[2000-12-23-NOAH-Great Voyage] Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi - NOAH #4 PPV 12/23/00

The story of Akiyama's two monumental victories is focus, focus, focus. Take what it is given to you and don't let up. Weather the inevitable comeback and unleash a barrage of Exploders to win. In this match, he has three things working against him: he falls into an early hole, Kobashi's half-nelson suplex levels the playing field in the middle and then pride at the end. In the previous matches, Misawa's elbow and Kobashi's lariats and suplexes were rendered powerless by Akiyama's tenacious work. In this match, Kobashi shows tremendous fighting spirit in working through his arm injury to hit a half-nelson suplex to knock Akiyama out. Akiyama is able to recover from this, but when he had Kobashi knocked out on the outside after an Exploder instead of taking the victory he wanted the decisive victory. Thus was the great, long fall of Akiyama from the top rope onto the back of his head.

Kobashi is ripshit to start the match and is lighting Akiyama up. Akiyama vacillates between retreat and standing tall with neither working. On the outside, he is able to use Kobashi's overzealousness against him ducking out of the way of a chop. He drops him across the railing and Kobashi is really selling the cheat. As a viewer, I thought this was clearly the opening Akiyama would exploit. However, Akiyama deviates and instead goes high-risk on the ramp hitting a DDT on the ramp and a running elbow (ala Mutoh). He looks to end it early with an Exploder, but Kobashi plants him with a DDT on the edge of the ramp. Akiyama deviating from the gameplan did not work out too well. Instead, Kobashi takes a page out of Akiyama's playbook and is absolutely relentless on Akiyama's neck. It really climaxes when Akiyama goes for his knee in the corner and Kobashi throws him down. Akiyama really sells that neck making you believe Kobashi had turned the tables on Akiyama. I actually believed I could buy Kobashi's headlock as the finish after the neck work and Akiyama selling and how tenacious this headlock was.

In a callback to the August match, Akiyama saves himself with two desperation dropkick to Kobashi's knee. Different day, same story? Not so fast, Akiyama drops a boot on Kobashi's arm from the apron and drives his knee into Kobashi arm riding into the railing. Akiyama is looking to take away the Burning Lariat and the lethal chops of Kobashi. The following arm work is so textbook, but so well-done with Akiyama using everything available (ropes, post, railing, his own shoulder) to hit to inflict damage on the arm. Kobashi makes you believe that arm is totally useless, but just when end seems near he snaps off a sleeper suplex. Kobashi continues to sell the arm, but hits a half-nelson suplex on Akiyama that knocks him the fuck out. That is not something Akiyama had to weather in his previous victories. Kobashi is still injured, but in a lot of ways the entire playing field had been levelled. Kobashi, ever the sportsman, stops the ref's count and drags Akiyama back into the ring. Kobashi still sells the arm doing moves like the powerbomb and the lariat. You believe it is arm that is allowing Akiyama to kick out because those moves don't have their usual power behind them.

Kobashi goes for a move that does not use the arm: the moonsault. However, Akiyama gets up to powerbomb him off the top rope. It is even stevens. It really feels like it is a tied ball game going into sudden death overtime at this point. Akiyama goes for the kill with the exploder on the apron, but they both jump off the apron. Akiyama is able to hit an Exploder on the exposed concrete and he is fuckin out. Now, Akiyama stops the ref's count to drag Kobashi back into the ring. In Akiyama's mind, a pinfall the ring must mean effacing all doubts and securing his place in the Sun. He hits a double-arm DDT, a diving elbow to the back of Kobashi's head and then a exploder, but only gets two. Akiyama goes for his choke, but they get wrapped up in the ropes. There is a great struggle over the wrist-clutch exploder where you actually feel bad that Kobashi is about to be hit with this move. Then Kobashi kicks out! So Akiyama figures the only thing more he can do is hit the Exploder off of a higher place. Kobashi still has enough struggle in him to send Akiyama crashing onto the back of his head. Kobashi just collapses onto the mat in a great visual. Kobashi hits three lariats, but he knows what he must do. Akiyama puts up a perfunctory struggle before the inevitable BURNING HAMMER~! Both men shake hands and all is right in the Kingdom of NOAH.

