WWE Close To Signing Japanese Legend KENTA

PWInsider reports that KENTA will make his last appearance for Japanese wrestling promotion NOAH on May 17th as speculation is running rampant that he could be close to joining WWE. KENTA (real name Kenta Kobayashi) spent a week in Orlando at WWE's Performance Centre earlier this year where he underwent several tryouts. He has previously talked about how wrestling in WWE has been a dream of his since he was a child and the path now looks clear for him to join America's top wrestling promotion. At this point there hasn't been any mention of KENTA on WWE's side and there's nothing official being reported anyway. If however his impending exit from Noah is a sign that he has signed with the McMahon family, then it's expected that we will hear something from them soon. Here's what KENTA wrote about his WWE tryout in a blog entry a few months ago:

"It is indeed true that I have always been yearning for a spot in WWE, and I€™ve always wanted to give it a try sometime. After all, you only live once. I should have given it a try. I should have chosen another way. I€™ve had those regrets when I was in my middle and high school, and even after I got in to this business. I just did not want to regret later about something I haven€™t tried, so I used my time off to participate in the WWE workout. The executives were at the workout, so perhaps I may have left a mark."

Fans of WWE should be excited about the potential signing because the 33 year old is in the prime of his career and capable of having great matches with just about anyone. He would likely have to report to the Performance Center although it's unknown how long he would be there. There also has to be some concern as to whether WWE would utilise him because they don't have a great history of pushing Japanese wrestlers even if they are extremely talented like KENTA is. For fans unfamiliar with KENTA's work, he did spend some time in Ring of Honor over the years working several matches with the likes of Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled under his real name, Bryan Danielson), Low Ki, Nigel McGuinness, Chris Hero and others. It's easy to find some of KENTA's Ring of Honor matches on Youtube if you want to see his style of work. What's also interesting about KENTA is that he started using the Go To Sleep as a finisher in Japan years before CM PUnk. KENTA has been a huge influence on Punk with Punk using some of his other moves too. Here's a video comparing their use of the GTS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am1p7fT-2Qg It will be interesting to see if does bring him in. Any time you can bring in a talent as great as KENTA it's something you should do. It would be a great signing for WWE's future.