Predicting The Future Of 10 NXT Stars
9. Hideo Itami
Perhaps no one in NXT history—save Corey Graves—has suffered more misfortune in WWE’s developmental system than Hideo Itami.
The former Kenta joined NXT to a ton of fanfare in Jan. of 2014. To date, he’s had exactly one match on the main roster: being unceremoniously tossed out of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. Nearly two years later, and he finds himself on the sidelines once again.
The problem is, Itami just can’t stay healthy. His career was built on strong style matches in Japan, which take their toll. While he’s 35-years-old, his body seems to have absorbed the beatings of a wrestler 10 years his senior. He's already spent over a year of his career in WWE developmental out of action, and was then injured shortly after he returned.
Itami certainly has the talent to make the main roster, but he has to stay injury-free, and develop a connection with the crowd that he’s been unable to do so far in NXT. Also working against him is Vince will likely have much more interest in Nakamura, due to his insane levels of charisma when he’s ready, and probably won't bring up two Japanese male wrestlers around the same time. That’s of course not Itami's fault in the slightest, but the bosses’ history of booking talent from other cultures has usually ranged from “terrible” to “offensive.”
Official prediction: Itami never makes the main roster in a full-time role, and ends up leaving when his contract is up.