It appears that Shinsuke Nakamura is finally beginning to establish himself as one of the top stars on WWE's main roster.

After joining from NJPW in 2016, he spent just over a year in NXT before being called up shortly after WrestleMania 33. 

"The King of Strong Style" has since been on SmackDown Live, but for a while, it seemed that he was being wasted by Vince McMahon.

FINALLY BEING PUSHED

Nakamura was always kind of floating around the main event picture on Tuesday nights, but it wasn't until he won the Royal Rumble back in January, that his real push started. 

Winning the Rumble set up a dream match against AJ Styles at WM34 - and their feud was one of the best of the year. 

However, The Phenomenal One successfully defended his belt, and Nakamura was forced to move on. 

Thankfully though, his next title challenge was more successful and at Extreme Rules, he beat Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship.

BEING USED RIGHT 

Now that "The Artist" has won his first main roster belt, it seems that he's finally arrived in WWE - and is giving fans what they expected to see when he moved from NJPW.

But, the road was long. In fact, there are plenty of other superstars trying to do exactly what Nakamura has done. 

Interestingly, the US Champ has been talking about those wrestlers - and has named the one NXT star he really wants a match with. 

CALL UP THE DREAM

During a recent interview, Shinsuke revealed that Velveteen Dream is the man he wants to wrestle - and also explained the advice he gave Dream while both were in NXT.

"Velveteen Dream. He [has] found something. I remember I gave him advice when I was in NXT," he told Going in RAW, per Ringside News.

"At that time, he was still looking for his own character, right before he became Velveteen Dream. He did too much. He has [done] a bunch of wrestling matches now, and a lot of moves.

"It's just my opinion - the audience can’t remember if a wrestler does too much."

TONING IT DOWN?

It's pretty clear that Nakamura's words had some effect on The Dream - as he's really become one of the developmental brand's standout stars. Again, that could be down to Nakamura's wisdom.

"[They have to make] one strong impression - so maybe tag matches in NXT or a road trip after the whole show, people will remember his character," he continued.

"[Beyond] the other matches they watched, they would remember the purple guy; crazy moving. That is one of the keys."

It's good to hear that someone like Nakamura, who established himself on the independent circuit, was very interested in helping younger stars develop in NXT. 

Hopefully, we'll get to see Shinsuke vs The Dream very soon - Vince just needs to call the latter up first. 

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