On January 27, 2014, he did a tryout at WWE's Performance Center in Orlando, Florida with Noah's blessing. In a press release, he said that he was not looking for a WWE contract but he only wanted to fulfill a dream that he had to take part in a WWE workout. On June 27, 2014, it was reported by Tokyo Sports that Kenta had signed with the WWE. During WWE's July 12, 2014 event in Osaka, they announced that they had signed Kenta during an in-ring segment with Hulk Hogan. Kenta will go to Orlando, Florida to continue training at the Performance Center and also work for WWE's developmental territory "NXT".