Biography

Kenta Kobayashi, better known by his ring name KENTA, is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist who debuted in 2000 with Pro Wrestling NOAH and went on to compete internationally, including a run in WWE as Hideo Itami. After joining New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 2019, he captured the NEVER Openweight Championship, IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, before returning to NOAH in 2025 where he also made his N-1 Victory tournament debut that same year.