According to All Wrestling News, NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura is working at live events hurt. The report stated that he is wrestling with a very limited move set to avoid any further injuries. He is medically cleared. Even former NXT Champion Samoa Joe is injured, but he is not competing.
Joe does make appearances, but in the live events, it is mentioned that he is not cleared to compete. The difference is that WWE generally needs Nakamura to headline shows as he is the biggest draw. Prior to him, it was Finn Balor and Bayley who were the biggest draws on the house show circuit.
It is not known what exact injuries Nakamura or Joe has. It is also unclear as to when Joe will return. For The Samoan Submission Machine, it looks like he is main roster bound. He was not on the last set of NXT tapings, and there is a new Number One Contender being determined for the NXT Championship, so he is unlikely to be involved in any storylines.
As for Nakamura, he is unlikely to be making it to the main roster anytime soon.
Joe is rumoured to make his main roster debut on the Royal Rumble. Joe has done it all in NXT, headlining five consecutive Takeover Shows. He has also been in the NXT title picture for over a year. Joe had an injury last on NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II when a Kinshasa by Shinsuke Nakamura led to an injury to the jaw.
Samoa Joe likely obtained these injuries in the tour of Australia. He did wrestle all the shows, so he may have gotten injured towards the end of the tour. Here is a clip of Joe with Bobby Roode having a funny interaction with the fans:
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