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Will Nakamura and Asuka's lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

12K views 91 replies 73 participants last post by  Casual Fan #52 
#1 ·
What do you think? Both are among the very best in the business but WWE and the fans care for talent who can cut great promos (dont tell me im wrong since everyone shits on Roman because of that) and you can read many threads every day about how guys like Zami, Cesaro, Neville and others dont get a big push because of it.
what will happen when Nakamura and Asuka get transfer to the main roster? Mid carders for life or still main eventers?
 
#29 · (Edited)
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Their lack of English along with Vince's general dislike of foreign talent regardless of mic skills, as we've seen with Barrett and Regal.

Nakamura is utterly fucked on the main roster. He's on the back end of his mid 30's and has had a long career of taking stiff shots in New Japan, which will probably limit how many years he can wrestle, plus he's foreign, plus English isn't his first language, plus he's ugly as hell, which is as big a no no in a Vince McMahon led company as there is, regardless of the charisma he has. I see no chance for him. People underestimate Vince. "Oh, he's too good to ruin". No he's not, Vince can fuck up A-NY-BO-DY. Not to mention, we've established very clearly that the demands of the audience are not important to them, so getting so over that they're forced into pushing him (which I have no doubt he'll get) is probably as good as dead.

Asuka might barely survive just because the women's division has absolutely no competition and Vince is less particular about it, but then again, maybe she won't because I thought they'd be pushing Becky Lynch and she's gotten utterly devoured.
 
#42 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Nakamura speaks almost fluent English. He speaks with a heavy accent, but given Oklahoma boy JR had a long and in-depth conversation with him around Wrestle Kingdom 9, he speaks it just fine. Even then, he speaks so engagingly that his promos are highly compelling despite the language barrier.

Asuka does not need to speak much, she communicates just as much with silence.
 
#48 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

I'll just say Rey Mysterio. The glass ceiling is whatever Nakamura makes it, he is gonna get a reaction wherever he goes, Raw/Smackdown/PPV he is just simply captivating enough for people to not be able to just sit on their hands and be quiet.
 
#12 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Nakamura, specifically, just has an aura about him that screams superstar. If Vince and the writers can't mold that into something special, that's on them and speaks to their lack of ability.

Yeah, the guy speaks pretty broken english but in that promo he had with Balor recently, you can't deny how fucking epic it was. All they have to do is cultivate his potential and reap the benefits on the main roster. If they take him seriously and put a fraction of the hype they put into Reigns, into him, you're looking at a mega star.
 
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#19 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

I'm okay with Asuka being silent and wrecking everybody in her path, right now most women aren't good at the mic and only Charlotte really gets the chance to talk. As for Nakamura he has enough charisma in his entrance and ring work to win anybody over, the bit of mic work he does will just be an added bonus.
 
#35 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

If I could count how many people who were over in NXT, who didn't translate to Main Roster, whether their popularity faded or their success plundered into the dirt and in some cases have done a few great things but mostly overall have been tarnished, well I don't think I have enough fingers to count.

Ascension
Adam Rose
Bo Dallas
Big E (singles)
Emma
Sasha Banks (if you have a problem, post me anything great she done on main roster)
Neville
Fandango
Lucha Dragons
Otunga
Woods (singles)
Wyatts
 
#43 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

If I could count how many people who were over in NXT, who didn't translate to Main Roster, whether their popularity faded or their success plundered into the dirt and in some cases have done a few great things but mostly overall have been tarnished, well I don't think I have enough fingers to count.

Ascension
Adam Rose
Bo Dallas
Big E (singles)
Emma
Sasha Banks (if you have a problem, post me anything great she done on main roster)
Neville
Fandango
Lucha Dragons
Otunga
Woods (singles)
Wyatts
Where to fucking start.

-Ascension
Immediately had their entire gimmick of squashing jobbers buried by JBL, and were jobbers themsleves soon after

-Adam Rose
Was barely on NXT, and has said himself he was called up too fast, before he could really develop the gimmick into something substantial. He was booked like shit, too.

