WWE Signs KENTA
 

http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/kent...n-nxt-26474181


So, yeah, that's actually pretty awesome. I guess if they can't have CM Punk back, they'll do the next best thing and get the guy who can actually do the Go 2 Sleep properly:

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Speaking of WWE stealing his finishers, KENTA was also the guy who did the Busaiku Knee Kick that Daniel Bryan's been using:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kM3Y96tltvU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hopefully he can avoid being either Sin Cara'd or Yoshi Tatsu'd.

I'd love to see him feud with Daniel Bryan again.

I just hope he doesn't become the next comedy act for WWE like Yoshi Tatsu.

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Banana midget

I know very little about this KENTA person...

How fluent is he in English? It's hard to get over if you cannot communicate with the crowd, unless they repackage Funaki's & Taka's dubbed English gimmick (which I wouldn't mind seeing at all). I'm sure he knows the basic English words he'll need to be in the ring, but if he's working with someone who works on the fly like Cactus Jack (hypothetically speaking of course) it might be hard to pull off impromptu spots.

Well, he does have a pretty good history of working long matches with English-speaking opponents (Bryan, Low Ki, Colt Cabana, Nigel McGuinness, just to name a few), so at the very least he can speak it well enough to work and call spots.

I have no idea whether he can speak English well enough to cut promos, but that can always be solved by giving him a manager to do the talking for him. Having Kenta as a Paul Heyman Guy would be pretty amazing.

This would be the best route. I have never heard him cut an english promo, and honestly it's not like NOAH is a promo heavy promotion anyway.

Actually, if Wade Barrett is out for a bit, why not have him be KENTA's mouthpiece? Wade talking KENTA's style up could do a lot to legitimize the "Hey, this tiny guy is actually badass and tough" image.

I find it funny one of Japans biggest stars isn't good enough for the main roster.

They rushed Sin Cara to the main roster and he couldn't work the WWE style, playing it safe seems the smarter move after that.

They should give him a gimmick where he's good at math and he drives a powerwheels down to the ring but really slowly and crashing into fans.

Kent Ahh?

ATNEK

THATS KENTA SPELLED BACKWORDS /tna

This about sums it up for me:

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...psff0025f5.png

I really don't get why they think this is going to work. It really seems like this is another Ultimo Dragon/Sin Cara thing where they believe they can just snatch up some foreigner and import his success to appeal to the international market. I don't think they understood that Rey Mysterio's popularity wasn't due to him being Mexican as much as people just enjoyed watching him perform; he had a certain amount of recognition from WCW but he completely came into his own in WWE. Can't think for a second what a guy who will be seen by a lot of fans as "some Asian guy" will be able to do to captivate a mainstream American audience.

Also he'll totally span tons of CM PUNK chants if he uses the GTS.

If it brings Mr. Fugi back on TV, so be it. That's what I'm sayin'. Bring on the rice and tradition, I'm ready to see what kind of riveting storylines he can bring to this ring.

they will give him "oriental" entrance music. fact.

I keep saying it, orient express theme please.

This could work and help them move away from the style and characters they have had the last 10 years.

Kofi got over without cutting a single promo.

Have him show up to much fan fare and acknowledge his overseas greatness. Let him work solid hard hitting matches with easy to hate heels and let him get over on fighting spirit for lack of a better word. Japanese guy who kicks ass can work as a character even in 2014.

Or make him a Paul Heyman guy

Also didn't help that the one guy who could really help him, Del Rio, legit hated him because of their time in Mexico. Everyone else either didn't know how to work his style or soured on him because of his backstage antics.

I'd love him to be The Authority's newest A level acquisition. Essentially, have him be the Akuma to Punk & Bryan's Ken & Ryu.

Why would they ever see him as an A level talent? Why didnt they like Punk and Bryan? How is he at all different?

This makes no sense.

And you lose extra points for trying to shoe horn a video game reference in.

.......what?