At 35+ minutes, this match continues the lineage of dramatic, epic Kings Road matches. I loved the symmetry of both men having the other knocked out at different points, but wanting to finish it in the ring. I liked the callbacks to their previous encounters. I do think this match is a little overly self-indulgent and could have benefited from trimming. There is plenty of gratuitous suplexes and such that left off because I did not want to write a novel about this match and because I thought they were insignificant. I am strong believer moves like that should not be. In the February 2000 classic with Misawa, there were no wasted moves. Still, it showcased Akiyama and Kobashi at their finest with Akiyama working the arm over and Kobashi fighting through it. There is no slight in not being as good as that Misawa/Akiyama 2000 match. It was a great, great blowoff match and excellent example of both men's resumes. ****1/2

[Ditch]

One of the very first puro matches I ever saw. Excessive and flabby in parts, but they also get a LOT right in terms of layout, sequences, payoffs, and build. *Lock* for my ballot but it will struggle to make my top 50 ahead of tighter matches like the 8/23/03 8-man and the 1/10/04 6-man, though I guarantee it will end up well ahead of both in the overall tally.

[dawho5]

So the early build is nice, then Kobashi does a half nelson roughly 15 minutes into a 35+ minute match. Because those head drop suplexes are nice turnaround spots, not necessarily big nearfalls. And then the match continues to unravel for me as Kobashi uses a sleeper suplex to turn things around later and follows it with a ramp half nelson. Lets review. Akiyama has been dropped on his head twice in the ring and one on the ramp. He's fucking dead. Match is over. But that's not how it works. Finishing sequence is similar to the last big Misawa/Kobashi singles match where they just cycle through their big stuff until Kobashi hits the burning hammer. Exchanges were all top notch. Early stuff was great, with Akiyama playing the dangerous underdog role really well and pouncing on any mistake he can. Even after the first half nelson this worked, but then we got to the way overdone part and I stopped caring. May make the bottom half of my ballot. Depends how bad things get by late 2000s.

[Graham Crackers]

These Kobashi vs Akiyama matches build nicely but are really bloated. I'm not sure if this match or the 2004 match will make my top 100 but if they do they'll be closer to the bottom. There is a lot to enjoy here but I don't think it's really enough to fill the length of the match. With that said, the big spots are incredible and even in the context of the match they never feel like too much. It's just the amount of suplexes and nearfalls in the ring that drag this down.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I liked this match significantly better than 2004 Dome Match. The Dome match had so much time and they built drama through the extended periods of lying around. This match was more about the struggle and reacting to each other. It was wrestled almost as "big" as the Dome match (not as much Clash of Titans). My major complaint is that it feels removed from the storyline, which started on the first ever NOAH show where Akiyama drilled his tag partner, Kobashi after the match and then choked him out the next night. You would have expected Kobashi to be red hot looking for revenge and Akiyama looking to prove once and for all there is a new Sheriff in town. Instead it felt like a very good epic championship match not a personal grudge match. Overall, the match is very engaging and entertaining. The big difference is the amount of urgency with Akiyama never wanting to fall too far behind and Kobashi looking to prove he is still a level above Akiyama. Akiyama dropkicks the knee to stun Kobashi before attacking the arm. That really becomes the hook and you see Kobashi is fighting through the pain, but his stuff does not have the same oomph. Then when he goes for the Moonsault (no arm needed) Akiyama turns the tide and basically knocks Kobashi out with an Exploder to the floor. Ever resilient Kobashi fights Akiyama on everything the choke and wrist clutch exploder. One last wild swing of the arm sends Akiyama tumbling down onto the back of his head. Akiyama had injured the back of his head earlier and he never stood a chance. This match featured great selling, offense and escalation that built to a dramatic conclusion. There is definitely some fat to trim back, but still an excellent match. ****1/2

[WingedEagle]

Lots of interesting things here. Akiyama calling back to his neck work against Misawa from earlier in the year. Great suplexes all over the place. Awesome teasing of big moves that this crew pulls off better than anybody because of their history executing and defending them. If you were to write out all of the awesome spots and variety of offense here it would read like one hell of a classic. But the whole here was not as great as the sum of its parts. They'd focus on a body part for a bit and then abandon it. The biggest drag for me was that this went so incredibly long, and there was really no reason for it. Eventually Akiyama keys in on the lariat arm and this is actually sold for a while as the bout picked up some focus. Even the sleeper suplex felt like they hit it perfectly in stride and at a great point for a Kobashi comeback. The finishing stretch was money, with things spilling to the floor, the big moves you expect and those you were trained to watch for from the early NOAH shows like the guillotine. Then we get a Burning Hammer to finally give someone a big win over Akiyama after his early run through the top of the card.

 

I really enjoyed this, but thought if they took out maybe 8-10 minutes and tightened up the strategy you would likely have a MOTYC. That said, we're picking warts on Miss America candidates. Or Miss Japan.

