Hideo Itami To Wrestle Naomichi Marufuji For Pro Wrestling NOAH

The wrestler formerly known as KENTA will be returning to Pro Wrestling NOAH later this summer. He will wrestle Noamichi Marufuji on September 1st, 2018.

It had previously been reported that WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH had reached an agreement. Pro Wrestling NOAH announced the Itami vs Marufuji match at today’s show in Korakuen Hall.

Itami wrestled with Pro Wrestling NOAH for 13 years. He won the company’s junior heavyweight title 3x and their heavyweight title once.

It is not currently known if WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH will continue a talent-sharing relationship past this match, however.

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Itami has struggled to find his place in WWE. Expectations were high when he signed with the company in 2014 but injuries set him back and prevented him from moving up the card.

Now on 205 Live, Itami seems to have taken over the top heel spot. He most recently defeated Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali in a triple threat match. Itami will likely be the next to challenge for Cedric Alexander’s Cruiserweight Championship as a result.
Rumors of Itami Going Back To Japan in 2017

Last summer there were rumors that Itami was going to go back to Japan full-time. The rumors started after Itami lost an NXT Championship match at Takeover: Chicago (the first one). Rumors were then that Itami had discussed giving up on WWE and going back to Japan. He then dispelled those rumors in the segment below which aired on NXT programming last summer.