or whatever the deal is. But from what I know of AJ, if Shinsuke’s going to really work his ass off, it’s going to be with Styles.”

Austin on WWE Not Getting The Most Out of Nakmura: “You bring him over and he’s going 30-minute broadways with half the damn roster. Debuted down there in WrestleMania 32, NXT, with Sami Zayn, hell of a match. Hell of a match! A lot of credit to Sami Zayn and Shinsuke, but here’s ‘The King Of Strong Style’ and all-of-a-sudden, he comes in and he’s working Dolph [Ziggler] and it took him a long time to finish off Dolph for ‘The King Of Strong Style’. Do you understand where I’m going with this gimmick? That’s booking though. What is the plan? You’ve got this guy who’s one of those talents that just don’t come around every single day. He’s special. He comes in and you treat him like he’s another Joe Blow.”