NJPW strips Shinsuke Nakamura of his Intercontinental Championship

Before he departs presumably to WWE, New Japan Pro Wrestling has stripped Shinsuke Nakamura of his Intercontinental Championship. 

So with the latest news that has dropped, it really does look as if Shinsuke Nakamura will be showing up in WWE sooner rather than later, much to the delight of a lot of fans.

As we more or less all know by now, Shinsuke Nakamura, considered to be the best professional wrestler on the planet, is part of the rumored New Japan Pro Wrestling invasion that will be coming to WWE in the near future. Other members of this contingent also include big names such as AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows.

With Nakamura, however, there was one problem that needed to be addressed before he made the move to WWE, and that being he’s the current holder of the Intercontinental Championship. Given recent events, it at least looked as if he would drop the title to new Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega before he did make his departure.

Well, things won’t even reach that point. New Japan recently announced that Nakamura has been stripped of the title now that he has given his departure notice to the company, and Omega will face a mystery opponent at the end of the month to determine a new holder of the title.

Really, this might have been the best move, and there is a recent example to show this. Alberto Del Rio returned to WWE within the past few months, however when he did, he was still the AAA Champion down in Mexico and he was never really allowed to properly drop the belt on his way out. So as you’d imagine, this creates quite the issue for the company in which the wrestler departs from.

Again, though, all this really means is that we’re one step closer to Nakamura in WWE.

Nakamura’s last scheduled appearance with New Japan will be on Jan. 30.