I think once it's all said & done, after Itami heals up, he and WWE will go their separate ways. He had an uphill battle upon coming back from the shoulder injury when you consider all the guys from NXT who've made so much noise in his absence. A year & a half ago, Itami was sort of viewed as, arguably, the biggest star in NXT but there've been wrestlers since who're bigger deals and are more familiar to fans. Finn Balor became the longest reigning NXT Champion and ultimately became the first WWE Universal Champion on the main roster, Shinsuke Nakamura may well be among the top 2 or 3 Japanese wrestlers of the past 10 years and he's currently NXT Champion, very well known guys l ike Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode have made big splashes in NXT, Asuka has been the most dominant female in NXT history as she's been NXT Women's Champion for almost 200 days and is undefeated in NXT. Then, you have American wrestlers who made big splashes in Japan who've been major forces on the main roster; Gallows & Anderson have been top contenders for the tag titles for months and, at some point, they'll most likely win said titles, AJ Styles is the current WWE World Champion and has been involved in some genuine classics this year. WWE also seems to be on the verge of signing Kota Ibushi to some sort of deal and I think it's a matter of time before they offer him a deal in which he only works TV tapings and ppvs.
On top of all that, NXT has grown with very little help from Itami. It's not his fault, of course, as injuries can happen at any given time to anybody. While he's only 35 years old, you have to wonder if itami's body just isn't able to go and endure as it once did and suffering another significant injury that's likely to put him on the shelf for at least 6 months may well earn him the distinctive label of being injury prone.
