Nak 2.22: I've Paid My Dues

[Derek]

I’ve taken my bows, and my curtain calls…

Suitcases drag behind patrons crisscrossing the terminal of Kansai International Airport, the tiny sounds of spinning wheels multiplying against each other into one steady hum that hangs overhead and bears down on the already-weary travelers. Their bodies hunched, their heads low as they hurry from one direction to the next. But in the center of the chaos, Shinsuke Nakamura stands upright, a ratty old backpack hanging off his designer Bathing Ape brand jacket. Other transients attempt to fumble out their phones to take a quick picture as he inhales deeply, trapping a final remnant of home inside of him before making his way to his plane. Fans shout at him from their own lines, and he is quick to offer them a wink or a characteristic flick of the wrist, but his mind is already focused on what lay ahead. He barely notices early enough to keep from steamrolling over a small child who stops directly in his path.

“Nakamura san! Nakamura san! Watashinonamaeha Hayatodesu! Anata wa watashinokazoku no okiniiri no resurādesu. Anata wa hontōni watashitachi o nokoshite imasu ka? Anata wa kesshite modotte kuru sa rete imasen?” [Nakamura-san! Nakamura-san! My name is Hayato! You are my family’s favorite wrestler. Are you really leaving us? Are you never coming back?] Hayato’s embarrassed father runs up to try and pull the child away, but Shinsuke smiles at him and kneels down to the child’s level.
“Hayato-chan wa, watashi ga nokoshite imasu. Watashi wa sō, Nihon de saikō noda to iu koto o shitte irunode .“[Hayato-chan, I have to leave. Because you know that I am the best in Japan, yes?]

The little boy nods. Shinsuke continues. “Dakara watashi wa Amerika de mina o yabunni iku to, watashi wa zen sekai de saikō no gozen shōmei suru hitsuyō ga arimasu. Watashi wa, Hayato-chan o, zen sekai de saikō no gozen nai koto o shinjimasu ka? “ [So I have to go beat everyone in America and prove I am the best in the whole world. You believe that I am the best in the whole world, don’t you, Hayato-chan?]

The boy nods again. The King of Swag slings his backpack onto the floor and pulls out one of his bandanas. “Watashi wa Hiroki Gotō no kao ni watashi no hiza o unten shita to shite, watashi wa watashi no ude de kore o kite imashita. Kare wa Amerika de dare yori mo kibishī hijō ni tafuna otoko,desu. Watashi wa kare o utsu toki ni, watashi wa koko de kare no chikara no ichibu o hokaku shimashita. Watashi wa nidoto kare o tatakatta baai ni wa, sore o hitsuyō to suruga, ima wa sōde wa arimasen. Amerika no rikishi wa tōshi o motte imasen. Watashi wa kantan ni sorera o uchi makasudarou. Dakara, anata to issho ni, koko ni taizai suru koto ga dekimasu. Watashi mo sono naka ni watashi no chikara no ichibu o haichi shimasu. Daremoga anata ni toraburu o ataeta baai, anata wa sore o motte iru sorera o oshietekudasai. Anata wa Gotō to Nakamura no chikara o motte imasu .” [I wore this on my arm as I drove my knee into Hiroki Goto’s face. He is a very tough man, tougher than anyone in America. So when I hit him, I captured some of his power in here. I needed it in case I ever fought him again, but now I don’t. American wrestlers don’t have fighting spirit. I will defeat them easily. So it can stay here, with you. I will put some of my power in it too. If anyone gives you trouble, you tell them you have it. You have the powers of Goto and Nakamura.]

He stands up from the wide-eyed child clutching the rag to his chest. “Soshite kare wa sore o hanbai shiyou to suru to, watashi wa modotte kite, kare no ude o hakai suru koto wa anata no chichi o oshietekudasai .” [And tell your father that if he tries to sell it, I will come back and break his arm.] Shinsuke lets out a wicked laugh and continues on his way to the plane.

In the air, in first class among the suit-wearing businessmen and vacationing bigwigs, Nakamura flips down the tray table and props his feet on top to facilitate some leg stretches. Some try to shoot him strange glances but quickly look away when he returns their gaze through his straggly hair. He watches the last vestige of Japan disappear from view with a sigh. The New York territory (that’s what the old gaijin still called it, and he respected his elders, so he had taken to using their verbiage) had made a big play for him. They had wanted to use him to promote their network launching in Japan. He could have taken the easy money, kicked a few tomato cans, and still return home in a few years as the most famous Japanese wrestler in the world. But he didn’t want to be the most famous. He wanted to be the best. He blows a raspberry and puts in his earbuds before closing his eyes.

