Hideo Itami Injures Shoulder; Out 6-8 Months

It's been a bad week for WWE news and it gets worse as there's a new report out saying that NXT Japanese superstar Hideo Itami will be out of action for about six to eight months. He recently suffered a shoulder injury at a NXT live event and according to PWInsider sources he'll be out of action due to the shoulder injury. While it doesn't specifically state that it's shoulder surgery, the 6-8 month timetable usually means that somebody is going under the knife. It's similar to what Bad News Barrett went through last year. There is no official statement on WWE.com at this time, but it's likely coming soon. Itami was scheduled to take part in a triple threat match against Finn Balor and Tyler Breeze at the May 20 NXT Takeover event that was going to determine the #1 Contender to the NXT Title. The NXT Title match at that show was going to be Kevin Owens defending the title against Sami Zayn, but with Zayn injuring his shoulder on Monday and possibly needing to take time off the assumption was that Itami might main event that show with Owens. Now that Itami is out, they will have to change plans by possibly doing Balor vs. Breeze early in the show and then have Balor face Owens in the main event since he would be the next logical babyface challenger. It puts WWE in a difficult situation because they have the May 13 episode of NXT already taped, so they will have to edit it some announcement regarding the injuries to Hideo and Sami assuming they are both out. They will likely push it hard on social media too. This week's NXT saw them show the signing of Uhaa Nation. Perhaps he will have a big role quickly. Samoa Joe is expected to join NXT by late June, so it wouldn't be a shock if he got a big push like Kevin Owens did upon his arrival. This is sad and terrible news. Hideo was really starting to feel comfortable in NXT and the crowd loves the guy, so it would have been awesome to see him possibly getting a NXT Title match. Now we may not see him in a WWE ring until later this year or possibly next year. In order to try to cheer ourselves up, here's that awesome video package WWE put together about Hideo's first WrestleMania experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02HcQZAE-BE Let this be a reminder of how the wrestling business isn't easy. These guys and girls put their bodies on the line to entertain us. Sometimes devastating injuries happen. Get better soon, Hideo.