WWE Signed KENTA To Help Network Sales In Japan?

When the news leaked that WWE had signed KENTA (real name Kenta Kobayashi) earlier this year, it surprised a lot of wrestling fans. It's not a surprise because of his talent. It's a surprise because at 5'7" and 180 pounds he's smaller than most guys that WWE would sign. Not only that, but at age 33 he's older than guys that WWE typically brings in too. However, he's been one of the best Japanese wrestlers of the last decade that had a dream of working for WWE, so that's where he's headed to be a part of NXT by the end of this week. There is another reason why he's being brought in too. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, a big reason why WWE signed KENTA is because the WWE Network is expanding into Japan next year and they wanted to have a top Japanese star. KENTA is one of the most popular Japanese wrestlers ever that's still in his prime, so it's smart of WWE to want to utilize him to help their product in Japan. People always wonder why The Great Khali is still in WWE. He's very popular in India and that's another huge market that WWE is trying to grow in. It makes sense from a business perspective. The report also notes that it was announced a few days ago that NXT, where KENTA will be going first, will start airing on J Sports, a Japanese satellite channel. NXT was added to the channel in part because of KENTA's impending debut. There's no indication of how long KENTA will be in NXT although he's definitely going to start there. It may be six months. It may be longer. We don't know yet. Regarding the press conference that KENTA had last week with Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart, we still don't know what his name is going to be in WWE. He said that it's up to WWE. KENTA also mentioned that he was friends with Daniel Bryan and Cesaro, which should help. There were reports that Bryan recommended signing him to WWE officials in the past, so clearly they get along well. He also noted that learning English would be one of his biggest challenges. That language issue is going to be major factor for KENTA. We all know WWE loves their stars that can cut a promo and communicate with the audience. If you can't then that's going to hurt your status. We've seen it so many times. It was part of the reason why other foreign stars have failed. They could always put a manager with him to help in that regard, but it's going to be up to him to learn more English. There's no question that he has a lot of talent in the ring, but he needs to be able to do more to really make an impact on the worldwide stage in WWE. There's another press conference expected for KENTA this week in Orlando. Since WWE is taping NXT on Thursday (July 17) they're likely doing it Thursday or Friday so that Triple H can be a part of the press conference to talk about how great of a performer KENTA is. We'll have more notes on KENTA when he has his press conference in Orlando later in the week.