[2006-04-23-NOAH-Spring Navigation] Kenta Kobashi vs Naomichi Marufuji

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Kenta Kobashi vs Naomichi Marufuji - Budokan 4/23/06

 

The last Kobashi match at the Budokan, until his 2008 return after surviving a cancer scare, features him working with Marufuji during his push towards to the GHC Heavyweight. I don't wish cancer on anyone. I am a big Kobashi fan, but he was descending into self-parody. If there was any silver lining it was that he needed the two years off. Of course, when I go to watch the 2008-2009 work, I may end up saying he just should have retired, but I will wait and see. Marufuji came to work during this match and prove that he was capable of working the heavyweight style. I thought this was his best individual performance to date.

 

NOAH is really, really good at the first 5-10 minutes of matches. They always establish these cool stories, but never follow them to an interesting conclusion. Instead they settle for fireworks displays. It is really disappointing. After a handshake of respect, Marufuji is trying to prove himself to Kobashi, but he finds himself thwarted at every turn by Kobashi superior strength, I loved the head fakes during the chopfest only for Kobashi to finally catch him. The wristlock only ended up him being chopped. The headscissors lasted longer, but he suffered a similar fate. Kobashi looked like he was going to make easy work for this pretender. Then Marufuji took to the high ground and dropkicked Kobashi in the knee. Marufuji's knee work was totally on point with figure-4s being the choice. Kobashi still can turn on the sympathy sell when he wants. It was 1995 all over again with him selling the knee like a million bucks and we were all buying it. Kobashi eventually catches him with a chop, but collapses in the ring. Kobashi desperately suffocates him knowing he cant afford to let him regain his strength. Marufuji catches Kobashi's chop in an awesome moment. Lariat. Kobashi unphased says bring it. Marufuji superkick and Kobashi's sell is perfect. "Damn it that little kid actually hit me." Marufuji hits a big splash to the outside and he is starting to feel it. In one of the best uses of springboard dropkick as Kobashi is crawling back into the ring, Marufuji nails him in the head.

 

Of course, it is now time for the finish run and they just lose it. It is a barrage of Sliced Breads and Half-Nelsons. The best sequence was actually this rather overwrought counters, but looked actually like they were struggling and finished with a Burning Lariat. Obviously that should have been the finish, but of course Marufuji kicks out. Brainbuster wins it for Kobashi.

 

I didn't know that the goal of wrestling was to get a bigger pop on a false finish than the actual finish. Snide remarks aside, the match was very good for the first 3/4s or so and they just fell into the usual NOAH finish pattern. They gave Tau/Akiyama a run for their money for NOAH match of 2006, but came up short. ****

[supersonic]

Kobashi vs. Marufuji - April 23, 2006

Another great match here. Marufuji kept finding ways to survive Kobashi's standard brutality, and went after the left knee of the HOFer. His work on that joint was phenomenal, with a picture-perfect figure four leglock being the highlight. Kobashi would continuously find ways to neutralize Marufuji though with his various chopping methods.

Of course, Marufuji took some stupid bumps in this one. There were the head-drops, but also a plancha in which he landed on the floor. He would later hit a super shotgun dropkick... to Kobashi out on the floor, scraping the outside apron before bumping on the ground. He had a great moment calling back to his victory over Akira Taue when he grabbed Kobashi's arm to prevent a chop, making an upset career-defining victory seem possible. But this was Kenta Kobashi, and he wasn't going to look up at the lights, even after taking a straight jacket suplex pin and straight jacket backroll pin attempt. Just a great match all around. ****1/4

[Microstatistics]

Kobashi was a step or two slower than he was in 2003-2004 but he smartly used his strength advantage to neutralize Marufuji’s speed. In response, Marufuji attacked Kobashi’s famously bad knee in creative fashion to stem the tide. Kobashi relied on his chops to fight back and slowly built to his bombs, though the knee hampered his mobility (his bazillionth great knee selling performance). So Marufuji decided to throw caution into the wind and unloaded with high impact offense. I want to highlight Kobashi’s half nelson suplex spot since it was the type of ideal transition that is sorely lacking in modern wrestling. It was a big move that curbed Marufuji’s flurry but, instead of immediately following up on it, Kobashi went back to selling the damage he had just sustained. In the process, they subverted the back-and-forth trap and the match was organically back on an even keel. The finishing stretch was also well done as none of the near-falls or big moves were excessive, Marufuji came off as a credible threat to a heavyweight and Kobashi’s win was definitive. ****1/4