 

****

[El-P]

Nice to see this with fresh eyes, after almost a decade of not watching that kind of stuff. Could they have cut 5 minutes or so near the end ? Sure. Would one or two headdropping spot could have been cut out ? Of course. But still. You've got young punk Akiyama not being able to take it to tank-babyface Kobashi until he kicks his right knee from under his knee. Then Kob says "Oh, that's how you play it young fucker ?" and drops the bomb, followed by Aki not taking it and dropping the bomb himself. Then soon comes the brutal work on the arm, which Kobashi will masterfully sell for most of the match. Kob is such a great babyface. So yeah, at one point during the long finishing stretch, they could have cut some crap out (around the time they go outside). But the last five minutes are complete ace work. It's wonderful to hear the crowd go up and down and up and down and you get a really good sense of escalation. Final Hammer in the final coffin, and that's that. Excellent match with some great moments.

[Edwin]

Nice to see this with fresh eyes, after almost a decade of not watching that kind of stuff. Could they have cut 5 minutes or so near the end ? Sure. Would one or two headdropping spot could have been cut out ? Of course. But still. You've got young punk Akiyama not being able to take it to tank-babyface Kobashi until he kicks his right knee from under his knee. Then Kob says "Oh, that's how you play it young fucker ?" and drops the bomb, followed by Aki not taking it and dropping the bomb himself. Then soon comes the brutal work on the arm, which Kobashi will masterfully sell for most of the match. Kob is such a great babyface. So yeah, at one point during the long finishing stretch, they could have cut some crap out (around the time they go outside). But the last five minutes are complete ace work. It's wonderful to hear the crowd go up and down and up and down and you get a really good sense of escalation. Final Hammer in the final coffin, and that's that. Excellent match with some great moments.

This pretty much reflects my sentiment on this match. I would add that I didn't like how they cut out the King Crab Lock though. They had built it up as a serious move leading up to this, but Kobashi was pretty much in the ropes as soon as it was locked in which didn't allow it to build much drama from it. Kobashi's Burning Lariat from the top rope would've been a perfect finish for this had Kobashi not taken such an amazing mount of damage as he did and he was smart enough to just fall off the top rope and sell the damage he had taken. Really good match.

[superkix]

This was one of the very first NOAH matches I remember seeing during my initial exposure to Japanese pro-wrestling and, at the time, my high school brain was like "whoooa, dude, what the hell did I just watch?". So having rewatched this, it's still a fun story with the young brash Jun Akiyama trying to dethrone King Kobashi with everything he's got and Kobashi...well, dropping Jun on his head a lot and Akiyama with the will to survive. It's long though, and you know, I struggle with overly long, thick matches. I really liked the opening with Kobashi trying to set the stage with chops and Akiyama doing a little swanky maneuvering where he can to turn the tide on Kobashi. Loved Akiyama’s driving elbows in the corner. Then we get Kobashi focusing on the neck, where he hits a cool front necklock deadlifted into a suplex, and Akiyama again turning the tide with a nasty dropkick to the knee before working over Kobashi's arm. But it's filler...well-executed, sure, but filler nonetheless. Soon, Kobashi is dumping him with a sleeper suplex or a half nelson suplex on the rampway. Then Akiyama comes back and hits an Exploder to Kobashi on the floor (sold like death by Kobashi) and tries to set-up for his front necklock finish. When Kobashi grabs the ropes immediately, Akiyama hits the wrist-clutch Exploder for a terrific nearfall. They're both obviously exhausted by this point in the match and I like how it played somewhat into the finish, with Kobashi collapsing into his pin attempts. Akiyama still trying to fight back even in the face of death was great, before Kobashi stuns him with the spinning backchop and destroys him with the Burning Hammer. A really good match, awesome in parts, with a good build and tons of bombs...but too long for my tastes.

[ohtani's jacket]

All right, let's see if they can make a believer out of me...

General impressions: I didn't find it excessive nor did I have a hard time getting through it. I didn't love it but I did have plenty of respect for it. It was an absolute war and from the point of view of a big match between rivals they delivered in spades. Kobashi vs. Akiyama is never going to be a match-up I like as much as the other big feuds from 2000 but they laid it all on the line and I think they deserve MOTY consideration. I liked how they tried to work a different style from their All Japan days. The digit manipulation was particularly appreciated and immediately seared into the memory banks as a match where fingers get worked over. There may have been too many suplexes but the selling was good and there was a constant focus on damage, If anything it was the early build that was too long and could have been shortened. Kobashi continued to hobble about and it was clear he was in pain but he did his best to block it out and deliver a match that lived up to his standards. The black eye was a hell of a visual and put this over the top. Any match where you work that hard and get a swollen eye for your pains has to be worthy of praise. The first NOAH classic?