There’s a whole lot about Hideo Itami that the larger WWE Universe has no idea about. With Itami, it’s always been a case of wrong timing for him, primarily with regards to his injuries. It was sad to see him lose his push when he returned from injury in 2017, but from a company standpoint, it’s understandable why they didn’t center their plans around him like how they originally seemingly intended to do.
Itami’s prime years were in the late 2000s when he was known as KENTA in Noah. He was one of the two most promising stars in the company (the other being Naomichi Marufuji). What many people don’t realize is that KENTA was a very influential wrestler, particularly to the North American wrestling scene.
He would make appearances with ROH, and he’s even had some incredible classics with Bryan Danielson, who we know well as Daniel Bryan. His style of wrestling in general defined the era of puro and his impact is very often overlooked. Here are a few interesting facts about the man named Kenta Kobayashi.
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