Kenta Kobashi

[Owen Edwards]

13 hours ago, Tetsujin said:

He's the one pro wrestler who makes me FEEL the most. Like, wrestling nowadays is full of guys pretending to farm aura and look like the best ever. They all look to achieve what Kobashi didn't even inted to achieve: he just worked harder than any other pro wrestler ever, he believed in pro wrestling as strongly as possible, gave everything he had in any and every match, not because he wanted to look badass and godly, but because his job was to make us believe he was fucking trying to win that damn match! And, therefore, he looks like the best ever. But's he's a natural at it. His passion for fighting no matter what is trascendent.

This is such a good point, and not just about Kobashi. You get a lot of dismissal over people worrying about the industry being exposed or whatever, but it is simply not a coincidence that, outside of a few very popular NJPW/AEW darlings who dominate the CageMatch match rankings, people buy into and love older ereas best. The High Irony era of pro-wrestling doesn't serve it best, I think, and will not age very well. Sincere, hard-working guys who wanted to put across these great matches as if they were serious theatre will always have a legacy.

[HeadCheese]

5 hours ago, EnviousStupid said:

Obviously, a great big epic singles match guy, but he also belongs in the conversation for best tag wrestlers ever. Feels like a lock for top 10.

I'm not sure if I would have him that high but, he's an amazing tag team wrestler in the younger brother underdog role and the older brother rooting role but, also powerful. I think he can also be great and lending credibility too.

I have to watch both back but, I think I might like Kenta Kobashi and Homicide vs. Low Ki and Samoa Joe more than Joe vs. Kobashi. The BURNING vs. Kensuke Office gauntlet tag from 2008 is so good.

[Tetsujin]

7 hours ago, EnviousStupid said:

Obviously, a great big epic singles match guy, but he also belongs in the conversation for best tag wrestlers ever. Feels like a lock for top 10.

Yeah, awesome tag guy as well. Aside from Taue, maybe the best Pillar in tag matches. He can be the underdog weak link in peril (the Misawa vs Jumbo tag matches, the Misawa team against HDA or others), the anchor and hot tag guy in southern style (with Kikuchi vs Can Arm), the leader (the Akiyama team), he knows how to work both long epic matches and short quick bursts, his return from cancer tag match and his retirement multitag are basically matches centered around him and he totally overdelivers.

He has both my #1 singles match and my #1 tag match.