Nakamura was a highly touted rookie as he came out of the Dojo in 2002, and he showed that he could back it up and then some. He gained the Red Baron of “Sugar Rookie” as he put on great matches with vets and young boys alike. Around the end of 2002, Nakamura began training in Vale Tudo, and debuted in MMA for Inoki Bomba-Ye, where he was submitted by Daniel Gracie. He went on to win his next two MMA matches via submission, before winning the IWGP Heavyweight title at the age of 23, making him the youngest man to win the title in history. He would succesfully defend the title, only losing it due to an injury. Upon his return, he competed in his last MMA match, winning and leaving his record at 3–1–1 (no contest).
The MMA/NJPW split in the early 2000’s led to a fracture in the relationships between wrestlers themselves, as well as with the fans and promotions. Nakamura never fully left wrestling, unlike one of his fellow young lions Katsuyori Shibata. Those two, along with Hiroshi Tanahashi, were thought to be the new era “Three Musketeers” that would lead New Japan through the 2000’s as Hashimoto, Mutoh, and Chono had done in the 90’s. Tanahashi has had on on and off rivalry with Nakamura, as he was the only one who never competed in a Mixed Martial Arts match, with this being a major point. However, Tanahashi and Nakamura have both had intense rivalries with Shibata since he returned to NJPW over his abandonment of wrestling altogether. Apparently, there is still some legitimate bad blood between Nakamura and Shibata over this.
Nakamura entered into a tag team with Tanahashi after returning, and the two quickly won the IWGP Tag titles, which they held on through excursions to Mexico and matches against each other, only to finally lose them to Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
Into 2006, Nakamura’s star shot through the roof, as he challenged Brock Lesnar at the 2006 Dome show, where he lost. On a side note, young, short haired Nakamura looks… not right. After losing, Nakamura announced that he was taking a sabbatical from NJPW to tour around the world, improving his wretling skills by absorbing the different styles around the world. Part of the excursion included a stint training with Lesnar at his personal gym to build some muscle mass. NJPW brass suggested that Nakamura was to be loaned to WWE at the time, in order to understand how to work big time American shows, but that never came to fruition. Thank God.
Shinsuke in 2006 WWE is like a diamond in an outhouse hole.
The reason it did not happen was that NJPW hurried Nakamura back to Japan after Lesnar left and vacted the title due to “visa issues.”
Nakamura returned as a part of Chono’s Black stable, a rebel group that aimed to install Chono as president of NJPW and make Nakamura the ace. He was noticeably bulked up, and was much more crisp, even though he was definintely crunchy before.
I don’t know either, shut up.
He unsuccessfully challenged Tanahashi for the title twice, and then separated his shoulder in the 2007 G1 Climax. He returned in November and became the leader of Black, which he renamed RISE. Alongside him were Milano Collection AT, Prince Devitt, Minoru Tanaka, Giant Bernard, Hirooki Goto, and Tomko. He would beat Togi Makabe for a shot at Tanahashi’s title at the 2008 Dome Show.
Third time’s the charm, as he won his second IWGP title. He then took on Kurt Angle the next month to win the Inoki Genome Federation version of the IWGP title and unified the two titles,as Inoki had feclared that his IGF version was the true title, as Lesnar had never been beaten. This tied up all the loose ends. Nakamura lost the title in April to Keiji Mutoh.
To end 2008, most of RISE either left or turned on their friends to join Togi Makabe’s Great Bash Heel.
In April of 2009, Nakamura turned heel and aligned himself with former members of the now weakened GBH and formed Chaos alongside Toru Yano.
Nakamura began to wrestle a much stiffer, Strong Style… style; using more knees, elbows, and punches, as well as the BOMA YE. He lost to Togi Makabe in the finals of the 2009 G1 Climax, but not before breaking Tanahashi’s orbital bone with a Boma Ye, forcing him to vacate his IWGP title. He avenged his loss against Makabe by defeating him for the IWGP title, his third. He then pissed off Inoki, no longer in power at this point, by saying that he wanted to bring back Inoki’s “Strong Style” by defeating Inoki for the original IWGP title. It never happened. He would hold the title until May 2010, when Makabe got HIS revenge and won the title from Nakamura.
Nakamura went on to have various mini feuds after being eliminated from the 2010 G1, including one with Satoshi Kojima, who handpicked Nakamura as his first challenger. He won. He also had a mini feud with Go Shiozaki that carried into 2011, with Nakamura coming out on top.
After a midsummer tour with CMLL, Nakamura defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the 2011 G1 and gain an IWGP title shot. He failed to beat Tanahashi. He and Toru Yano ran the table at the World Tag Leauge, but lost to a team from NOAH.
In July 2012 Nakamura defeated Goto to win his first IWGP Intercontinental title. He would carry it into the G1, were he defeated now ace Okada and cemented his status as leader of Chaos. He would defend the title all around the world and into 2013, triumphing over Suzuki-gun members left and right, until he was finally defeated by CMLL regular La Sombra, ending a 313 day reign, during which he managed eight defenses. He would win it back from La Sombra, only to lose it to Tanahashi in the 2014 Dome show main event, which the fans voted them into. Nakamura turned around and won the New Japan Cup, and immediately challenged the Flying Ace to a title match, where he became the only three time IWGP IC champion. He then lost and regained it to/from Bad Luck Fale, making him the only 4 time champ. He carried it into 2015, where he has lost it to and failed to regain it from Hirooki Goto.
