"My Style is kick...So, I want to do is kick your ass"

- KENTA

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Prologue

The Innovator of the G2S & the protege of the legendary Puroreso icon Kenta Kobashi. In a way, KENTA is the guy to introduce me to Puroreso Wrestling. I found out about KENTA back in the Summer of 2015, around when WWE recently signed Prince Devitt, Kevin Steen, and KENTA to their developmental center NXT. After that, I've became a fanatic of him ever since. Following his days in Pro Wrestling NOAH, some of his absolutely astounding matches that he put on in ROH, and still being my absolute favorite wrestler in WWE. Quite frankly, I personally feel like Hideo Itami is one of the people that doesn't get quite the recognition they deserve, especially among the wrestling community. So I decided to make a favorite in order to showcase exactly why I ire the guy & some of his contributions to the sport of Professional wrestling.

Takeover

Early on in his profession wrestling career. He wrestled for a Puroreso promotion named Pro Wrestling NOAH. It was a promotion that the great Misawa had created. (and yes you heard me correctly. FREAKIN' MISAWA, is The same man who had 2 six star matches scored from Dave Meltzer & one of the greatest foes that Kenta Kobashi has ever faced, has created that promotion)

Anyways, KENTA had formed a tag team with Katsuyori Shibata & became later known as "Takeover". The two were quite popular & were faces during their run in the company's time. Had some really great matches against the likes of Kojima & Kota Ibushi.

No Mercy

Hideo Itami as a Babyface? No thank you, I'd rather see Heel KENTA. That man was an absolute ruthless brute who gave no fucks & was a dick to everyone in the ring back in his heydays of NOAH. He was THE MAN of that promotion & his whole characterization was just based on that of a badass. If it weren't for Pro Wrestling NOAH, There probably wouldn't be a Hideo Itami in the WWE, as that's the promotion that his work is more known for. He has put on some phenomenal matches alongside the likes of Marufuji, Bryan Danielson, The Blue Thunder Yuji Nagata, and even FACED HIS OWN DAMN MENTOR. KENTA KOBASHI HIMSELF. He was a face for the majority of his run in NOAH until 2011, when he transitioned to a heel & formed the stable "No Mercy". Which was faction that ran in NOAH from 2011-2015. What a surprise that it ended in 2015, Since it was the same year KENTA has signed to WWE to be later known as Hideo Itami. In which we'll get to talk about later.

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Respect

So it has come to my understanding. That back then NOAH & ROH had some sort of partnership, which allowed both promotions to exchange their own talents from their brand to go perform for each other's spectacle events.

The most notable for me out of this was KENTA coming to Wrestle for ROH in America due to the compromise made between the two companies, and OH BOY did it deliver. Sure, while KENTA's run in ROH was very brief. It certainly did not disappoint. As he's has some very memorable matches against the likes of Daniel Bryan, Nigel McGuinness, Tyler Black, Austin Aires, and Low-Ki.

3 of those men now WWE employed.

He was so close to winning the ROH Title against the current reigning ROH Champ at that time, Nigel McGuiness. But it was very hard-fought match between the two, so I wasn't too mad about it. A bit upset, but gave credit where credit is due. Quite honestly, if you haven't checked out some of his work in ROH, I'd highly recommend to see some on YouTube or on the archives on the internet if you could find some like Tyler Black vs KENTA. Should really give it a try!

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The Time has come

The name his theme song is quite fitting, as it seems all that his work in Japan & in some small wrestling promotions that he performed in America finally got the attention of WWE scouts. I quite clearly how WWE has announced the new arrivals for NXT on their official website & Twitter . For the now known Hideo Itami, His coronation to being signed as a WWE talent was quite hyped up by the WWE. When they used their one of their biggest icons & hottest personalities in the company such as Hulk Hogan to be there in person in Japan & attend Hideo Itami's contract g. You could tell this was huge & that WWE had obviously big plans & faith for the guy.

Down in NXT, one of his first matches was against Justin Gabriel. (Aka PJ Black) and it was quite good. Not anything great, because I knew what Hideo can do when pushed past his limitations. But shortly thereafter, He was placed in a feud with one of NXT's top prospects known as The Ascension!

