Having earned the nickname "Super Rookie", Nakamura impressed both NJPW officials and fans with an excellent combination of strength, speed, and technical skill.

[8] Nakamura began training vale tudo and, on December 31, he made his mixed martial arts debut, where he was defeated by Daniel Gracie via submission to an armlock.

NJPW President Simon Inoki later suggested that as part of his learning excursion, Nakamura would be loaned to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to gain experience in working large American shows.

[5] On December 10, Nakamura was unable to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from then-champion Tanahashi and was again unsuccessful on January 4, 2007, at the Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome show, where he lost to Toshiaki Kawada.

[5] The injury sidelined Nakamura for months, but he made his return on November 11 and took over the leadership of Black New Japan from Chono and reformed the faction under the new name RISE.

The faction originally consisted of himself, Minoru, Milano Collection A.T., Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard, Travis Tomko and Prince Devitt.

[5] On January 4, 2008, Nakamura defeated his rival Tanahashi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the second time.

[5] On September 5, Nakamura and RISE stablemate Hirooki Goto unsuccessfully challenged Togi Makabe and Toru Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

Immediately after the match, the duo were attacked by Giant Bernard, Rick Fuller and the returning Low Ki, who had just left RISE to join Makabe's GBH faction.

[14] In April 2009, Nakamura turned into a villain, siding with the former members of GBH (especially Toru Yano) in a feud against Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma.

[5] Nakamura began to work a much rougher style, using a lot of knees and continuing to use a straight right hand as a frequent move in addition to the Bomaye (renamed Kinshasa in WWE), his new finisher.

[39] In August's 2012 G1 Climax tournament, Nakamura wrestled in the same block as fellow Chaos member and recent IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.

[41] On August 26, Nakamura traveled to the United States to make his first successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, defeating Oliver John at a Sacramento Wrestling Federation (SWF) event in Gridley, California.

[47][48] On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Nakamura defeated Kazushi Sakuraba for his fourth successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

[53] Two days later at Invasion Attack, Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Smith, avenging the previous loss from the first round of the New Japan Cup.

[57] Nakamura quickly started a rivalry with La Sombra and after suffering two pinfall defeats in six-man tag team matches on April 17 and 24 accepted his challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, setting up a Fantastica Mania 2013 rematch between the two.

[74] The following month, Nakamura took part in NJPW's North American tour, defeating Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestler Kevin Steen in an interpromotional match on May 17 at War of the Worlds.

[91] On September 27, at Destruction in Kobe, Nakamura defeated Hirooki Goto to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time; this would remain the record for most reigns until Tetsuya Naito became a six-time champion in 2020.

[99] Nakamura wrestled his last match under his NJPW contract on January 30, where he, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Katsuyori Shibata.

[104] On January 31, Nakamura was confirmed to have finished his NJPW commitments and was said to be reporting to the WWE Performance Center for training and handling logistical matters regarding his move to the company.

[123] On the April 4 episode of SmackDown Live following WrestleMania 33, Nakamura made his main roster debut, interrupting The Miz and Maryse following their promo mocking John Cena and Nikki Bella, officially joining the brand in the process.

[136] At Clash of Champions on December 17, Nakamura and Orton lost to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who retained their jobs with Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon serving as special guest referees.

[153] At Extreme Rules on July 15, Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy by executing a low blow and Kinshasa to win the WWE United States Championship, his first title on the main roster.

[176][177] On July 19, at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, Nakamura and Cesaro defeated Kofi Kingston and Big E in a tables match to capture the titles.

[179] On the January 8, 2021, episode of SmackDown, Nakamura competed in a gauntlet match to determine the challenger for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble, defeating Rey Mysterio, King Corbin, and Daniel Bryan, the latter of whom he proceeded to shake hands with following Bryan's loss, before he lost to Adam Pearce after being assaulted by champion Roman Reigns and Jey Uso, turning face for the first time since 2018.

[196] On October 18, Nakamura made his first NXT appearance in over five years as Tony D'Angelo's hand-picked opponent against Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo, whom he defeated.

[199] On the August 7 episode of Raw, Nakamura, Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest and "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio).

[200][201] Nakamura ultimately failed to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Rollins on September 2 at Payback and at Fastlane on October 7 in a Last Man Standing match, ending their feud in the process.

[213] Following the Draft, he would have another lengthy absence from television, mostly appearing on live events before making his on-screen return seven months later on the November 15 episode of SmackDown, attacking United States Champion LA Knight after his title match against Berto.

[221] Along with fellow NJPW wrestler Kazuchika Okada, Nakamura is featured in the Japanese music video directed by fashion designer, DJ and record producer Nigo for Pharrell Williams' song "Happy", released in May 2014.