Manabu Nakanishi Looks Back On Excursion To WCW, Feels He Did Not Make The Most Of The Opportunity
That was a period of Nakanishi’s career that he feels he did not take advantage of.
Several years into Manabu Nakanishi’s in-ring career, New Japan Pro-Wrestling sent him on an excursion to WCW. He competed for the company in 1995 and 1996 under the name ‘Kurasawa.’
Nakanishi reflected on that experience while speaking to Sports Graphic Number. He does not think he made the most of the opportunity.
“Looking back now, I think it was a chance, but I couldn’t make the most of it. Honestly, I had no idea what I should be doing in America, or if it even suited me. But I had to make a living somehow. If they didn’t use me in matches, I’d get sent back to Japan. And if I went back, I wouldn’t even know why I’d come to America in the first place. In fact, I was often left out of the running in matches. But I did train hard.
That was my own problem—I didn’t understand what they wanted from me. Looking back now, maybe I should have played the heel harder, made the fans hate me more. But I was kind of half-hearted about it.
I realized this after many people told me, but I didn’t understand it at the time,” Nakanishi said about the idea of him leaning into the heel role more in WCW. “In my head, I was thinking, the real challenge will come when I get back to Japan, but since I had been given the opportunity to go to America, I should have been more ambitious.”
Nakanishi wrapped up his in-ring career in February 2020 when New Japan Pro-Wrestling hosted his retirement match. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion tallied up 27 years as a wrestler.
