Shinsuke Nakamura Comments On The Royal Rumble – Never Seeing The Match Before, Support Of The Fans, And More

ESPN recently spoke with Shinsuke Nakamura about winning the 2018 Royal Rumble Match, the WWE Universe being behind him, never seeing a Royal Rumble Match before, and the transition from NXT to WWE’s main roster. You can see highlights from the interview below:

On the Royal Rumble match itself and the WWE Universe supporting his win:

“I really felt the people behind me,” he said. “You had (John) Cena, Roman, Randy (Orton), the biggest stars in the WWE and I feel like I’m a new guy, but the WWE Universe really supported me.”

“This was my first time being in a match with these kinds of rules,” Nakamura said. “I’ve never watched a Royal Rumble match. This was my first time. I wanted to enjoy it for the first time being in it.”

On transitioning from NXT to the WWE main roster:

“When I came to NXT, I didn’t need to adjust,” Nakamura said. “NXT fans are hardcore wrestling fans. I just had to wrestle and they reacted but when I got called up to SmackDown it was different. There’s just a difference in the live events. So last year I had to make an adjustment from NXT to SmackDown like others have done from NXT to Raw. It takes time to adjust but today I finally feel like I’m there. I feel at home. It’s hard to choose the words even if I was speaking Japanese. It’s hard to find the words.”