6 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Dec 18)
5. A Proper Introduction
He debuted in WWE nearly three years ago with a cameo at WrestleMania XXXI. He wasn’t slated to officially join the main roster until Tuesday, but Hideo Itami got a much-needed shot in the arm for his WWE career Monday night.
Itami ran out to save Finn Balor from a Miztourage beatdown on Raw, which led to an impromptu tag match. That of course gave us Hideo running over Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, hitting Axel with the Busaiku Knee (formerly Daniel Bryan’s finisher) and then the Go to Sleep (formerly CM Punk’s finisher).
Saving a popular face and using two easily recognized finishers that he innovated (or used first) was a great way to introduce Hideo to the WWE audience rather than have him walk out on 205 Live on Tuesday and expect fans to treat him like a big deal because the company said so.
For once, that was a smart move. Itami now looks like a big deal and a significant addition to the cruiserweight roster.