On May 20th, 2015 Hideo Itami was scheduled to compete in a triple threat against Tyler Breeze and Finn Bálor. Sadly though footage emerged revealing that Itami had been attacked and had suffered a dislocated shoulder and this required surgery which kept him out of action for 15 months.

Itami had the following to say on the Injury:

"This is the longest I’ve ever been out of action in my entire career. It was the toughest injury of my life".

The Long Road Back To Action and Motivational Factors

Hideo joined NXT at roughly the same time as Kevin Owens and Finn Bálor. All three of these were touted as the biggest signings NXT had made at the time. When Itami got injured he had to watch as Bálor and Owens go on to bigger and better things in NXT and even now on WWE's main roster. One of the biggest motivational factors for Hideo was the fact that all of Japan is behind him in his quest in WWE.

Now that Hideo is back he will be looking to shoot to the top as soon as he possibly can. He will also be looking to become NXT Champion all in the hope of inspiring the next generation of wrestlers in Japan.

"Many people in Japan expected me to do big things when I came to NXT, and now that I’m back, I want to make them proud. I want to show the world how good I am and I want to prove to myself how great I can be".

What is next for Hideo Itami?

Now that Itami has returned it looks as though it is back to normal for "The Japanese Sensation". He is happy to be back and has had two matches since his return and he looks as sharp as ever. He has put the entire NXT Locker room on notice that he is back and he wants to be the top guy.

Itami is happy:

"I’m so happy to be back. Words cannot explain how much it meant. But my goal is not just to be back in action; I’m also focused on reaching the next level."

Itami in action on this week's NXT (photo:dailywrestlingnews.com)
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