-Bo Dallas
Got a completely new gimmick upon being called up, and in fact it was getting over until they randomly decided to end his winning streak to R-Truth with no buildup on a random RAW, then make him a jobber from then on.

-Big E
Did pretty well at first, with Dolph/AJ, later getting a little bit of a push with an IC title reign, even though they completely discarded the 5 Count gimmick that had made him popular in NXT. Then they stopped doing anything with him until the New Day.

-Emma
Had probably the worst possible handling of her gimmick imaginable. She was dumped out there with no context and whitebread suit Cole telling you it's "fun". Being stuck with Santino killed it, too.

-Sasha Banks
Has done very well. I have no idea why you listed her. Should have won at WM, given they've done nothing with her since WM ("saving it" for Summerslam has proved pointless).

-Neville
Was immediately slotted into a midcard hell position, and they never developed his vague superhero gimmick behind a cursory cape. Hint to WWE, superheroes tend to win.

- Fandango
Was never in NXT. Johnny Curtis was on some early NXT episodes, but never Fandango

- Lucha Dragons
Could have done ok, but they got slotted into 50/50 hell quickly and never have been pushed hard. They also were not all THAT popular in NXT anyway.

- Otunga
Was on the main roster over two years before NXT (as developmental) even existed, and has never been popular in his entire career. Why did you list him?

- Woods
Got dumped on the main roster with zero build and zero story, just randomly showing up at the bottom of the card with R-Truth one week and doing nothing until the New Day.

- Wyatts
Have been consistently handled horribly by always losing their feuds and going far too much into the "spooky supernatural" nonsense instead of the religious cult they were in NXT, BUT, it would be silly to say they have not been a success anyway. They've been consistently featured on TV and in high profile feuds for the past three years, even if they lost all of them.
 
#3 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Asuka will be fine since her division is a lot smaller than Nakamura's. But for Nakamura, yes, that will hold him back at least in the eyes of Vince which is really what matters most.
 
#4 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Nah they got brilliant charisma and Vince was shown meeting nakamura so he might be high on him. As for Asuka she's a diva so 50 50
 
#5 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

No because they booth ooze charisma. Plus they can always give Nakamura a manager if they really need to.

As for Asuka it won't since none of the women are really that good on the mic, so Asuka not really speaking will probably be a bonus.
 
#7 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

I think Asuka will do really well because she can't speak much English. I doubt many people enjoy the stupid gossipy storylines the WWE always gives to the Women's division so having a character that is just a bad ass in the ring will probably attract some attention from the audience. I have no idea how well Nakamura will do. The best case scenario is if he becomes a "Heyman guy" and is treated as an unusual, but real threat to anybody in the company. There tends to be a hard ceiling for Japanese wrestlers in particular, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for these two.
 
#9 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

The difference between Roman and Nakamura for example is that Roman is presented as someone who can speak. English is his first language. It's not the same for foreign stars, provided on how you book em
 
#13 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Charisma knows no languages, and those two carry themselves as stars in front of any crowd. It's something that no one other than John Cena knows how to do on the main roster. If anyone was going to break this barrier, it would be them.
 
#16 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Nakamura will be okay he has the Charisma and the ring skills to make people not care about his mic skills just like DB.

They should not mess with Kana-chan at all she's fine as it is. She doesn't need a mic she's also charismatic and very good in the ring keep her the way she's being booked on NXT if it ain't broke don't fix it! But is WWE they will have her and Nakamura in the mic at some point and might ruin them both.
 
#17 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Keep Asuka as the silent badass.
Nakamura speaks English but has a heavy accent. I think he will improve now that he is in an English speaking nation. Nakamura's charisma, body language and in-ring skill will carry him until his English is better.
 
#18 ·
Re: Will Nakamura and Asuka´s lack of English language skill derate their push in the main roster?

Nakamura is not a bad promo, even in English. His pure charisma can overcome any bad English he speaks. I mean the whole "To be champion I have to beat icon, so Finn I have to beat...you" promo was better than anything Reigns has done in his whole career.
 
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