History YMMV / ShinsukeNakamura

* CrazyAwesome: He ''embodies'' this trope.

* DesignatedHero: Nakamura's whole story in the controversial 2004 Toukon Festival. To put in perspective...
** Inoki had brought Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa back to NJPW to work a very anticipated match with Naka, but the latter proceeded to all but scream his intentions to shoot on Ogawa in revenge for a similar attack on the late Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto five years before. When Ogawa heard of this, he naturally went out of his way to be removed from the match, so the lucrative plans were scrapped for good and the two men were relegated to separate tag team matches. However, Nakamura didn't get away with the intention, because Inoki put him to wrestle Wrestling/KazuyukiFujita and ordered the latter to brutalize Shinsuke for all the trouble.
** The surprising opinion of many people is that poor Naka was in the right about wanting to backstab Ogawa and should have got everything his way without consequences. It overlooks not only that Nakamura would be committing exactly the same crime he was wanting to get revenge for (which is the most unprofessional action imaginable in pro wrestling), but also that his revenge goals were completely pointless in the first place because Hashimoto had forgiven and befriended Ogawa after their own incident. In fact, Ogawa and Hashimoto ''were a tag team'' at the time the Festival happened.
** Even the charitable interpretation that his threats against Ogawa were meant as a warning not to try and repeat the Hashimoto attack with him falls flat, as Ogawa had ceased working under Inoki years before and had no conceivable reason to crash his match with Naka. Even if Inoki really intended to override Ogawa into shooting on Nakamura, once he had to change the match he would find another wrestler to get that done anyway, and if he didn't, all Nakamura did was draw Inoki's ire and turn it into a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* DesignatedHero: Nakamura in the 2004 Toukon Festival. To put in perspective, Inoki had brought Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa back to NJPW to work a very anticipated match with Naka, but the latter proceeded to all but scream his intentions to shoot on Ogawa in revenge for a similar attack on the late Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto five years before.
** When Ogawa heard of this, he naturally went out of his way to be removed from the match, so the lucrative plans were scrapped for good and the two men were relegated to separate tag team matches.
** However, Nakamura didn't get away with the intention, because Inoki put him in the same ring as Wrestling/KazuyukiFujita and ordered Fujita to brutalize Shinsuke for all the trouble.
** Well, the opinion of many people? Poor Naka was in the right about wanting to backstab Ogawa and should have got everything his way without consequences. Yep.
** It overlooks not only that Nakamura would be committing exactly the same crime he was wanting to get revenge for (which is the most unprofessional action in pro wrestling), but also that his revenge goals were completely pointless in the first place because Hashimoto had forgiven and befriended Ogawa after their own incident.
** Even the charitable interpretation that his threats against Ogawa were meant as a warning not to try and repeat the Hashimoto attack with him falls flat, as Ogawa had ceased working under Inoki years before and had no conceivable reason to crash his match with Naka.
** Even if Inoki really intended to override Ogawa into shooting on Nakamura, once he had to change the match he would find another wrestler to get that done anyway, and if he didn't, all Nakamura did was draw Inoki's ire and turn it into a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

** His new Wrestling/{{WWE}} theme, "The Rising Sun", instantly caught fire as well. Even fans who are generally critical of CFO$ or would rather WWE had worked out a way for him to keep using "Subconscious" can admit the music would at least be good enough for a Chaos stable theme. The rest quickly declared it their new favorite theme music as it shot up to #1 on the {{i|Product}}Tunes soundtrack charts within 24 hours of its release and became the first track to hit over one million[[note]]then two million, then ''three'' million, then '''four million''', then '''''five million''''', so on and so forth to over '''''THIRTY TWO MILLION'''''[[/note]] views on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5jXAyiqg4q1gAIcYAgrAg/videos WWE's theme music channel]]. It's gotten to the point where the NXT faithful and even Nakamura's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLganuzz3NM home crowd at Sumo Hall]] sing along to it.

