WWE News: Shinsuke Nakamura Stripped Of Championship By IWGP, Headed To NXT

In WWE news, Shinsuke Nakamura has been stripped of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and could be headed to NXT in a couple of weeks, according to Wrestling Inc.

On early Tuesday morning, New Japan released some info on their website, where they revealed to their fans that Shinsuke Nakamura is no longer the IWGP Intercontinental Champion.

New Japan Pro Wrestling also confirmed that Shinsuke Nakamura had asked to be released from his contract so that he can pursue opportunities overseas in the United States.

The move comes as a bit of a shock because the widespread belief was that Shinsuke Nakamura was going to the time honored tradition of dropping the belt before leaving a company.

There were very few reasons to believe that Shinsuke Nakamura would not honor his word with New Japan and put over another performer so that the championship can continue.

It seems likely that New Japan made the decision because they did not trust Shinsuke Nakamura. The 35 year old has been with the promotion since 2002, minus a learning excursion.

The more likely reason as to why New Japan executives decided to change their mind on Shinsuke Nakamura is because they are afraid that Vince McMahon might screw them over.

When Alberto Del Rio decided to make a WWE return, he had promised AAA executives that he would drop the Mega Championship before leaving. That ended up not happening at all.

The IWGP Intercontinental Championship will now be determined in an upcoming match between Kenny Omega and a mystery partner that has yet to be determined or announced.

Many believe that Kenny Omega will be winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship because New Japan has him penciled in for a really big push as a top-level singles star.

Management recently planted the seeds for that big push by having Kenny Omega turn on AJ Styles in a match and taking over leadership of the massively popular Bullet Club stable.

Though not as talented of a performer as AJ Styles, Kenny Omega is going to be given a push by New Japan because they need a new top level foreign heel to take over for Styles.

With Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows expected to start working with WWE any day now, New Japan knows that they need to revamp the Bullet Club to capitalize on their popularity.

Now that he has been officially stripped of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, Shinsuke Nakamura isn’t going to be leaving the company or country abruptly or anything.

The veteran performer is still scheduled to work a couple more matches for New Japan, where Shinsuke Nakamura will more than likely lose and put over the remaining performers.

Once he is no longer contractually obligated, Shinsuke Nakamura should be heading to America to start training at the performance center and working some live events for NXT.

Shinsuke Nakamura is still heavily rumored to be making a quick jump to the main roster in WWE. The NXT stint is simply for him to get accustomed to the way things work here.

A stint in Orlando with the NXT brand will also give Shinsuke Nakamura the opportunity to bond with Hideo Itami and get to know his new surroundings. Itami is from Japan as well.

WWE would be wise to not waste the brief NXT stint for Shinsuke Nakamura. Matches against Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, and Hideo Itami need to be booked as special events.

While the door with New Japan is highly unlikely to be shut for long, it is a bit sad that Shinsuke Nakamura did not get a chance to properly pass the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to a deserving performer.

[Featured Photo by Shinsuke Nakamura/Instagram]