Before there was Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, The Good Brothers, and even Kazuchika Okada, there was KENTA, the first man to officially walk through the Forbidden Door between AEW and NJPW. That's right, though it feels like a generation ago, as Cody Rhodes was still a member of the company and folks like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Claudio Castagnoli weren't, KENTA made his way onto AEW Dynamite all the way back in February of 2021 in order to attack Jon Moxley and wrestling a tag team match with Kenny Omega, Lance Archer, and the man formerly known as Dean Ambrose.

Now granted, this two-week-long program wasn't unprecedented; Moxley was the IWGP United States Champion of New Japan Pro Wrestling at the time, and bringing over KENTA was meant to serve as promotion for a title bout that would eventually come at “NJPW STRONG #29 – The New Beginning” but little did Tony Khan, Geedo, and Katsuyori Shibata know what was about to happen. This seemingly niche Easter Egg turned into a free-for-all of cross-promotional movement among non-WWE companies the likes of which the wrestling world hasn't seen since the territory days of the 1970s. Kenny Omega won the Impact World Championship shortly thereafter, Impact's Deonna Purrazzo defended the Ring of Honor Championship on Dynamite and FTR started adding stars to their moniker that includes the unprecedented feat of having held tag team championship belts in AEW, WWE, ROH, and NJPW, though not at the same time.

And yet, when Forbidden Door, the show, actually rolled around, KENTA was noticeably absent from the card despite being desperate to wrestle “The Best in the World” one on one. He consistently posted about Punk ahead of the show and, to be fair, has been calling him out for the better part of a half-decade, with the following quote coming at Power Struggle all the way back in November of 2019 via Fightful:

I am the new IWGP United States Champion! I don't know if you guys remember what I said when I came to New Japan in 2019. I said I'm here to prove who I am. After three years, I finally prove who the f*ck I am, baby. I'm the United States Champion, it doesn't matter if it's going to happen or not, but I just want to entertain you guys. I want to give you guys a home. Hey CM Punk! I'm ready to put you (to) sleep.

What gives? Is KENTA just not a big enough star to wrestle Punk, who was on the way to becoming the AEW World Champion when KENTA was posting about him? Or is there another reason why Punk has been avoiding KENTA?

Oh, it's because Punk technically stole his finisher, the GTS, from KENTA, isn't it? Because even after all of these years, and with Punk unable to wrestle for the foreseeable future, KENTA isn't slowing down in his war against the “Best in the World” using his finisher, even if he's been far more accepting of performers like Danhausen using it with permission.

KENTA wants his finisher back from the former AEW World Champion.

While shooting on CM Punk in his interview with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, Bobby Fish threw an extra little dig on Punk by pointing out that his one-time opponent stole his finishing move from another active wrestler, which, in case you didn't know, is a major faux pas unless permission is granted, as transcribed by Cageside Seats.

I'm working for AEW, they're paying my check, you ask me to put my shoulders down for Phil Brooks, I go out and do it. Interestingly enough, there was a little whatever in the match we had, and Phil was…after the match, Phil was a c*nt. Frankly, as a martial artist, I went out and laid my shoulders down for you, you should be grateful that I did because on national TV, if I decided that I wanted to f*cking Haku your a–, I could have because you're that little of a threat in my world. I'm not Jon Jones or Anderson Silva, but I've been doing martial arts long enough to where I can hold you like a wet nap Phil Brooks. For you to be c*nty after, for a mistake you made, it doesn't wear well. Not to mention, the move he finished me with, it's not his, it's KENTA's. Phil, you took a man's finishing move. Anyone who knows pro wrestling knows that's f*cked up. You weren't even decent enough to change the name.

Now on its own, that would be pretty rough, but KENTA decided to join in on the fun and pointed out that Fish is “100% right.” KENTA's been complaining about Punk using the move pretty much since he started doing so before his WWE run, going so far as to ask for royalties every time he uses it, and now that the former champ is being buried alive with criticism due to his interactions with, well, about half of the AEW locker room, the man known to the WWE Universe as Hideo Itami has once again returned to the GTS topic.

But why? Why does KENTA care so much about a move he created? Well, because after four years where he couldn't use the move – presumably during his time in WWE – he wants to take full ownership over making others “Go To Sleep.”