The Ascension was known to be an unstoppable & monster heel tag team. Holding the record for being NXT's longest reigning Tag Team Champions. Hideo being outnumbered & could only hold them off with a steel chair for so long. He soon made an announcement on finding an old friend to help him out & settle this once & for all.

That "old friend" being none other than Finn Balór himself. In which, in the end both Hideo Itami & Finn Balór reigned victorious over the Ascension. By looking to build up Hideo Itami as one of NXT's top international babyfaces alongside Finn Balór. NXT has seeemed to put Hideo against one of their heels known as The Sultan of Slefies, the Prince of Pretty, Look everyone it's Tyler Breeze!

Now I'll it, this feud wasn't really all that shabby. It did give both men something to do, and gave Tyler some authentic heel heat against one of Japan's top stars. Their feud still ran, But later on Hideo Itami had won an all NXT Battle Royal at a Wrestlemania 31 Axxess event. Where the winner of that battle royal would go on to compete for the 2nd annual André The Giant battle royal at Wrestlemania 31. Of course, Hideo Itami won in the end & was soon to travel to California for his first ever taste to experience being on a Wrestlemania stage among thousands of people in attendance.

At that exact moment, I became an absolute fan & had tremendous faith in Hideo Itami once WWE's YouTube channel has ed a video showcasing the experience Hideo felt. The journey he went through, WWE superstars greeting him, his kids watching in attendance & rooting for him, and the upset he felt when he was eliminated from the Big Show. It was all a roller-coaster of emotions for me, as I hadn't perceived Hideo Itami in that light before. I had always perceived him as a badass, But that one video alone humanized him & made me want to root on for the guy as a Babyface & hopefully gain a good career in the WWE.

Hideo! Hideo! Hideo!

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A Broken Crayon Can Still Color

I'll be going on a rant in a moment. Pertaining mostly to the fans who seem to label him "made out of glass".

But Now as you can distinctly see. This is where things went south for Hideo Itami. There was a fatal 4-way match scheduled to take place for the Number One Contender-ship to face the NXT Champion Kevin Owens at WWE's Beast In The East event taking place at Tokyo, Japan.

From what I gathered, it seemed to me that Hideo Itami was originally planned to win the Fatal 4-way & go on to face Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship at "Beast In The East". But tragedy struck & Hideo was found to be injured with his left arm. In which took him out of action for more than a year while Finn Balór got the spot instead & became on to be one of NXT's hottest stars.

What really sucked about it for me was that Hideo Itami wasn't really given enough to showcase what else he could do. I don't blame most fans for just not taking interest in the guy because of his bland Babyface personality or the in-ring work not standing out. It's because he wasn't given the opportunity to actually be the KENTA we all know & love. Fitting into the WWE style can water down your persona either a little bit or MASSIVELY. For Hideo, it seemed to take a while for him to get used to this.

He returned eventually late last year in 2016, but then he went on a second injury.

AND SO MY RANT BEGINS :rage:

Now, for those people seeming to think that he's the next Mistico or that he's inevitably injury prone.

LET ME tell you reasons as to why he's neither "made out of glass" nor "injury prone".

So first of all, let's examine the total running number of his injury records in WWE. Hmmmm, So far I can only see that there's only 2 instances where he's been injured. TWO INJURIES!!! The first one being unintentional & thus causing him be on an injury hiatus. That I UNDERSTAND. But then when he came back from stitches & rehabilitation. He was set to compete in a Tag Team match against two green inexperienced rookies. One of those green rookies went by the name of.....

RIDDICK FUCKING MOSS WHO BOTCHED A SCOOP SLAM AND LANDS HIDEO ON HIS HEAD.

OH, But Hideo is made out of glass right? Surely he can just pick himself up from landing straight on his head & walk away just fine without any repercussions. Right? Then by that logic, I suppose Daniel Bryan is MADE OUT OF GLASS. SETH ROLLINS IS MADE OUT GLASS. OH BETTER WATCH OUT FINN BALÓR OR YOU MIGHT STUB YOUR FUCKIN TOE & GET INJURED!!!!!

