Hideo Itami Out Of The 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Vows he'll be back in December.
Another tough break for Hideo Itami over his short, injury-plagued WWE career, as he's already out of the Dusty Classic Tournament. He didn't lose a match, but neck issues are going to prevent him from teaming with his partner Kota Ibushi.
According to Dave Meltzer, Itami was injured in a non-televised tag match on 1 Oct. while teaming up with Shinsuke Nakamura against Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss. A powerslam gone wrong by Moss injured Itami, forcing him to tag out of the match and let Nakamura finish things off on his own.
Itami has released a video saying he doesn't know if he'll be back in time to compete at Takeover in Toronto next month, but vowed that he will be ready for NXT's first show in Japan in December.
This is certainly not good for Itami, as he's already spent a year out of the company while recovering from major shoulder surgery. His upcoming pairing with Kota Ibushi was bound to be one of the most exciting teams in the tournament, and with that off the table, he may be labeled as being too easily injured, which would greatly impact him getting a decent push in the future.
Hopefully he heals up soon and can stay healthy, as the man has a ton of talent, but just hasn't been able to show it off much lately.