Shinsuke Nakamura Reveals Why He Left NJPW To Sign With WWE

Shinsuke Nakamura is considered a legend in Japan and a lot of people were surprised when he decided to leave NJPW to join the WWE’s development territory, NXT.

Nakamura was recently interviewed by former WWE announcer Lillian Garcia at the Ace Comic-Con where among other things he also revealed why he left New Japan Pro Wrestling for his current employers.

According to Shinsuke, it was 2015 and he felt like he had accomplished everything in Japan. He then got a call from a WWE friend when he was trying to figure out what he should do next and that’s when the former NXT Star decided to sign with the company:

“In Japan, I thought I accomplished everything, So, I tried other things. So, then in 2015, [I thought], what should I do next? At the time, my friend, who works in WWE, called me. Probably it’s time to challenge next. Then I [decided to join WWE].”

Continuing on the topic, the Japanese Star also talked about how he couldn’t follow WWE when he was a kid because he didn’t have money to go to the video shop.

Shinsuke Nakamura signed an exclusive contract with WWE in January 2016 and as a result, he was stripped of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

WWE then announced his debut for the Takeover: Dallas event in April the same year where Nakamura defeated Sami Zayn. You can check out his full interview in the video below: