They have faced off from when he was known as KENTA. They've had matches against eachother going back to Ring of Honor including a famous triple threat also involving Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) in 2006. There are others, but that's one of the more famous ones. They also worked a tag match as recently as 2012 for NOAH in Japan when Joe was teaming with Magnus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opo4cLiR80o There's a natural chemistry between Joe and Itami because of their physical style. Itami was world renowned for his physical style of using a variety of kicks. After all, when he signed with WWE he said that his style simply was "kick" because that's what he was all about. He's got more of an all around game in WWE now, but that moveset is there. Since Itami is in a babyface role, Joe could feud with him as a powerful heel. It's easy to like Itami. His offense is incredible to watch. Plus, there's a noticeable size difference since Joe is a much bigger guy. If Joe were to show up in a way similar to Kevin Owens where he picked on a smaller guy because he was jealous of that person's popularity and success it would work. Itami as a sympathetic face against a bigger guy like Joe is an easy story to tell. This would be one of the better matches for Joe in all of WWE, not just the NXT brand, due to the familiarity of Itami as an opponent. Maybe one day we'd get that Joe/Itami/Bryan three way again too.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
