Update On Yoshiki Inamura's WWE NXT Return

Sunday's edition of "NXT: Battleground" held plenty of surprises, one of which was the return of a supposedly-abroad Yoshiki Inamura. While fans may have believed that Inamura's time with WWE was up following his departure from WWE programming in early May, new information has come forward to suggest that Inamura never left.

Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer took to a recent episode of "Wrestling Observer Radio" to discuss and recap several wrestling events, including Battleground, where Inamura made his return to WWE to help even Hank and Tank's odds against The Culling. After recounting how Inamura appeared to neutralize a steel threat by Izzy Dame, Alvarez commented that Inamura "wasn't in Japan [for] long."

"He never left," Meltzer responded. "That was all a work."

While it is clear that Inamura's absence was planned from the beginning, exactly why Inamura stepped away from WWE programming is unclear. Inamura was taken off of WWE programming on the May 6 episode of "NXT," when he informed Josh Briggs that he would be departing for Japan after their short stint together as tag team partners. With Inamura back, Alvarez posited, perhaps a hunt and run with the WWE NXT Tag Team Championships is possible, considering the pair's previous attempts at tag team gold.

Inamura signed with WWE in 2024. Before his WWE run, he made appearances in Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro Wrestling, and NJPW. He is perhaps most well-known for his work in the United Kingdom, where he performed under the name YOICHI with PROGRESS Wrestling. As YOICHI, he claimed and defended the PROGRESS Atlas Championship for 52 days.

A date for Inamura's official in-ring return on "WWE NXT" has yet to be disclosed.