Thursday, July 31, 2014

KENTA Loves Waffle House

Pretty soon, KENTA's gonna get streamers whenever he walks into a Waffle House if he keeps professing his love for the joint
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein
The great romances in professional wrestling are few and far between, but the ones that have existed are the stuff of legends. These romances can be coital in nature, like the one between Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. They can be bromances like the one shared between Rachel Summerlyn and Jessicka Havok. However, the ones shared between wrestlers and their favorite foods are the stuff of legends. The strongest romance in wrestling history may be the one shared between Brock Lesnar and Jimmy John's sandwiches. However, that bond has a new challenger from NXT's newest superstar.

KENTA has been to America before, but until now, I doubt he's ever taken up residence here. I'm not sure if his tours of Ring of Honor and Full Impact Pro Wrestling took him to the Waffle House or if he just discovered the place endorsed by Kid Rock to fight off a hangover. But recently, he has taken to Twitter to profess his love for the place that will smother AND/OR cover your hash browns.

The obsession with Waffle House came out innocently enough when his translator and former Number One Smackdown Announcer Shoichi Funaki noticed him coming out of one of the franchisees:
Almost every day? I'm a food aficionado, both junky and refined, and I've had my haunts over the years. I will admit to overindulging on Wawa here and there, or taking a yen to Taco Bell back in the day. But almost every day? The man is dedicated.

And if that wasn't enough proof, he went and posted one of his meals from the breakfast bastions a couple of days later:
Now, to be fair, he didn't exactly order the waffles or get his hash browns smothered and covered. The pancakes are there, but whole wheat toast and egg whites? He's not exactly straying from the Stereotypical Wrestler Fare over here. However, the fact that he's fallen in love with not only a decidedly American restaurant chain, but one that has ties to pro wrestling is amazing. Wrestlers seem to love eating at the place, and it was the go-to restaurant for Kevin Nash to accuse CM Punk of working at as a line cook.

Hm, CM Punk... he adopted the Go 2 Sleep as a finisher in WWE. Is KENTA taking such a shine to Waffle House his way of getting back at him? Probably not. Still, the quirks of professional wrestling like various bromances, social media gimmicks, and especially the choices of food that various talents make are what make the art such a joy to follow outside of the ring as well as inside of it.