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Former NEVER Openweight Champion HENARE has been away from the ring since December 2024 after suffering a knee injury during the World Tag League tournament, where he and Great-O-Khan entered as the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Now there has been an update on his recovery, and it is not something fans of the New Zealand native will want to hear.
According to Fightful Select, New Japan Pro Wrestling are not expecting HENARE to appear at all in 2025, and have made plans without him in mind. However, that will completely depend on his recovery process as he was set to have surgery before the end of 2024, but there has been no word on how the surgery went. HENARE's run with NJPW has been plagued with injuries over the past few years as he missed six months of action in 2021 due to a serious neck injury, and also missed three months of action in 2024 after suffering deep laceration during the United Empire's "Dog Pound" Steel Cage match against the Bullet Club War Dogs, a match HENARE finished by having the majority of his head bandaged up to stop the bleeding.
Despite the head and knee injures, 2024 was a breakout year for HENARE as a member of the United Empire in NJPW. He won his first singles title for the company, the aforementioned NEVER Openweight Championship, in June by defeating Shingo Takagi, and would go on to have his best G1 Climax run of his career so far as he picked up eight points, which included a win over current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto. HENARE would then win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships in November with Great-O-Khan from TMDK, and was on course to win the 2024 World Tag League until he got injured.

