WWE Rumors: Real reason why Shinsuke Nakamura isn't motivated in WWE anymore
What's the story?
It's been a while since Shinsuke Nakamura has been on top of the WWE card. WrestleMania 34 was the height of his popularity in WWE, but since then, it's all really been downhill. Moreover, he doesn't seem particularly motivated either, and it's for a very good reason.
It's not necessarily a bad one, according to Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio.
In case you didn't know...
Shinsuke Nakamura won the 2018 Royal Rumble and secured a dream WWE title match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34. It was by far the most anticipated match on the card, but it didn't live up to expectations for a variety of reasons - the main one being that they wanted to extend the program for longer.
This is where Nakamura turned heel. However, he would fail in his WWE title pursuits and then move on to the United States title picture. He won the title and had a reasonably long reign with it, but nothing of great substance came from the reign. It felt wasted, and after losing and regaining the title from Rusev, he would lose it to R-Truth before forming a random tag team with The Bulgarian Brute.
The heart of the matter
Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio said that Nakamura is essentially collecting a pension at this point. He stated that Nakamura's family loves Florida, and the former United States & NXT Champion loves to surf, something which Florida offers.
This is likely the reason why Nakamura has been phoning it in for a while. He doesn't have much of a reason to be motivated from a creative standpoint, and he likely knows that his peak in WWE has already come and gone.
One can't really blame him, because he's had a storied career and has achieved a lot more than people would have expected. Moreover, he's been getting paid a hefty salary even from his NXT days, so he probably will sit out his contract or sign a short-term one before calling it a day.
If he's satisfied from collecting the paycheques, then there's nothing wrong with that.
What's next?
Nakamura has no plans at WrestleMania 34, and will more than likely end up in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he'll get eliminated and continue a mid card run in WWE.