How Long WWE Planned Shinsuke Nakamura’s Television Return

WWE has a lot of surprises that they can pop off at a moment’s notice. Fans watching the November 15 WWE SmackDown certainly didn’t see Shinsuke Nakamura’s return coming, but now we know a lot more about the situation.

Sean Ross Sapp noted on Fightful Select that Shinsuke Nakamura’s return had been planned for a number of weeks. He was not listed on internal rundowns, but was on the script.

In case you didn’t see what went down this week, Legado Del Fantasma confronted LA Knight to challenge him for the United States Championship. Santos Escobar’s desire for the title set up a match where Legado member Humberto Carrillo faced Knight. After a tough battle, LA Knight secured the win. However, his victory celebration was cut short when Shinsuke Nakamura appeared, dressed in all black, and attacked Knight, leaving him laid out.

This surprise marked Nakamura’s return to WWE television after a long absence. Nakamura’s last house show match was on October 16, 2024, at a WWE live event in Manchester, England, where he lost to LA Knight in a United States Championship match. Nakamura had been missing from television for an extended time before that, with his last television match going down on.

Shinsuke Nakamura’s most recent televised match took place on April 22, 2024 WWE RAW, where he lost to Sheamus at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. Although he appeared at a few SmackDown tapings after that, he only competed in dark matches.

As Shinsuke Nakamura left the ring silently during SmackDown this week, Corey Graves referred to him as a “Wayward Samurai.” It will be interesting to see if WWE keeps that nickname for Shinsuke Nakamura. He certainly seemed to have a different presentation, as he was dressed in all black.