When Tajiri was announced as being part of the recent WWE Cruiserweight Classic, many fans assumed that he would be one of the returning WWE stars for the brand split, like Curt Hawkins, Jinder Mahal and (eventually) Shelton Benjamin. Then the CWC wrapped up and he was nowhere to be found, until popping up at Saturday’s NXT Osaka show.
It looks like our first hunches were correct, as Tajiri will be wrapping up his commitments in Japan and returning to WWE full-time at the beginning of the year. He hasn’t been a full-time employee in WWE since 2005, if you can believe it. Tajiri made the announement on Twitter.
昨日のNXT大阪公演でリーガルGMから「明日から公表してもいいですよ」とのOKを頂きましたので公表させていただきます。来春年明け早々よりWWEに戻ります。12/27金村引退興行を日本での最後の試合とし、鍼灸活動も日本では今月で終わります。皆さま、10年間ありがとうございました！！
— TAJIRI (@TajiriBuzzsaw) December 4, 2016
The rough translation:
I will announce this because I got the OK from Regal GM yesterday at NXT’s Osaka performance [when he told me] “I can announce it tomorrow.” I will return to WWE early next year. 12/27 Kanemura Retirement box office will be my last match in Japan, and acupuncture activity will end in Japan this month. Thank you everyone for 10 years!!
If Tajiri spends any time in NXT and doesn’t return full-time to Raw’s cruiserweight division and/or the new Live 205 show, he will be reunited on a regular basis with William Regal, which is sure to please fans of ca. 2001 WWE, where Tajiri served as the assistant to then-Commissioner Regal. The two taped a couple of short reunion videos during the CWC that are sure to melt your icy heart.
