Kenta gave a great interview with New Japan Pro-Wrestling over on their official website. In it, the former Hideo Itami discussed his time within WWE, why he doesn’t regret it despite a disappointing run, and not being allowed to use his finisher.
Check out some excerpts below:
His experience in WWE and why he couldn’t wrestle his style:
It’s hard to put into words but… it was a very tough five years. I got hurt, and beyond that I was really grasping for something during that whole time. It’s like, I came into the company to bring my style of wrestling worldwide, but what that actually became was bending and adapting to what the company wanted. That’s important in a sense, but the strength and aggression that I bring to the table got lost. That’s a real shame.
One person there might tell you ‘do it this way,’ and then another would be ‘no, no, do it like this.’ That meant my own personal vision just crumbled away. There are people who can do very well in that environment, but I just couldn’t. So when that ‘what next?’ question came up, I didn’t ask anybody else what they thought. I just decided to focus on what I wanted to do. Otherwise there’s no point.
His reasoning for joining New Japan:
I went to WWE, and I didn’t really achieve what I set out to do there. I didn’t get the results I wanted. While all this was going on, I was still in contact with (Katsuyori) Shibata, and we talked about this and that. In the end it boiled down to ‘OK, what do I want to do with myself’? What I concluded was that I didn’t want things to end this way, I wanted to try once more to bring my vision of pro wrestling to the world.
So that said, business is booming for NJPW, and if there’s anywhere that I can bring that vision worldwide, it’s in New Japan.
Why he doesn’t regret signing with WWE:
If I didn’t [learn from it], the whole thing would have been meaningless. Of course, you want to succeed in everything first time and keep moving forward, but life isn’t like that. You take your knocks, and then have to learn from that, otherwise your experience is pointless. In the end, I have zero regrets about any of my decisions.
Not being able to use his finisher inside WWE:
It’s not like I invented the dropkick or anything. But when it comes to a move that I did make, that was another thing that got to me about WWE. A move I invented, I thought up, and I’m not allowed to use it? It’s crazy. Over here, well, nobody can say anything to stop me hitting it.
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