Add as a preferred source on Google AJ Styles defended WWE’s decision to start NARAKU’s run in NXT instead of moving him straight to the main roster.
During a recent appearance on Phenomenally Retro, Styles recalled that even Shinsuke Nakamura went through the developmental brand before reaching the main roster. He used that as an example of the adjustment needed for WWE’s television model.
“Can I just say this? Shinsuke Nakamura was also in NXT. I’m just throwing that out there. Listen, I think there’s certain things that we all need to learn in NXT, that will prepare us for the main roster. Even I had to learn quick. … It was a learning process and I had to learn quick because I was on there. I couldn’t afford to screw up or mess up or whatever it is you want to call it. I wanted to stay on the main roster and I had to impress the guy in charge.
“So, we don’t want anybody to go up to the main roster and have to learn like that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s better to go [to NXT]. It’s just a smooth transition. You know where all the cameras are. You know, not to turn your back to a camera. A lot of people don’t know that.
“That was a big thing with me and Stu, our cameraman, he was like, ‘Hey, AJ, make sure you turn this way,’ instead of putting your back to the hard camera. There’s little things that you do that people don’t even think of. You just don’t turn your back to the hard camera. It sounds silly, but I get it. It’s important.
“So, we have to make sure that Evil, as we’re going to call him, doesn’t turn his back to the hard camera. That he knows where all of them are, how we film and produce.
“Because you don’t do that in Japan. There’s no producers in Japan. Because it doesn’t matter where the cameras are, they just shoot. They don’t know. At least when I was there, they didn’t know that it was entertainment. It was a sport.
“So the camera guys were not involved in the booking meetings, whatever, the meetings in general. We need to know where all this stuff is. It’s important.
“At least I had TNA. Before I had New Japan, I was in TNA. I knew where the cameras were, and I knew to play to the cameras. But still, there’s certain things that we want to have in place before you go to the main roster.”
The point raised by “The Phenomenal One” is directly tied to NARAKU’s experience in Japan. According to Styles, Japanese wrestling, especially during his time there, operated with more of a sports-based approach, with camera operators simply following the action.
In WWE, however, a wrestler also has to perform with the way everything is filmed and produced in mind.
NARAKU made his first NXT appearance on April 28, confronting NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo. His new name was revealed on May 5, and his in-ring debut came on May 12, when he defeated Lince Dorado.
Before arriving in WWE, NARAKU was IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, and a four-time NEVER Openweight Champion in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.