* DesignatedHero: Nakamura in the 2004 Toukon Festival. To put in perspective, Inoki had brought Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa back to NJPW to work a very anticipated match with Naka, but the latter proceeded to all but scream his intentions to shoot on Ogawa in revenge for a similar attack on the late Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto five years before. When Ogawa heard of this, he naturally went out of his way to be removed from the match, so the lucrative plans were scrapped for good and the two men were relegated to separate tag team matches. However, Nakamura didn't get away with the intention, because Inoki put him in the same ring as Wrestling/KazuyukiFujita and ordered Fujita to brutalize Shinsuke for all the trouble. Well, the opinion of many people? Poor Naka was in the right about wanting to backstab Ogawa and should have got everything his way without consequences. Yep. It overlooks not only that Nakamura would be comitting exactly the same crime he was wanting to get revenge for (which is the most unprofessional action in pro wrestling), but also that his revenge goals were completely pointless in the first place because Hashimoto had forgiven and befriended Ogawa after their own incident. Even the charitable interpretation that his threats against Ogawa were meant as a warning not to try and repeat the Hashimoto attack with him falls flat, as Ogawa had ceased working under Inoki years before and had no conceivable reason to crash his match with Naka. Even if Inoki really intended to override Ogawa into shooting on Nakamura, once he had to change the match he would find another wrestler to get that done anyway, and if he didn't, all Nakamura did was draw Inoki's ire and turn it into a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* BadassDecay: Has gone from a potential main eventer to basically a henchman for Wrestling/SamiZayn and then later, just a tag team partner for Cesaro.

* BadassDecay: Has gone from a potential main eventer to basically a henchman for Wrestling/SamiZayn.

* HolyShitQuotient: Beating '''Wrestling/JohnCena''' ''clean'' on the August 1, 2017, edition of Wrestling/WWESmackDown to become No. 1 Contender for the WWE Championship at Summerslam. ''Then'' beating '''Wrestling/RandyOrton''', ''also clean'', a month after. Yes, both wins happened.
** During the Orton match, he was so hell-bent on not eating an RKO that he got out of it 3 times, with one time countering it into a cross armbreaker.
** Winning ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2018'' by beating Cena a second time, then hurling '''[[Wrestling/RomanReigns Roman]] [[CreatorsPet Reigns]]''' out of the ring for the victory, to the tune of a pop loud enough to rival the heyday of Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin. As of February 2018, Shinsuke has roundly beaten three of the company's top modern stars and is set to go after [[Wrestling/AJStyles the fourth]].

* BrokenBase: Just everything about his late WWE tenure, especially the dream matches that could have been and never were. Some people are unable to forgive Nakamura and the bookers for turning a top wrestler in NJPW and NXT into a lazy entertainer who dropped from the main event scene in less of a year and had matches with people it was considered a crime to have bad matches with (like Styles). Others believe there is nothing wrong on Nakamura getting easy money for surfing in the States and working a much more comfortable rate after his grueling career in Japan.

* BrokenBase: Just everything about his late WWE tenure, especially the dream matches that there never were. Some people are unable to forgive Nakamura and bookers for turning an ace career in NJPW and NXT into a lazy entertainer, who even dropped from the main event scene in less of a year and had matches with people it was considered a crime to have bad matches with (mainly Styles). Others believe there is nothing wrong on Nakamura getting easy money for surfing in the States working a much more comfortable rate after his grueling career in Japan.

* MostAnnoyingSound: The NXT fans have taken to chanting along with his theme music. Half the time they aren't even in sync with the music, and they'll often do it all throughout his matches without stopping and it gets really grating really fast. There's also the fact that most people are not singers, and thus crowds tend to be off-key on the high notes of his theme...
** SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: ...however, as time has gone on the crowd's gotten better at synchronizing to his theme and the result is an entrance that sticks with you. Case in point: his victory at the ''Royal Rumble 2018''.
** Goes back to MostAnnoyingSound for some when the crowd is so intoxicated with singing the song that they don't even stop to cheer Nakamura himself during his entrance, specifically at the part where he runs to the ropes and theatrically drops down, which is clearly meant to evoke a pop. Supporters and detractors alike could even see this as adding substance to the growing notion that Nakamura himself wasn't all that captivating as a face on the main roster. Also, since his heel turn and the adjustments on the theme song, the crowds have neither deferred to the Japanese rapping nor adjusted to the small interruption in the melody, rendering them right back off-tune.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic[=/=]EarWorm:

* EarWorm: Courtesy of ''"Shadows of a Setting Sun"'': [[BadassBoast "Wakaru ka, Ore no Chikara?"]][[labelnote:*]]Roughly: "Do you understand my power?"[[/labelnote]]

