At 45 years old, Shinsuke Nakamura still has hope that he’ll be a WWE World Champion one day.
Nakamura told Tokyo Sports in a new interview that becoming World Champion remains a WWE goal that he is focused on. He wants to accomplish the feat not just for himself but to pave the way for other Japanese and Asian men to do so in the future.
“I believe in it, so I keep going. That’s the World Heavyweight Championship. I just want to win that,” Nakamura said. “For Japanese wrestlers on this American stage, especially the men, that’s the barrier we haven’t broken through yet
“I don’t know if it’s proof or anything, but I sometimes wonder what would happen if I couldn’t do it. I hope I can leave some kind of path, or hope, for the next generation of Japanese and Asian people.”
Now a babyface again, Nakamura returned to WWE programming earlier this month after having been absent for a few months. He’s part of the SmackDown roster and also recently competed on WWE’s house show tour of Japan.
Though peers like John Cena, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and AJ Styles will be retiring from the ring soon, Nakamura told Tokyo Sports that retirement is not an immediate concern for him. Still, he knows that nothing lasts forever and his career is a lot closer to the end than the beginning.
“Fortunately, I’ve had almost no injuries, so it’s not like I have to retire immediately,” he said. “But nothing lasts forever. If someone said I have 10 more years, I’d have my doubts. If they said five, maybe. You never know what tomorrow brings, so I just have to do what I can now.â€
Nakamura was a multi-time World Champion for NJPW and did hold the NXT Championship a couple of times after arriving in WWE. On the main roster, he’s been a midcard and tag team champion but has not held either the WWE Championship or World Heavyweight title.
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Joseph Currier
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated’s wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.
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