Listen, I understand that mistakes can happen. Just like Owen Hart almost ended Stone Cold Steve Austin's career over a botched pile-driver. But to insinuate jokes about Hideo Itami being really weak & not being able to simply handle this because he's just not tough enough. Then all I can do is shake my head & then watch an intermission of Kawada, Misawa, and Kobashi performing a dance to cheer me up in my times of utter resentment.

So what I'm trying to get across is that I quite frankly disagree with the mentality that Hideo is supposedly "made out of glass". That I'm trying to clear up & the fact that he's wrestled much stiffer opponents in NOAH than WWE, it just makes me feel like you're underestimating what the guy can really do.

And to add to the fact that I'm upset about his injuries holding him back from having moments like possibly winning the NXT Title in his homeland of Japan & even facing an old foe in Austin Aires, as well as teaming up with Kota Ibushi during the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. I just feel robbed & sad that those plans didn't come to past because of the events that occurred.

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"Show Me Respect"

Now after all the hold-backs Hideo has experienced. He was seeming to tweet about his frustrations seeing opportunity after opportunity him by, Which was most likely teasing a heel turn in the later future. But Hideo's opportunity came the following Wednesday night right after the night that Bobby Roode defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in order to retain his NXT Title at NXT Takeover: Orlando.

Now from there on, Hideo started to be like his old self from NOAH. Pretty much his whole injuries were building up his frustration of letting opportunities him by, In which we saw week after week him being more ruthless & delivering stiff opposition to his opponents.

Now finally, Hideo Itami had made his intentions clear that he's coming for the top prize that NXT has to offer, and that's Bobby Roode's NXT Championship Title. Of course, I marked out over this because IT WAS FINALLY HIS TIME. But before a match between the two could be guaranteed. Hideo first needed to battle Roderick Strong in a very killer match for who's going to gain No.1 Contender-ship for the NXT Title. In which in the end, the right man won (Ahem) and the match was made official for NXT Takeover Chicago. The headline would be Hideo Itami vs Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship Title.

Chicago. What a very peculiar place for Hideo to be in the spotlight off all cities, But also very fitting. As of course, During the match I expected some "CM Punk" chants during Hideo's match. But I was pleasantly surprised that they had enough respect & acknowledged that Hideo Itami was the Innovator of the move that CM Punk used, The GTS.

Now in all honesty, This match was more entertaining than both of the Roode vs Nakamura matches that I've seen over the past NXT Takeover PPV's. But unfortunately, Bobby Roode picked up the win via 2 Glorious DDT's. But it didn't make Hideo look weak in the process, as it took a lot to take him out & he was fairly dominant during most of the match.

Now after Takeover: Chicago. Hideo was understandably frustrated, In which his old friend Kassuis Ohno tried to calm him down. But it was to no use, as Hideo was more provoked & pushed Kassuis away. I was left to ponder after that, what else is there for Hideo to do? Either he does demand for a rematch against Roode for the NXT Title or go on to face Kassius Ohno in developing a feud between the two.

We went with the latter. As Drew would be facing Bobby Roode at Takeover: Brooklyn lll. While NXT kept teaming up Kassuis & Hideo until they lost to SAnitY. In which the whole friendship of Hideo & Kassuis exploded. A match was scheduled between the 2 next week. In which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED. Two of the most stiffest hitting personalities would collide next week on NXT.

The match was really good. Though I'm suspecting that NXT will save their best when they collide later down the road again. Because near the end of the match, Hideo delivered a kick to OHNO's knockers & that rang the bell.

(Hehehe, you can take that interpretation in many different ways)

So after that fallout, Hideo performed a GTS to Ohno, decided that he wasn't finished & went on to deliver a 2nd GTS on the Steel steps instead. But after the death of Ohno, Hideo went on for the next best target down in NXT. A man with an undefeated record who went by the name of Aliester Black.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Aliester Black. He's a new top prospect down in NXT, and his winning streak remains untouched by anyone who's bothered to stand up to him. Many of which felt victim to his devastating maneuver "The Black Mass".