* DesignatedHero: Nakamura in the 2004 Toukon Festival. To put in perspective, Inoki had brought Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa to NJPW to work a very anticipated match with Nakamura, but the latter proceeded to all but scream his intentions to shoot on Ogawa in revenge for a similar attack on the late Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto five years before. When Ogawa heard of this, he naturally went out of his way to be removed from the match, so the lucrative plans were scrapped for good and the two men were relegated to separate tag team matches. Nakamura didn't get away with the intention, because Inoki put him in the same ring as Wrestling/KazuyukiFujita and ordered Fujita to brutalize Shinsuke for all the trouble. Well, the shocking opinion of many people is that we should loathe Inoki and Fujita's act yet at the same time wish to have seen Nakamura committing his own shoot on Ogawa. It overlooks not only that we would be applauding Nakamura for performing the most unprofessional kind of act in pro wrestling, but also that his revenge goals were completely pointless in first place because Hashimoto forgave and befriended Ogawa after their own incident. Even the charitable interpretation that his threats against Ogawa were meant as a warning not to try and repeat the Hashimoto attack with him falls flat, and Nakamura had no reason to think Ogawa (who was now representing Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE, not Inoki Office) would do it again even by Inoki's orders. If Inoki really intended to have Ogawa shoot on Nakamura, once he had to change the match he would find another wrestler to get that done anyway, and if he didn't, all Nakamura did was draw Inoki's ire to the point of guaranteeing it would turn into a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
** "[[https://i.redd.it/961tj7fpgel01.jpg The King of Snack Style]]"[[labelnote:In Context]]The [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYIRV_5XcAISe8a.jpg:large match poster]] for his Wrestling/WrestleMania match with Wrestling/AJStyles has a sneakily-placed "Snickers" logo placed on top of his surname and right beside his given name, making it look like "Snickers" is his nickname. Nakamura [[ActuallyPrettyFunny definitely had a]] [[IncrediblyLamePun Snicker]] with the gaffe.[[/labelnote]]
** How does he brush off Renee Young after she presses enough on him during [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoaF6I7q_pk an interview]] about his attack on Wrestling/AJStyles at Wrestlemania?
-->[[BlatantLies "Sorry,]] [[LanguageFluencyDenial no speak Engrish."]]

** Was super highly anticipated heading into his ''[[Wrestling/WWENXT NXT]]'' debut at ''Takeover: Dallas'' to the point that the opening riff of a brand new music track was enough to get the entire crowd roaring off its feet before the man ever officially debuted on a WWE stage, and after the instant classic of a match that ensued with Wrestling/SamiZayn, the hype is only getting stronger.

** MostWonderfulSound: ...however, as time has gone on the crowd's gotten better at synchronizing to his theme and the result is an entrance that sticks with you. Case in point: his victory at the ''Royal Rumble 2018''.

** His new Wrestling/{{WWE}} theme, "The Rising Sun", instantly caught fire as well. Even fans who are generally critical of CFO$ or would rather WWE had worked out a way for him to keep using "Subconscious" can admit the music would at least be good enough for a Chaos stable theme. The rest quickly declared it their new favorite theme music as it shot up to #1 on the {{i|Product}}Tunes soundtrack charts within 24 hours of its release and became the first track to hit over one million[[note]]then two million, then ''three'' million, then '''four million''', then '''''five million''''', so on and so forth to over '''''NINE MILLION'''''[[/note]] views on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5jXAyiqg4q1gAIcYAgrAg/videos WWE's theme music channel]]. It's gotten to the point where the NXT faithful and even Nakamura's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLganuzz3NM home crowd at Sumo Hall]] sing along to it.

** His longtime theme in Wresting/NewJapanProWrestling, "Subconscious" by Julia Claris, has consistently been one of the most popular themes in all of professional wrestling for over a decade.

** And now with his recent FaceHeelTurn he has gained a more intense version called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-VyG3V-l2I "Shadows of the Setting Sun"]]. More guitars and Japanese Rapping to a redux of "The Rising Sun", oozing awesome all the way through.

** Was super highly anticipated heading into his Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}} debut at ''Takeover: Dallas'' to the point that the opening riff of a brand new music track was enough to get the entire crowd roaring off its feet before the man ever officially debuted on a WWE stage, and after the instant classic of a match that ensued with Wrestling/SamiZayn, the hype is only getting stronger.
* FridgeBrilliance: As he moved over to the WWE, his finisher was renamed from ''Boma Ye'' to the ''Kinshasa''. "The Rumble in the Jungle" boxing event took place in the city of Kinshasa on October 30, 1974 and it featured champion George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali for the World Heavyweight title. The "''Ali, boma ye!''" chant dates back to this historic fight.

