Hideo Itami is finally medically cleared to compete will be returning to NXT in the very near future. Itami’s NXT run has been plagued with injuries and he’s been out since October, when he went down with an injury that prevented him from teaming with Kota Ibushi in the Dusty Rhodes Memorial tag team tournament.
Any time now. He's cleared. https://t.co/XmFB7m6Ce7
— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) February 5, 2017
Hideo Itami Injury Woes
The 35-year old Itami debuted in NXT after having had a very successful run in Pro Wrestling NOAH. Then known as Kenta Kobayashi, Itami spent the better part of 14 years with the organization. Throughout this period, Itami would also make sporadic appearances with ROH, but his main focus was in Japan.
He won the company’s heavyweight championship in 2013, and then held it for almost a year. Itami would eventually drop the belt in January of 2014. He began training in WWE developmental around that time. He would wrestle his final match for NOAH that May.
Since landing in NXT however, Itami has suffered two injuries that have kept him on the sidelines for extended periods of time.
His suffered an injured shoulder in May of 2015 that required surgery. The injury was only supposed to keep him out 6 months, but due to complications from the surgery he ended up being inactive for over a year. He returned in June of 2016, but would be injured again in October. Now, according to Meltzer, he is cleared to compete again and could make his return any day.
