Puroresu Central

Shinsuke Nakamura

Birthdate: February 14th, 1980
Height: 6'2''
Weight: 245 lbs.
Debut: August 29th, 2002
Background: Amateur Wrestling
Promotion History: New Japan (2002 to present)
Alliances: RISE
Ring Attire: Long tights, usually black
Card Position: Upper Mid-Card
Major Tournaments Won: G1 Tag League (2006)
Current Title Held: None

Championship History:

IWGP Heavyweight Championship:
- Defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan on 9/12/03 and Vacated on 2/5/04
- Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi on 1/4/08 and lost to Keiji Mutoh on 4/27/08

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Hiroshi Tanahashi:
- Defeated Sasaki and Suzuki on 12/11/04 and lost to Chono and Takayama on 10/30/05

New Japan U-30 Openweight Championship:
- Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi on 1/4/05 and Vacated on 5/1/05

NWF Heavyweight Championship:
- Defeated Takayama on 1/4/04 and Unified with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on 1/5/04

Biggest Matches:
- December 9th, 2003 vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (title win)
- January 4th, 2004 vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (title unification)
- December 11th, 2004 vs. Kensuke Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki (title win)
- January 4th, 2005 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (title win)
- February 17th, 2008 vs. Kurt Angle (title unification)

Pictures:
- In 2008, Nakamura wins the IWGP Championship with the Landslide
- After the 2008 Tokyo Dome match, Nakamura with the Championship
- El Nino by Nakamura
- Nakamura is about to hit the Landslide on Tenzan
- Another Landslide attempt
- Nakamura with a German Suplex
- Mounted Punches by Nakamura
- The Cross Armbreaker is applied to Makabe

Signature Moves:
- Cross Armbreaker Takedown
- Death Valley Driver
- Double Underhook Piledriver
- El Nino
- Inverted Powerslam
- Landslide (HQ)
- Lariat
- Shining Triangle
- Ten-Naka Satsu

Super Signature Moves:
- Avalanche Landslide (HQ)
- Shining Triangle/Shining Wizard Combination (with Tanahashi)

Rarely Used Moves:
- Moonsault

Special High Quality Videos:
- Nakamura unifies the 2nd and 3rd Generation IWGP Heavyweight Championships

Career History:
written by Charles Schaeffer

Shinsuke Nakamura was born on February 24, 1980, in Mineyama, Kyoto, Japan. He was an accomplished wrestler in high school and college and even went on to represent Japan in the World Student Championships. After college he moved on to try his luck in puroresu and sought out the New Japan Dojo. He cleared the test to enter the Dojo and on March of 2002 he earned himself a spot on the NJPW roster. On August 29, 2002 he made his debut against Tadao Yasuda, and was named the "Super Rookie" by the fans. During the match his name was chanted like he was a grizzled veteran of the sport. He had already made a name for himself without even wrestling one match. The New Japan officials noticed this and knew that they had a future ace in their midst. He then journeyed to America to train in vale tudo, with the help of Antonio Inoki, to compete in Inoki's New Year's Festival on December 31, 2002. Nakamura would face Daniel Gracie in his debut and even though showing a great skill he was beaten. He would immediately come back to Japan and on January 4, 2003, he and his partner, Michiyoshi Ohara, would beat Tadao Yasuda and Kazunari Murakami when Nakamura made Yasuda pass out by a front neck lock. On February 1, 2003 he won his first tournament, the Teisen Hall Cup Six Man Tag Tournament when him and both of his partners, Hiro Saito and Tatsutoshi Goto, beat Yoshihiro Takayama, Shinya Makabe and Minoru Fujita. On May 2, 2003, Nakamura fought his second vale tudo fight against K-1's Jan "The Giant" Nortje, who even those was bigger and more experienced was beaten by Nakamura in the second round. After his last win he was given an opportunity to be in the 2003 G1 Climax. He would only win two matches in the tournament with one being a win over Yasuda. This brings us to December 9, 2003, when Nakamura was placed in a match against Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Nakamura would land one of the biggest upsets of all time when he defeated Tenzan making him both the youngest wrestler to ever win the title, at 23, and being a pro for only a year and three months. Then on January 4, 2004, at New Japan's Tokyo Dome show he defended his championship and won the NWF title from Yoshihiro Takayama. He would unify the titles, but due to injuries he was soon after forced to vacate the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Shinsuke Nakamura would make his return on March 28, 2004, and he would face and get the pinfall over Hiroyoshi Tenzan. On May 22, 2004, Nakamura defeated K-1's Alexey Ignashov on K-1 MMA's ROMANEX show. He would earn a slot in the 2004 G1 Climax and go on to score major wins over "Mr. Puroresu" Genichiro Tenryu on August 8th, and another over Yuji Nagata on August 13th. He wouldn't win the tournament, but in the end he earned a total of eight points and more respect from his peers. On October 17, 2004, Nakamura would participate in the Yuko Six Man Tag Tournament, with Blue Wolf and Katsuhiko Nakajima. They would face Mitsuya Nagai, Katsuyori Shibata and Ryota Chikuzen with Nakamura getting the win when he hooked the standing cross armbreaker on Nagai. A few days later on the October 24, Nakamura would win the President Hoshino 10,000,000 Yin Tag Tournament, with Tenzan, when they beat Masahiro Chono and Katsuyori Shibata. Even though they won the Hashino Tournament they did not receive any money because they were not apart of his Black Hole group. On December 11, 2004 him and his partner, Hiroshi Tanahashi, would defeat Kensuke Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Tag Team Titles and bring them back to NJPW. This was a true historic event in NJ history and if these two men ever needed to prove that they were the future of the sport this was it. On the Tokyo Dome show of January 4, 2005, Nakamura would go one on one with Hiroshi Tanahashi for the U-30 Championship, and he would end up winning him the title. During their IWGP Tag Title run they ventured to Mexico and put the titles on the line on multiple occasions. They would come back to NJPW still champions and on October 30, 2005, they would lose the titles to Chono and Tenzan.

The beginning of 2006 Nakamura would face Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He would fall to the bigger champion, and a few months later he announced that he would be leaving NJPW so he could become a better wrestler in general. It was thought that he would wrestle for the WWE to help him learn more strong moves, but on September 24, 2006, he returned to NJPW and showed that he did leave for a reason. He vastly improved in his pure size and strength. He even took advantage of his new strength and introduced a new move called the Landslide. Soon after his return he partnered with Chono and won the 2006 G1 Tag league when they beat Tanahashi and Kohji Kanemoto. Nakamura also proved during the tournament that even with his bigger size that he was still fast on his feet. Even though he seemed to be better than ever he lost to both Tanahashi on December 10, 2006, for the IWGP Title, and to Toshiaki Kawada on January 4th, 2007.

2007 Recap:
At the Tokyo Dome to start the year, Nakamura lost to Toshiaki Kawada as he continued to master his new style of wrestling. At the New Japan Cup, Nakamura defeated Yano in the first round but had to forfeit in the second round. Co-leading BLACK with Masahiro Chono, they spent much of their time feuding with the New Japan Sekigun including Tanahashi and Nagata. Nakamura also feuded with Togi Makabe, with Makabe winning the series 2-1. At the G1 Climax, Nakamura reached the semi-finals and was poised to win the tournament, but he would dislocate his shoulder in his match against Nagata. Nakamura would miss several months, but would return on November 11th and would become the leader of RISE. On December 9th he defeated Makabe to become the number one contender for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for a match at the Tokyo Dome in 2008.

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