In an interview with NJPW, KENTA (formerly Hideo Itami) explained what went wrong with his WWE run:
“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?’ the 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.”
“If I didn’t, the whole thing would have been meaningless. Of course, you want to succeed in everything the 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.”
“My style isn’t really like the WWE style. There’s aggression there that’s closer to Strong Style, my matches evolve in a more thrilling way. I think if I can fit in here, I’ll be able to awaken something that’s been dormant for a long time.”