That, and the fact that WWE has a penchant for pidgeonholing "some Asian guy" into "some Asian gimmick". The only person I can even think of where they didn't do this was the debut of TAKA (WWF launched the Light Heavyweight Title on the strenghth of him being an awesome wrestler who just happens to be from Japan), and maybe Tajiri... though Tajiri was kind of the same case as the above example of Rey Rey of being somewhat well known already. Neither guy was just instantly given "EVUL FURNER" character. Yeah, Michinoku would do so later, but that wasn't the US audience initial widespread introduction of him.

Just have KENTA be legit in the ring. They don't need to burden him with J-pop or pseudo geisha valets or fake tats on his face... well, wait, that guy wasn't even... nevermind. Point is, they can give him the same introduction they did with Taka: a damn fine wrestling aquisition who just so happens to be Japanese.

i'm trying to maintain a reserved optimism over this. i love that they signed him, but i have little faith they'll know how to book him.

Actually, even better, call him an "A+" aquisition and have him feud with a returning DB. Gives US fans a taste of what he can do against a guy he can go with and makes him something other than a stereotype. Boom!

Call him a A Level talent then let his father come out and scold him for not being A+


#2014MemeBooking

There is a reason the puro style isn't that big in the USA. He has to evolve into a more traditional and well rounded sports entertainer for this not to end up being a bust and him going back to NOAH in a few years.

basically this thread = smarks gonna smark

there are times i wonder why i come here.

rasslin, etc.

I have a feeling this will end badly, although I hope to god it doesn't.

I hope he does become a comedy act bc japs are funny. Maybe Big Show could dress up like godzirra and could chase him around. I hope they give him the name Nintendo Power too. That would rule.

Well said. I also thought this when reading the thread title. Really hope he doesn't get the shitty treatment that Tatsu did with no explanation. WWE had a great opportunity to have a fresh Japanese superstar in the company and at least make him a solid mid-carder and possibly hugely expand their Asian fanbase, whatever it's like right now. I'd imagine moderately low, but maybe this new guy will generate interest in that demographic if they're hoping to capture more of it.

Sin Cara was going to be pushed, but he was a mess in the ring. That's on Sin Cara, not the WWE.

There was never anything interesting about Tatsu. A dime a dozen Jap.

A diiiiiiiiiiime!

Ultimo could have gotten over if they would of actually put him on the show.

Cruiserweights aren't hard to book. Send them out to wrestle for 5-10 minutes and you're done. That's all you need. They'll get over through their performance. WCW got that. WWE did for a little while before they fucked it all up with stupid angles.

He's doing the right thing going to NXT and learning how to work in a WWE ring and in front of the cameras. Sin Cara should have done some time to get adjusted.

Seriously, WCW's Cruiser division was the only thing on the show that was consistently worth watching. The same thing can be said for TNA's X-Divison; yeah, the rest of the show is usually god-awful, but at least they've got some easy-to-watch spectacle in the midcard. Not everyone needs to be a main-event player, so not everyone needs to wrestle WWE's homogeneous 'main-event style.'

That is almost certainly the entire reason they're putting him in NXT first instead of getting him on the main roster immediately.

They put him on Wrestlemania and he tripped over his motherfucking cape TWICE.

That sounds like the seamstresses fault. Damn that Carla.

To be fair:

1) WWE could have done without the mood lighting. For his flaws, it only seemed to hurt him more. The times they "forgot" it were relatively botchless matches. Don't know if that was psychological, or he just couldn't fucking see what he was doing, but it seems like that wasn't helping.

2) That honestly could have been anyone under the mask to begin with. Should have just stuck with Hunico without bringing up the difference on commentary and skip the whole "Undertaker vs Undertaker" moment. Only smarks would have known or cared, and WWE was pushing the gimmick anyhow. Doesn't matter who was under the mask. It's not like they were calling the guy Rey Mysterio.



And they could have done things with Tatsu. Having him win matches on shows people watched, for one. Biggest dropped boat was the potential feud between he and Albert for being a giant racist. An "OMG!" win could have sparked an angle in handing Tensai his first loss and starting a war between the two either over Sakimoto's freedom OR keeping Sakimoto a heel and having him also feud with Yoshi, then adding someone to help Tatsu... etc. Instead, they made it a one-off squash that, in the end, got neither man over.