WWE is the biggest pro wrestling company on the planet which is why they seem to be the destination for so much of the world’s top talent.
Jim Ross has seen a lot of big names come and go through his career and knows a special thing when he sees it. While talking to Jim Corentte recently, the WWE Hall Of Fame announcer disucssed how WWE is still the goal for people who really want to make it in the pro wrestling business. Ross also compared Shinsuke Nakamura’s popularity in New Japan Pro Wrestling to that of Steve Austin when he made the transition between companies.
“If you’re a football player in America you want to play in the NFL and right now the equivalent in the genre of pro wrestling is WWE,” Jim Ross said on the Jim Cornette experience. “So I get a kick out of it, guys think they’re protecting their position with the company, they’re gonng make themselves a bigger babyface within the walls of their particular company by saying, ‘naw I’m happy right where I am, everything’s cool.'”
“But if they get a good offer — hey look… Nakamura leaving New Japan, cause I called a lot of his matches when I first got that gig when Mauro Ranallo went over to SmackDown for a while. This son of a b-tch is the equivalent of signing an Austin or just any top-tier 1,2, or 3 guy on the roster. Figure it in, top 3 he was there in any generation for those guys.”
“I love his work, but I liked his work in New Japan because I foresee, and maybe I’m wrong that he was more aggressive there and I don’t see that aggression in him that I know he has that I enjoy. Maybe he has been toned down.”
Jim Cornette said maybe someone told Nakamura to ease up a little bit because the mentality of working through pain is a little different in WWE than NJPW. But overall, Jim Ross still praised Shinsuke Nakamura as a top guy compared to Steve Austin in popularity when he jumped from New Japan to WWE.
It would certainly be nice to see Shinsuke Nakamura open up a can of knees to faces and eventually capture his full potential in WWE.
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If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Jim Cornette Experience with a H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription