Shinsuke Nakamura appears poised to form a new tag team on WWE SmackDown alongside one of the biggest names in NJPW Junior Heavyweight history.
On the August 14 episode, MFT captured the WWE Tag Team Championship when Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga defeated Damian Priest & R-Truth and the War Raiders in a Triple Threat Match. Following the show, WWE released an exclusive video in which Nakamura once again teased the imminent arrival of his mystery partner.
During the promo, Nakamura dropped what amounted to a dead giveaway about his partner’s identity:
“My partner is what you all pretend to be. Experienced, vicious, deadly. He is chaos. He is a ticking time bomb. Take cover.”
The “ticking time bomb” line is an unmistakable nod to Hiromu Takahashi, who has been known as “The Ticking Time Bomb” for virtually his entire career. His finisher also carries the Time Bomb name.
Takahashi left NJPW in February, making his final appearance at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11. He departed as a five-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and the all-time record holder with four Best of the Super Juniors tournament wins.
Reports dating back to July had already indicated Takahashi was WWE-bound and expected to report to the Performance Center. At that point, the only question was whether he would surface on NXT or go straight to the main roster.
Now, all signs point to SmackDown.