Shinsuke Nakamura’s mystery partner is no longer much of a mystery, and the giveaway wasn’t just the nickname.
In a digital exclusive posted after Friday’s SmackDown from TD Garden in Boston, Nakamura addressed Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, who had won the WWE Tag Team Championships earlier that night.
MFTs, congratulations. You are now the champions. Are you savoring the feeling, knowing it’ll be gone soon? Was the victory as sweet knowing what’s coming next?
Me, my partner, your destruction. My partner is what you all pretend to be: experienced, vicious, deadly. He is chaos. He’s a ticking time bomb. Take cover.
The Ticking Time Bomb is Hiromu Takahashi, and his finisher is called Time Bomb, so the wording alone was pointed. The vignette also contained brief flashes of Takahashi, which takes this from a wink to something close to a confirmation.
Takahashi left New Japan Pro-Wrestling in February and has not wrestled anywhere since. Fightful Select reported WWE interest at the time, alongside reports that the former EVIL, now working as Naraku, was also headed there. Nothing has been announced on either.
If he does arrive as Nakamura’s partner, it means skipping NXT for the main roster. That is unusual but no longer unheard of, with Royce Keys among the recent signings who went straight to television.
The opponents make sense too. Everyone involved has New Japan history, which gives WWE a shortcut into the story.
Tama and Talla won the belts in a triple threat over Damian Priest and R-Truth and the War Raiders, with Haku in their corner. WWE has not confirmed anything about Nakamura’s partner or said when he turns up.
