7 Wrestlers Who Were ELITE Everywhere Except WWE

NXT spent its first few years hoovering up the world's best talent from the independent circuit. Kenta represented something different though. It was the first time that WWE had signed a leading Japanese wrestler. It was such a big deal that WWE called a press conference to announce the acquisition of a man they described as "the Japanese Hulk Hogan" in 2014.

Things started promisingly.

The crowd at Full Sail University took to the newly-named Hideo Itami, and he looked set for a main event push after a great feud with Tyler Breeze. However, a serious shoulder injury put him on the shelf for over a year, causing WWE to drop Itami like a sack of spuds. He lost high-profile matches to Bobby Roode and Aleister Black in NXT on his return, before being left to rot on 205 Live until his eventual release in 2019.

Kenta is a man whose matches with Bryan Danielson in Ring Of Honor between 2006-2007 rank as some of the best in the 'American Dragon's' entire career. Upon signing with NJPW after his WWE release, he had banger matches with Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Kota Ibushi, and won the NEVER Openweight Championship in just his first 3 months. He was also a valuable member of Bullet Club and has a sensational legacy in Pro Wrestling NOAH that makes his WWE run all the more frustrating.