Interview: KENTA on Joining NJPW, His WWE Career, Lessons Learned in WWE, G1 Climax

NJPW held a recent interview with KENTA and some of the topics discussed included why he joined New Japan Pro Wrestling, his career in WWE, the lessons he learned in WWE, his thoughts on this year’s G1 Climax tournament, and more.

On the topic of joining NJPW, KENTA stated it was due to him not being able to achieve his goals in the United States and felt that NJPW was the best place to achieve the vision he has for his career.

” Well, I explained this in my backstage comments, but I went to America, 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.”

On the topic of his WWE career, KENTA stated it was a very tough five years of his career and he was not able to showcase his skills the way he envisioned during his time in the company.

“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.”

On the topic of the lessons he learned in WWE, KENTA stated the biggest lesson was that his style of wrestling did not fit with WWE’s style of wrestling.

“If I didn’t, 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.

My style isn’t really like the WWE style. There’s an 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.”

On the topic of this year’s G1 Climax tournament, KENTA stated he feels very excited to be able to compete in this year’s upcoming tournament.

“Absolutely. I’m really excited.”

Other topics discussed during the interview included his thoughts on NJPW’s global growth in recent years, his previous career in Pro Wrestling NOAH, and his friendship with Shibata.