58 Facts About Kenta Kobayashi

Kenta Kobayashi is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he performs as the current holder of the Strong Openweight Championship in his second reign using the mononymous ring name KENTA, and he is a member of the Bullet Club stable.

Kenta Kobayashi is known for his time in Pro Wrestling Noah where he was a one-time Global Honored Crown Heavyweight Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and one-time GHC Tag Team Champion; once was the inaugural reign with longtime partner and rival, Naomichi Marufuji, which saw the two hold the title for almost two years, as well as a reign with protege Taiji Ishimori.

Kenta Kobayashi was the winner of the 2012 Global League and the 2013 Global Tag League tournaments.

Kenta Kobayashi is well known for his tenure in American promotion WWE where he worked under the name Hideo Itami in the company's developmental territory NXT and later in their cruiserweight exclusive brand 205 Live.

Kenta Kobayashi pioneered both the Go To Sleep and Busaiku Knee Kick finishing maneuvers, later popularized by CM Punk and Bryan Danielson, respectively.

Kenta Kobayashi returned to Japan in 2019 back under his Kenta ring name and made his NJPW debut, and has since held the NEVER Openweight Championship and the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship once each.

Kenta Kobayashi was born on March 12,1981, in Soka, Japan.

Kenta Kobayashi made his professional wrestling debut on May 24,2000, against future ally and rival, Naomichi Marufuji, in All Japan Pro Wrestling to compete in their junior heavyweight division.

Kenta Kobayashi did not remain in the company long as Mitsuharu Misawa, acting president of AJPW, decided to leave the company following a dispute, leading to Misawa forming his own company, Pro Wrestling Noah.

Kenta Kobayashi began his trial series on the First Navigation tour, beating Juventud Guerrera.

Kenta Kobayashi made his first defense two months later against Suwa, then against Kotaro Suzuki as his alter ego, Mushiking Terry.

Simultaneously, Kenta Kobayashi began teaming with Katsuyori Shibata as The Takeover, challenging for the GHC Tag Team Championship, the heavyweight version of the company's tag team title.

On March 5,2006, Kenta Kobayashi faced a major challenge in Kenta Kobayashi Kobashi, which saw him lose following a Burning Hammer.

Kenta Kobayashi spent the majority of his 2007 time in Noah wrestling a variety of tag team and six-man tag team matches with protege Taiji Ishimori and Akitoshi Saito as partners.

Kenta Kobayashi saw most of his success with Ishimori as the two had critically acclaimed matches against a wide variety of competitors, including Ring of Honor competitors on loan to the company due to the talent exchange agreement, the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance, between ROH and Noah: the Briscoe Brothers, Davey Richards, and Bryan Danielson.

Kenta Kobayashi lost the title in February 2009 to rival in their interpromotional rivalry with another member of the GPWA in the Kensuke Office, Katsuhiko Nakajima, only to win it back in the next month.

Kenta Kobayashi made his return from injury on June 6,2010, losing to Naomichi Marufuji in a GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship number one contender's match.

On January 29,2011, Kenta Kobayashi turned heel and join the Disobey stable with members Muhammad Yone, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Genba Hirayanagi.

At Noah's Halloween show on October 31,2011, Kenta Kobayashi challenged the NJPW team Bad Intentions for the GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Yoshihiro Takayama.

In December 2011, Kenta Kobayashi tore his ACL again, forcing him to undergo another surgery to repair it.

On February 14,2012, Kenta Kobayashi recruited Shuhei Taniguchi as the fifth member of No Mercy and change his name to Maybach, becoming his mouthpiece and talking for him.

Kenta Kobayashi made his in-ring return on July 22,2012, losing to Naomichi Marufuji.

On January 27,2013, Kenta Kobayashi defeated Takeshi Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship at Great Voyage 2013.

Six days later, Kenta Kobayashi was pinned by Yano in a GHC Tag Team Championship match, where he and Yoshihiro Takayama unsuccessfully challenged Yano and Takashi Iizuka.

On December 7, Kenta Kobayashi defeated New Japan representative and winner of the 2013 Global League, Yuji Nagata, for his ninth successful title defense.

On January 2,2023, Kenta Kobayashi would make another one-night return to team up with Marufuji and challenge Takashi Sugiura and Satoshi Kojima for the GHC Tag Team Championship at New Year 2023, in an unsuccessful effort.

