WWE News: Another Major NXT Heel Turn Teased, Possible Feud In The Works

At NXT TakeOver: Chicago, a major heel turn transpired at the conclusion of the main event. Former NXT Tag Team Champions Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano, better known as DIY, attempted to defeat the Authors of Pain and be only the second team in NXT history to become two-time champions. In a pleasant surprise, the tag team championship match main-evented the show, which was a tough spot to fill after an incredible WWE UK Championship match between Tyler Bate and Pete Dunn, as well as a solid NXT Championship match between Bobby Roode and Hideo Itami.

While both Dunn and Bate received high praise for their exhibition, Hideo Itami felt left in the cold after his loss to Roode. As a result, NXT cameras caught him flipping out and being unable to control his anger.

When asked about how he felt regarding losing to Roode and being unable to win the NXT Championship, Itami responded with a grunt. As he was flipping and throwing chairs around, he was stopped by Kassius Ohno who advised him to, “Relax. It’s gonna be okay. Hey, I’ve been there before, man. I get it, I understand.”

Itami then began to swipe at Ohno, and yell things at him that were bleeped out. Ohno kept his cool, but Itami turned around and flipped over a table. Ohno then went to Twitter to express his thoughts on the situation, following a tweet from Itami that stated, “It’s a still long way to the top. But Sun will rise again. Thank you #NXTTakeOverChicago.”

Ohno responded, “You done throwing tantrums now?”

Obviously, WWE is intentionally brewing this moment to set something up between the two. Right now, Itami is still trying to find his grounding as a main-event name, although he did get many positive reviews after his match with Roode. However, Itami just really landed his spot as a main-eventer, and cannot afford to lose any steam.

For Ohno, he made his return at the beginning of the year in front of a very supportive NXT crowd, having a face-off with Shinsuke Nakamura. After Nakamura was dethroned by Roode, Ohno focused on capturing the NXT Championship from the Glorious One. However, he was unable to defeat Roode, and retreated back into finding a valuable spot on the roster. He was a part of the NXT TakeOver: Orlando event, but was once again unsuccessful in a six-man tag team match.

In the recent weeks, Ohno has been absent from any major spot on NXT television, due to not being able to find a place in any of the ongoing feuds heading to this past weekend’s TakeOver: Chicago show. Now, however, with Itami seemingly out of the title picture, a feud between him and Ohno can be one of the highlights of the upcoming NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III event on August 19 at the Barclays Center.

While this would be the first match that Ohno and Itami will have in NXT, this is certainly not the first time they have faced each other outside of WWE.

In 2011, Ohno (as Chris Hero) and Itami (as KENTA) faced off while competing for world Xtreme wrestling (WXW), at the Shotgun #217 event in Oberhausen, Germany. Itami was able to defeat Hero in the match that lasted over 20 minutes. The two have also faced off against each in Ring of Honor, as Itami also defeated Ohno in that match.

From these previous encounters, a feud between Ohno and Itami has the ability to produce another memorable match. The two has shown that they have great chemistry competing against each other, and a match in NXT would open up the ability for fans not very familiar with ROH or wXw to see how great they are together in the ring.

[Featured Image By WWE]