Of course, The build-up was all so sudden as Hideo decided to try to ambush Aliester at the parking lot. Which practically set up the feud going into their match at Takeover: Brooklyn.

Most of the time, Black got the tree of Hideo. While I may have felt the build-up was sudden. Their match at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn was absolutely amazing. Among MOTY contender and probably would have been my pick for Match Of The Night, if it weren't for Asuka vs Ember Moon. But it was still a great hard fought 'bout nonetheless. Both men looked great going into it. Hideo Itami starting to be his old heel KENTA self again, and Aliester remaining undefeated by barley being able to execute a Black Mass to score the pin fak victory.

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Dream Matches

KENTA vs Kazuchika Okada

KENTA vs John Cena

KENTA vs Shinsuke Nakamura

KENTA vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

KENTA vs Tetsuya Naito

KENTA vs Manny Andrade "Cien" Almas

KENTA vs Zack Sabre Jr.

KENTA vs Cesaro

KENTA vs Neville

KENTA vs Finn Balór

KENTA vs AJ Styles

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Accomplishments

Shoutouts to Wikipedia because I'm too lazy

Alianza Latinoamericana de Lucha Libre

Torneo Latino Americano de Lucha Libre (2013)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Ranked No. 22 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013

GHC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Naomichi Marufuji (1),Taiji Ishimori (1) and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (1)

GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Maybach Taniguchi

2 Days Tag Tournament (2011) – with Yoshihiro Takayama

Differ Cup (2005) – with Naomichi Marufuji

Global League Tournament (2012)

Global Tag League (2013) – with Yoshihiro Takayama

Matsumoto Day Clinic Cup Contention Heavyweight Battle Royal (2013)

One Day Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2002) – with Kenta Kobashi and Kentaro Shiga

Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (2007, 2008, 2010) – with Taiji Ishimori (2007, 2008) and Atsushi Aoki (2010)

Global Tag League Fighting Spirit Award (2014) – with Yoshihiro Takayama

Best Bout Award (2006) vs. Naomichi Marufuji, October 29, 2006

Best Tag Team Award (2003) with Naomichi Marufuji

Outstanding Performance Award (2013)

Technique Award (2011)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

Best Wrestling Maneuver (2006, 2007) Go 2 Sleep :sunglasses:

Tag Team of the Year (2003, 2004) with Naomichi Marufuji

WWE

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament (2015)

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Favorite KENTA Matches

- Hideo Itami vs Aliester Black | NXT Takeover: Brooklyn lll |

- Hideo Itami vs Bobby Roode | NXT Takeover: Chicago |

- Hideo Itami vs Roderick Strong | No. 1 Contender-ship NXT |

- Hideo Itami vs Oney Lorcan | NXT |

- KENTA vs Samoa Joe vs Bryan Danielson | ROH In Your Face |

- KENTA vs Noamichi Marufuji | NOAH |

- KENTA vs Nigel McGuinness | ROH 7th Anniversary Show |

- KENTA vs Low-Ki | ROH Final Battle 2005 |

- KENTA vs Bryan Danielson | ROH Glory By Honor V |

- KENTA vs Bryan Danielson | NOAH |

- KENTA vs Kenta Kobashi | Pro Wrestling NOAH |

KENTA vs Minoru Suzuki | Pro Wrestling NOAH |

- KENTA & Tyler Black vs Austin Aires & Katauhiko Nakajima | ROH |

- KENTA & Kota Ibushi vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Naomichi Marufuji

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What could I expect from KENTA in the future?

Well, Him winning the NXT Championship seems pretty slim now. Not impossible, But highly unlikely. For now, I could see him moving on the main roster. Hopefully not 205 Live. But hey, It's where he'll most likely end up. Hopefully not for long, maybe after he does win the Cruiserweight Title. He might move on to bigger things & be on the top of the mid-card, being a potential Intercontinental & United States Champion. Maybe even a Tag Team Champ? Being WWE Champ doesn't seem to far out, especially on Smackdown Live. He could definitely have great & memorable feuds against AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura once get gets the call up. But for now, I guess we'll just have to wait & see what they have in store for him.

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Pro Wrestling's Black Sun