As recently as July of 2016, Vince McMahon had no idea that Shinsuke Nakamura could speak English.
Nakamura is in a unique position as a Japanese wrestler coming to WWE. While on Talk is Jericho, podcast host Jericho and Samoa Joe talked about the impact of Nakamura. Samoa Joe compared him to The Great Muta in terms of charisma without having to speak a lot. Jericho said it surprised Vince McMahon when he told him Nakamura appeared on the podcast.
"When I had him on my show, I told Vince I had him on my show and he said 'He speaks English?' I was like 'Yea, he speaks really good English,'" said Jericho.
The episode of Talk is Jericho with Nakamura was in July of 2016, months after Nakamura's debut at NXT Takeover: Dallas. Nakamura is now a part of Smackdown's roster due to the Superstar Shakeup. He has spoken in English on the microphone in both NXT and WWE. He is currently involved in a feud with Dolph Ziggler. On April 25th's episode of Smackdown, Nakamura's in-ring interview was interrupted by Dolph Ziggler. Nakamura did not speak during the segment until he snatched the microphone away and asked Dolph Ziggler "what is your problem?". He also spoke in Japanese during the segment.
On the podcast, Jericho and Samoa Joe also talked about Nakamura's "rocker" personality and his affinity for surfing. Jericho said Nakamura only wanted to talk about surfing on the podcast.
The Talk is Jericho episodes with both Samoa Joe and Nakamura can be found at PodcastOne.com.