Kenta Kobayashi returned for In Your Face featuring him in a three-way match against Joe and Danielson, which ended in similar fashion.

At Glory by Honor V: Night 2 Kenta Kobayashi received another match against Danielson for the ROH World title, which saw him submit to Danielson's signature hold, the Cattle Mutilation.

Ring of Honor made its pay per view debut with the show, Respect is Earned, teaming with Nigel McGuinness against Danielson and Takeshi Morishima in a losing effort, after which Kenta Kobayashi spent several months with the company competing against rival, Davey Richards and his contingency, the No Remorse Corps.

Kenta Kobayashi made his next appearance on the Glory By Honor VI tour; the first night had him team with the GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa against Takeshi Morishima and Naomichi Marufuji, with the match ending in a thirty-minute time limit draw.

Kenta Kobayashi made his return in 2009 against ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness in a losing effort at the company's seventh anniversary show.

Kenta Kobayashi returned a few weeks later to challenge Davey Richards once more, as well as make his second pay per view appearance for Take No Prisoners teaming with Tyler Black against Katsuhiko Nakajima and Austin Aries.

Kenta Kobayashi was scheduled to return to ROH in November 2009, but was forced to cancel the appearances after suffering a knee injury.

Kenta Kobayashi relocated to Orlando to resume training at the Performance Center, while working for WWE's developmental territory NXT.

Kenta Kobayashi suffered his first defeat in NXT on January 15,2015, when he was defeated by Balor in the semi-finals, thus eliminating him from the tournament.

Kenta Kobayashi was interrupted by Aleister Black, who was scheduled to face Kyle O'Reilly in the night's main event.

Kenta Kobayashi participated in a fatal four-way match involving cruiserweight champion Buddy Murphy, Kalisto, and Tozawa at the Royal Rumble, where he lost after being pinned by Murphy.

In 2020, when he was working with NJPW, Kenta Kobayashi said that his days with WWE were "the most frustrating days of my life".

Kenta Kobayashi made his surprise debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling on June 9,2019, at the Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall event as a face, with Katsuyori Shibata as his manager, announcing his participation in the 2019 G1 Climax tournament.

The match was criticized because Kenta Kobayashi suffered a concussion after a back suplex by Ishii, getting knocked out in the process.

Kenta Kobayashi was sent to the hospital after the show.

Kenta Kobayashi lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Goto at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5,2020, ending his reign at 127 days with two successful defenses.

Later that night, Kenta Kobayashi attacked Tetsuya Naito after his main event match with Kazuchika Okada.

Kenta Kobayashi defeated Karl Fredericks in the first round, Jeff Cobb in the semi-finals, and David Finlay in the finals to win the tournament.

Kenta Kobayashi then competed in the 2020 G1 Climax in the B Block, but failed to win with a final score of 10 points.

Kenta Kobayashi was then due to defend the contract against Juice Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom 15, but Robinson suffered an injury and Satoshi Kojima was named as his replacement.

At the event on January 4,2021, Kenta Kobayashi defeated Kojima to retain the Right to Challenge contract.

Two months later Kenta Kobayashi competed in the G1 Climax 31 tournament, where he competed in the A Block.

Kenta Kobayashi finished the tournament with a total of 12 points, finishing joint 3rd in the block, failing to advance to the finals.

At Power Struggle, Kenta Kobayashi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

Kenta Kobayashi finished with 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.

Kenta Kobayashi returned to Japan at Wrestle Kingdom 17, competing in the New Japan Rambo, but failed to last till the final 4.

Back in the US, Kenta Kobayashi received his championship match for the Strong Openweight Championship at Battle in the Valley, where he defeated Fred Rosser to win the championship.

Later that month, Kenta Kobayashi returned to the US to make his first successful Strong Openweight Championship defense at Multiverse United, defeating Minoru Suzuki.

Kenta Kobayashi made a surprise appearance for All Elite Wrestling at the Beach Break event on February 3,2021, attacking Jon Moxley.

Kenta Kobayashi was labelled as an outsider by many New Japan fans.

Kenta Kobayashi is the inventor of the Go 2 Sleep, in which he carries his opponent in a fireman's carry before dropping them forward while lifting his left knee onto their face.

Kenta Kobayashi uses a backbreaker rack version called Ura Go 2 Sleep.