** Winning ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2018'' by beating Cena a second time, then hurling '''[[Wrestling/RomanReigns Roman]] [[CreatorsPet Reigns]]''' out of the ring for the victory, to the tune of a pop loud enough to rival the heyday of Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin. As of this writing, Shinsuke has roundly beaten three of the company's top modern stars and is set to go after [[Wrestling/AJStyles the fourth]].
* MemeticBadass: He will steal your thunder and drive his knee into your skull. His spit alone can grant you Macho Man's charisma. His name is Japanese for "Come At Me Bro!".
* MostAnnoyingSound: The NXT fans have taken to chanting along with his theme music. Half the time they aren't even in sync with the music, and they'll often do it all throughout his matches without stopping and it gets really grating really fast. There's also the fact that most people are not singers, and thus crowds tend to be off-key on the high notes of his theme.
** MostWonderfulSound: However, as time has gone on the crowd's gotten better at synchronizing to his theme and the result is an entrance that sticks with you.

** NarmCharm: For some however, Shinsuke's eccentric movements are part of his charm.

-->[[BlatantLies "Sorry,]] [[LanguageFluencyDenial no speak English."]]

** How does he brush off Renee Young during an interview about his attack on Wrestling/AJStyles? [[BlatantLies "Sorry,]] [[LanguageFluencyDenial no speak English"]].

* DesignatedHero: Nakamura in the 2004 Toukon Festival. To put in perspective, Inoki had brought Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa to NJPW to work a very anticipated match with Nakamura, but the latter then proceeded to all but scream his intentions to shoot on Ogawa in revenge for a similar attack on the late Wrestling/ShinyaHashimoto five years before. When Ogawa heard of this, he naturally went out of his way to be removed from the match, so the lucrative plans were scrapped for good and the two men were relegated to separate tag team matches. Nakamura didn't get away with the intention, because Inoki put him in the same ring as Wrestling/KazuyukiFujita and ordered Fujita to brutalize Shinsuke for all the trouble. Well, the shocking opinion of many people is that we should loathe Inoki and Fujita's act yet at the same time wish to have seen Nakamura committing his own shoot on Ogawa. It overlooks not only that we would be applauding Nakamura for performing the most unprofessional kind of act in pro wrestling, but also that his revenge goals were completely pointless in first place because Hashimoto forgave and befriended Ogawa after their incident. Even the charitable interpretation that his threats against Ogawa were meant as a warning not to try and repeat the Hashimoto incident with him falls flat. Once again, Hashimoto forgave and befriended Ogawa afterward, so there was no reason to think he would do it again unless Inoki ordered it, and if Inoki's orders were the issue, all Nakamura did was draw Inoki's ire to the point of guaranteeing that something would happen; whether he originally intended to have Ogawa shoot on Nakamura or not, once he had to change the match he would and did find another way to get that done anyway.

** Goes back to MostAnnoyingSound for some when the crowd is so intoxicated with singing the song that they don't even stop to cheer Nakamura himself during his entrance, specifically at the part where he runs to the ropes and theatrically drops down, which is clearly meant to evoke a pop. Especially true for his base, as this could be seen as adding substance to the growing notion that Nakamura himself wasn't all that captivating as a face on the main roster. Also, since his heel turn and the adjustments on the theme song, the crowds have neither deferred to the Japanese rapping nor adjusted to the small interruption in the melody, rendering them right back off-tune.

** Goes back to MostAnnoyingSound for some when the crowd is so intoxicated with singing the song that they don't even stop to cheer during his entrance, specifically at the part where he runs to the ropes and theatrically drops down, which is clearly meant to evoke a pop. Also with him as a heel and his theme song adjusted, as the crowds have neither deferred to the Japanese rapping nor adjusted to the small interruption in the melody, rendering them right back off-tune.

* Goes back to MostAnnoyingSound for some when the crowd is so intoxicated with singing the song that they don't even stop to cheer during his entrance, specifically at the part where he runs to the ropes and theatrically drops down, which is clearly meant to evoke a pop. Also with him as a heel and his theme song adjusted, as the crowds have neither deferred to the Japanese rapping nor adjusted to the small interruption in the melody, rendering them right back off-tune.