There has been an update on a 45-year-old's status with WWE after rumors he had been released. The promotion recently released a bunch of talent, including veterans such as Braun Strowman, Dakota Kai, and Shayna Baszler.
One of the most unfortunate things about the professional wrestling business is that sometimes cuts have to be made. The promotion released many popular stars recently, and rumors began to swirl about Shinsuke Nakamura's status.
The King of Strong Style was not booked for WrestleMania 41 and has not competed in a televised match since the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the April 18 edition of SmackDown. Despite there being rumors of his release, Nakamura is still currently listed on the active roster page on WWE's official website.
Shinsuke Nakamura captured the United States Championship at WWE Survivor Series 2024 but lost it to LA Knight earlier this year. Jacob Fatu defeated LA Knight to become champion at WrestleMania 41 and will defend the title in a Fatal 4-Way match at Backlash 2025 next weekend in St. Louis, Missouri.
Wrestling legend Vince Russo recently took the company to task for how Shinsuke Nakamura is booked on television.
Speaking on Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing with Russo show, the legend questioned how the promotion utilized the former champion. He noted that there was no focus on Nakamura while he had the United States Championship and stated that he was being booked similarly to Chad Gable.
"There's no focus on him, bro," Russo said. "There's no focus. That's the problem. There's no focus on him. The champions should take priority over everybody else, but they don't. They book Nakamura the same way they book Chad Gable. If you're a champion, you should be a priority. I mean, that's an absolute no-brainer." [0:38 – 1:02]
You can check out Russo's comments in the video below:
Shinsuke Nakamura won the Men's Royal Rumble match in 2018 but failed to capture the WWE Championship from AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34. It will be interesting to see what the company has planned for Nakamura moving forward.