Shinsuke Nakamura

Shinsuke Nakamura is a wrestler signed to WWE, who is currently competing on the Smackdown brand.
==Tag Team and WWE Champion (2016 - 2018)==
In 2016, Nakamura debuted for the main roster with his tag team partner Sami Zayn as part of The Artist Collective, defeating The New Day, The Bar, and The Good Brothers to win the newly created WWE Tag Team Championship, with Nakamura pinning Sheamus. The pair would float between the brands defending the tag titles for four months before dropping the titles to the New Day in a Ladder match at the Royal Rumble. Later in the night, Nakamura would win the main event match, entering at number seventeen, last eliminating Roman Reigns, earning him a WWE or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania. Nakamura would choose the WWE Champion AJ Styles as his opponent, but at the event, he failed to win the title. Despite losing, he earned a five star match from Dave Meltzer, and Nakamura earned a rematch after defeating Dean Ambrose and John Cena in a triple threat match. The following week, Nakamura won a Beat the Clock challenge, pinning Karl Anderson to choose the stipulation for their rematch. At Extreme Rules, Nakamura revealed their match would be a Tables match, in which ended in a draw when both stars fell through the table at the same time. Irate, Nakamura turned heel, hitting Styles with a low-blow. Nakamura demanded another shot at the title, and General Manager Sting relented after several attacks against Styles, but in return, Sting warned it would be a Last Chance match, in which if Nakamura lost, he wouldn't be able to challenge for the title for the rest of Styles' reign. The following month at The Great American Bash, Nakamura won the title in a No Holds Barred match after rolling out of the way of a Phenomenal Forearm, and hit Styles in the back of the head with a Kinsasha.
Nakamura would hold onto the WWE Championship, defending it against Styles, Bray Wyatt, John Cena, and Kevin Owens. He lost the title back to John Cena at the Royal Rumble 2018 in a Triple Threat, also involving Styles, after Cena pinned Styles. After losing the WWE Championship, he would start a feud with his returning tag team partner Sami Zayn, who had missed nearly an entire year due to injury. Sami demanded Nakamura see how far he'd fallen since being in the Artist Collective, Nakamura responded by hitting Sami with a low blow. Over the following weeks the two would attack each other, leading to a no-contest Elimination Chamber, and Sting demanded the two settle things at WrestleMania that year in a steel cage, in which Nakamura won. Following this, he'd have to take three months off due to a hip injury.
== United States Champion and Artist Collective Reunion (2018 - 2020) ==
Following his return, he was moved into the United States Championship Division, reigniting his feud with AJ Styles, and Kevin Owens over the title. Nakamura would win the title, and feud with the returning Jeff Hardy over the title, which lasted six months, and ended in an I Quit match in which Nakamura won. Following this, he would feud with Rey Mysterio, defeating him twice before Rusev challenged him for the Championship on the special Open Challenge edition of Smackdown, in which Rusev won the title by submission. Following his loss to Rusev, he would reunite with Sami Zayn, who had recently turned heel on Kevin Owens to reform the Artist Collective, and would chase the Tag Team Championship while the two would also individually chase the United States, and later Intercontinental Championship, although the pair would never win the gold.
== Feud with the Bloodline ==
In 2020, the Artist Collective would quietly split, and Nakamura would briefly team with Cesaro, and the team would briefly win the WWE Tag Team Championship before dropping the titles to The Street Profits at Survivor Series 2020. Nakamura would express his frustration to management backstage, citing a lack of quality title runs, his meaningless tag teams, and the feeling of being treated like a glorified jobber to stars like Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. He would publicly express that if things did not change for him soon, he would seek work elsewhere, and hinted that the Smackdown contract he had signed in October of 2020 would be his last contract with WWE. 
In the following weeks, he would win a gauntlet match against Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, Jey Uso, and Baron Corbin, slowly turning face throughout the edition of Smackdown. Upon winning the Gauntlet, he had earned a future World Heavyweight Championship match against Roman Reigns, which he would cash in for the following Smackdown, not wanting to wait for the Royal Rumble, citing it was a "cursed" pay per view for him. 
Nakamura would lose his Championship match after a run-in from Jimmy and Jey Uso, and despite assistance from Kevin Owens, he would fall to a Spear from Reigns. At the Royal Rumble, Nakamura would assist Kevin Owens in winning the World title from Reigns, taking out the Usos. He would then challenge for the World title at Elimination Chamber, but would fail to win. Following this, he would begin a feud with Seth Rollins after Rollins attacked his former partner Cesaro.
Category:Smackdown Superstar
Category:Face