When the legendary KENTA signed with WWE a little more than a year ago, it was hailed as a major moment. Hulk Hogan (remember him?) was sent over to Japan to take part in the signing. He debuted to much fanfare in late 2014 and seemed like he was on his way, participating in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXXI. Then May 2015 rolled around, and Itami suffered a serious shoulder injury that might keep him out of action for the rest of the year. During TakeOver: Respect, the camera panned into the crowd to find Itami and Funaki sitting there. Sadly, there was no loud cheers or chants from the crowd (maybe he wasnt shown on the big screen?), so he just looked at the camera and waved. It was a sad reminder of how big he was when he came in and has now faded to being all-but invisible. When he returns, it hopefully will be with a flurry and well see him restart his upward trajectory.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
