Well, the unfortunate curse of Hideo Itami has now officially spread to his opponents. After suffering an eye injury at a recent NXT live event thanks to a kick by Shinsuke Nakamura, Austin Aries will be out of action for at least the remainder of the year, which means he will miss NXT TakeOver: Toronto and join his storyline rival Itami on the shelf.
PWInsider.com reports that although the initial injury was said to be just a black eye and some stitches, he actually suffered an orbital bone fracture that will require surgery and will keep him out of action until at least early 2017. Aries is expected to undergo surgery this week in Birmingham, Alabama.
Two weeks ago on NXT television, Aries and his “mystery partner” Roderick Strong advanced in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, which means that both Aries’ and Itami’s teams will have needed to find replacements, because they weren’t already filling spots with CWC competitors like a weird installment of Final Destination.
Let’s just hope that WWE is scrambling to find a way to sign either Jack Evans or Alex Shelley to try to fill the void left by Aries. (Sorry, No Remorse Corps fans: Davey Richards is both under contract to TNA and is injured at the moment.)