I consider it a challenge before the whole human race, and I ain’t gonna lose

Everyone’s favorite perky Canadian interviewer stands in front of the cameras running through vocal warm-ups. She has a tiny hint of a cold now that the winter weather has come to February in earnest, but with proper technique, the effect will be imperceptible. The director gives her the count in and she lifts the microphone into place.
“Hey guys, this is Renee Young. In early January, New Japan’s reigning Intercontinental Champion announced he was vacating that title and coming to America. Ever since then the internet has been buzzing about where he would end up. Well, the speculation ends now, as I am joined by my guest at this time, Shinsuke Nakamura!”

The former IWGP champion saunters into frame, one of his signature red jackets over his farewell show t-shirt, the lettering filled in with well-wishes from the rest of the New Japan roster. The crew exchanges uneasy glances as he lazily leans in towards Renee. Jim Ross had told him there would be no shame in doing the first few interviews with a translator handy, but his pride would not allow it.

Renee smiles into the camera while Shinsuke stares at nothing in particular. “Shinsuke, let me be the first to welcome you back to America! You are being dropped right into the thick of things, facing both Kevin Owens AND Matt Sydal in your EBWF match. Are you ready?”

She holds the microphone over towards him. The pause as his focus moves to her and then down to the device may only be two, three seconds tops, but seems to stretch into infinity. Without warning, Shinsuke takes hold of the microphone still in Renee’s grasp and with his other hand begins to pick pieces of foam off and flick them into the air as if they were flower petals. While continuing to do so, he turns towards the camera.

“My…name….is Shinsuke Nakamura. I fight for..honor. I fight….ehhh…I fight hard. My style hard, I HIT hard. I studied….ehhh…MMA, and jui jitsu, yes? I fight in different styles…but wrestling is the greatest art there is. I was…champion, many times. World champion. Intercontinental champion. G1 tournament champion, very hard fight. I win it all…I beat all in Japan, there was…ehhh…no challenge left for me. So now, I am in America. I will fight very hard here too, yes.”

He tosses another piece of foam off-camera with a particularly high arc, watching it with childish glee before turning back to Renee. “I am...excited, very excited to learn of my...ehhh...opponents. Matt Sydal, he has come to Japan, always very...respectful. Good man, good flyer. Great junior. America will be.....quite....exciting in that way, I do not get to fight juniors so often. A heavyweight will nearly always..ehh...beat a junior, but nothing is....guaranteed. I will not look past.... not overlook Matt Sydal, and look forward to meeting him and others for the...first time.”

Another toss of foam, this time straight into the unprepared face of Renee Young, directly on the nose. She instinctively releases her grip on he microphone to brush it off, and Shinsuke pulls it to himself with a devilish grin, growing more animated with each word. “But Kevin Owens, we have met before, yes? You and I, we have been in the ring, how...ehhh...fun it will be to fight again. Kevin Owens, he is a very tough man, very very good wrestler, but ask Kevin Owens if he remembers Nakamura's knee on the side of his face, ha! Kevin Owens, he would be good strong style, yes! Punch, kick and throw, ha! But Kevin, cannot be strong style, because he does not fight with honor. Does not fight with spirit.”

He scans the room, wild-eyed, before returning his gaze to the videoscope. “The men with the cameras here, they are....ehh....worried about being in a room with Shinsuke. They have never been in a room with strong style, ha! Don't know how to handle this much swag! It fills the room, yes, it fills the arena. The men here cannot handle it. And no one in the ring will be able to handle it, ha! The best in Japan is about to become the best in the world. Now, blonde girl, ask me your question again.” He shoves the nearly bare microphone to the side without breaking eye contact with the camera, drawing unattractive sputtering noises from Renee as she narrowly avoids taking it straight into the mouth.

Regaining her composure, she takes it back from him. “Are you ready for your EBWF debut match against Kevin Owens and Matt Sydal?”

With great animation, he leans forward. “The answer.....the answer is this......YEAOH!” With that, he stomps off-camera, leaving Renee free to turn back to the camera for her sendoff.

She flashes a winning smile. “You just heard from EBWF's newest, and maybe most unconventional, star, international sensation Shinsuke Nakamura, ahead of his hotly anticipated debut this week....”

Nakamura wanders back into frame, pulls off the last little piece of foam left on the microphone and casually lets it drop to the floor before backing out with a grin.

Renee turns back to the camera with a confused expression. “At Warfare.”

And we mean to go and on and on and on