Search Results - Kenta Kobayashi

Kenta Kobayashi

, known mononymously as Kenta (stylised in all caps), is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is the reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion in his second reign. A former amateur kickboxer, Kobayashi's wrestling style is based upon strong kicks and strikes. Kobayashi pioneered both the ''Go 2 Sleep'' and ''Busaiku Knee'' kick finishing manoeuvres, later popularized by CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, respectively.

Kobayashi started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), before moving to Pro Wrestling Noah; through Noah's involvement in the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance (GPWA), a global organization of cooperative promotions that allow their competitors to travel abroad to other companies, he has wrestled extensively in American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). In Noah, he was a one-time GHC Heavyweight Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and one-time GHC Tag Team Champion. He was also the winner of the 2012 Global League and the 2013 Global Tag League tournaments.

He is also well known for his tenure in American promotion WWE where he worked under the name Hideo Itami (ヒデオ・イタミ) in the company's developmental territory NXT and later in their cruiserweight exclusive brand 205 Live. In 2019, he departed from WWE, and in May, appeared for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), announcing his participation in that year's G1 Climax and aligned with former tag partner Katsuyori Shibata. He turned on Shibata and joined the Bullet Club, and has since held the Strong Openweight Championship twice and the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, NEVER Openweight Championship and the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship once each. He silently departed from NJPW in January 2025 and returned to Pro Wrestling Noah the following month. Provided by Wikipedia