Hideo Itami Finally Returns to NXT

It was a long road to recovery for Hideo Itami. Last May, he went down with a shoulder injury that was supposed to keep him out of action until the end of 2015.

Because of addition issues with mobility and scar tissue in his shoulder, it took another full six months for Itami to recover and back into the ring, but he finally did in last night during an NXT live event in Winter Haven.

During the live event, Hideo teamed with TM-61 against the team of Blake, Tino Sabbatelli, and the current NXT Champion Samoa Joe.

What’s especially interesting is although the teams seem quite random, there is a lot of speculation that we’ll be seeing Itami vs. Joe very soon on NXT programming.

The following photos were taken by JJ Williams, who was in attendance and showed Itami over a year removed from the last time we saw him:

httpss://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/748694732260290561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

httpss://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/748693282465587200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The angle NXT shot last May was that Hideo was attacked in the parking lot, which forced him out of action. Now that Itami is back, it’s only a matter of weeks before he returns to NXT programming.

He’ll be on the hunt to reveal who attacked him in the parking lot, or he’ll know coming in and force a feud immediately. Is it a coincidence that Samoa Joe debuted in NXT the same night Itami was injured?

Do you want to see Hideo Itami vs. Samoa Joe feud for the NXT Championship?