Shinsuke Nakamura has a message for the rest of the WWE — “The King of Strong Style” is back. Nakamura uploaded a promo to his Instagram page on Saturday ahead of the 2021 Royal Rumble, where he reflected on winning the Men’s Rumble match back in 2018. The victory catapulted the former pillar of New Japan Pro-Wrestling into a WWE Championship program with AJ Styles, though their initial match at WrestleMania 34 was met with a lukewarm response and their feud was critically panned once it started centering around low blows. Nakamura never managed to take the WWE title away from Styles and was quickly pushed back into the midcard afterwards.
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In the three years since then, he’s held the Intercontinental, United States and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, but he’s never reached the same level he was at back in Japan (or even in NXT). But fans were given a glimmer of hope recently when Nakamura turned face and put on an excellent performance in a gauntlet match before getting screwed out of a Universal title match by Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. He’s now turned his full attention to winning the Royal Rumble again.
#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/ZlyYZ7YdJA
— Shinsuke Nakamura (@ShinsukeN) January 30, 2021
“Three years ago I was top of the mountain,” Nakamura said. “[The] first-ever Japanese Royal Rumble winner. Everyone thought I would be champion, but it wasn’t my time. That was 2018… three years. These three years I did everything I could for my family, for my career. I got a lot of titles, but still [there’s] something I miss, the world title. I want the world title. I forgot who I am, almost. But the King of Strong Style is back, I’m back. I will win the Royal Rumble this year. Roman, you are not the head of my table.”
Check out the full card for the Royal Rumble below:
- WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Goldberg
- WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens (Last Man Standing)
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Charlotte Flair & Asuka vs. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler
- Men’s Royal Rumble: Randy Orton, Edge (confirmed as the two first entrants), Daniel Bryan, Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Otis, The Miz, Jey Uso, Cesaro, Jeff Hardy, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, Big E, John Morrison, Sheamus, Mustafa Ali, Braun Strowman more TBA
- Women’s Royal Rumble: Nia Jax, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Beliar, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Shayna Baszler, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, Tamina, Natalya (confirmed for No. 30) more TBA
