10 WWE Tag Team Wrestlers Who Held Their Partners Back
7. Hideo Itami (Finn Bálor)
Since returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2019, the rechristened KENTA has literally kicked the sh*t out of every fleeting memory fans may still harbour for Hideo Itami.
His WWE tenure was snakebit - a series of badly-timed injuries, booking misunderstandings and a gradual mutual disinterest that formed between competitor and company destroyed the chances of him ever becoming a significant superstar with the organisation. Bizarrely though, it was the mesmerising presence of one of his mates that put the first nail in his coffin.
Itami's NXT introduction was framed around him trying to fight resident big b*stards The Ascension by himself. A dangerous weapon of a man, he fared well one-on-one against his larger rivals but the numbers game persistently worked against him until the developmental brand's latest signing from Japan arrived on the scene to make the save. Alongside his new best mate Finn Bálor, he looked set to technically tear apart the two towering former Tag Team Champions... until a Demon overwhelmed and overshadowed him.
On commentary ahead of the match, Corey Graves summed up the stakes for the newcomers - "solidify they belong here, or go home". Bálor secured the former so profoundly with his alter-ego that Itami probably should have accepted the latter there and then.