5. WWE Have A Poor Record With Japanese Wrestlers
WWE.comRemember Kenzo Suzuki? Youd be forgiven if you said no. The WWEs record with Japanese competitors is hardly stellar. In the 90s, Akio Sato and Pat Tanaka, The Orient Express, were a mid-level tag team who quickly became jobbers. Sato then left and was replaced by the extremely-not-Japanese Paul Diamond under a mask. After that, the incredible Jinsei Shinzaki from Michinoku Pro was renamed Hakushi. He was possibly the most successful import, engaging in a feud with Bret Hart which, while terribly one sided, provided fans with excellent matches. After that, The Great Sasuke, Sho Funaki and Taka Michinoku headed over from Michinoku Pro as well, with the latter two staying in the promotion for a number of years. However, they were never taken seriously and became a comedy tag team, whose most memorable moment was threatening to chop off Val Veniss manhood with a Samurai sword. Tajiri came over from ECW and was very entertaining, with his wide range of facial expressions and partnership with William Regal, but again, it was mostly based around comedy. And most recently, the talented Yoshi Tatsu spent the prime years of his career doing very little of any note in ECW, Smackdown and then NXT, where he was treated like a jobber. And Suzuki himself, although a tag team champion, was lumbered with a comedy gimmick of singing western songs badly which killed his WWE career. In fact, all Japanese wrestlers have been given comedic gimmicks where they are either totally naïve to the ways of the world in a childlike manner, or are evil anti-American heels. It doesnt bode well for KENTA, who could easily end up with a career killing gimmick that hes uncomfortable with portraying.