Kenta Kobashi

[Exposer]

So this is my first self-assignment for the GWE project. I'll post my reviews here.

 

Kenta Kobashi vs. Tiger Mask II (AJPW 3/6/90)

This match certainly has its flaws. It’s obvious from the start that both guys are green, especially Kobashi. He botches a neck breaker early on then later messes up the follow up pin attempt to a counter to the Tiger Driver. He also doesn’t show the confidence on offense or selling that he would later have in the decade. There’s still some good in this though. The big splash to the floor is great and I appreciated Kobashi’s efforts to work the leg. None of the work is great, but the effort is there. The finishing run was lots of fun, and I found myself getting into it. Kobashi’s frustration after Misawa kicked out of the moonsault was outstanding and the highlight of the match for me. We get a lot of that out of Kobashi as the decade progresses. The tease for the Tiger Driver is nice, and Misawa eventually hits is for the win. So that I don’t forget him, Misawa is fine in this match. He doesn’t really sell his leg, but he at least limped around a little bit before his splash to the floor. He was mostly on defense in this and did his part to put over Kobashi’s offense in the finishing run. Overall, I enjoyed this match for being really early looks at these two if nothing else. It’s a decent match.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 05/26/90)

This is excellent. All six wrestlers were fantastic. Jumbo is so great during this period. His presence, charisma, intensity, mannerisms, and facial expressions were off the charts in this. Misawa is terrific in this as well, but he’s much more subtle than Jumbo. The Jumbo-Misawa story in the first half is outstanding. I loved Jumbo selling Misawa’s forearm from the apron, then losing his shit and starting a huge fight in the center of the ring. His facial expression when Kobashi kicks out of his lariat is tremendous. I also loved his post-match disappointed face. He is probably the star of the match. Going back to Misawa, I loved him winning with the Tiger suplex. He really does come out of this looking like a huge star. The side players were great in this as well. Kobashi’s selling was superb at times, but I wish he would have stuck with selling the leg. He had an exchange with Jumbo in this that was on the level of something from BATTLEARTS. At one point Jumbo nearly kicks his head in. He also had a great strike exchange with Kabuki. Taue is awesome as Misawa’s muscle plowing through people with running clotheslines and stiff strikes. I loved all of his exchanges with Kabuki and Fuchi. Fuchi is great in this as he is in most of these six mans. I loved him kicking Kobashi in the leg while Jumbo had him held up. What a dick move. Anyways, Fuchi as Jumbo’s hit man never gets old. Kabuki is great in this too beating the fuck out of people with his punches and slaps. He and Kobashi going at it during the Jumbo-Misawa scuffle is one of the highlights of the match. Finally, this match is really awesome. It’s the first big match of the Jumbo-Misawa feud, and it delivers.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 06/30/90)

This is GREAT. It’s definitely the best singles match I’ve seen from All Japan in 1990 so far. Both guys are stellar. The start of the match is tremendous with Kawada taking a bump over the railing and Kobashi squashing him with an insane top rope plancha. Kawada’s kicks in this are brutal. There is an awesome strike exchange that precedes Kawada in control. It is great. There are numerous brutal strikes in it. Kawada is great working over Kobashi’s match, but he misses a second rope knee drop. Kobashi annihilates his leg. There is a great half crab, clover leaf, figure four, and stretch muffler spot. Kawada does a fantastic job of selling his leg even preventing himself from executing offense. I loved the spot where he just collapsed after a knee to Kobashi. Kobashi fucking up a springboard plancha is nuts. Kawada following that up a few minutes later with a springboard somersault plancha is even crazier. Kawada’s fucking legs slammed against the railing on impact. The finishing run is great, although I didn’t like Kawada no selling his knee after he blocked the moonsault with it. Kobashi also flubbed on the pin attempt of the wacky roll up move. Minus those complaints, I think this is a great, great match. Both wrestlers are excellent in this.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kenta Kobashi – (AJPW 8/31/90)

This was a very good match. I have to admit I’m not a fan of extended limb work that is simply shaken off so that the next stage of the match can start. That’s exactly what happens here with Kobashi working over Jumbo’s leg only for it to be forgotten. I was really enjoying the match up to that point. They did a nice set-up for the leg work with a top rope cross body from Kobashi and Jumbo falling on his leg wrong. Kobashi used a variety of holds from the cloverleaf to the figure four to the Indian death lock. Jumbo made his comeback, literally shook off the damage, and then the match transitioned into the finishing run. It was really annoying. The finishing run itself was great with some excellent near falls, both guys selling fatigue, and a really good finish. I loved Jumbo getting pissed after Kobashi kicked out of the power bomb before finally putting him away. Both guys were good in this, but Kobashi might take the cake because of Jumbo’s refusal to sell limb damage. I did love Jumbo on offense though. Overall, I liked this match, but it could have been much better if the limb damage had meant anything down the stretch.

Fantastics vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace – (AJPW 9/7/90)

This was a neat match. Fulton and Ace were competing for stiffness here. I never noticed Fulton beating the fuck out of people like that before. He must have saved this stuff for Japan. I loved the hell out of it nonetheless. I also never noticed Tommy Rogers being a mat technician. He wasn’t turning the world over, but the guy has some slick holds and sweet pinning variations. I really liked the segments in this where Kobashi and Fulton were taking turns beating the hell out of the Fantastics. The Fantastics are meant to get their asses kicked and sell and they did that here. Both Fulton and Rogers can bump their asses off too. Fulton’s bump over the railing was awesome. Kobashi was still green here. He showed potential and worked fairly stiff, but I’ve seen so much more out of him. His moonsault was great even then though. Overall, this was a cool novelty match that ended up being pretty good. All four guys looked solid or better. The every so often random All-Japan tag is almost always fun.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace – (AJPW 9/29/90)

This was a great match that was hurt by a poorly executed finish. Kobashi was outstanding in this. This is the best performance I’ve seen from him so far in 1990. His selling was excellent. All of his exchanges with Kawada were tremendous. Their interactions carried the match most of the time. I loved their gritty mat work at the start, their nasty strike exchanges, and the power bomb teases were out of this world great. Misawa was fine here, but I thought he was clearly the third best guy in the match. His intensity wasn’t there and he seemed kind of lackluster in this. Ace has a great dropkick, but he was bad in this at times including the finish. The best parts of this were Kobashi in peril, hitting great hope spots, and building up to the big tag to Ace. Like I said, the finish was pretty bad though with Ace being out of position and the three count being confusing. Overall, this was a great match, but with a better finish it could have been even better.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJPW 10/07/90)

This is a good match. Kobashi and Ace work great as a team here isolating one of their opponents and trying to keep the other one at bay. Jumbo kneeing Kobashi in the stomach as hard as he can is awesome. I loved Taue stomping him in the stomach right afterwards. I wish we could have gotten more of that. Taue gets worked over for most of the match and sells very well. Ace is actually great in this working stiff exchanges with Jumbo and hitting some nice offense for near falls. Kobashi is good in this as well hitting some big moves. Jumbo gets the win for his team after a back body drop on Ace. All four guys looked good in this. Taue is probably the stand out. He showed great sympathy and vulnerability in throughout the match.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 10/19/90)

This is another really great match. Once again, all six guys are terrific. Kobashi is phenomenal and wrestled the match of his life up to this point. His selling, desperation, and ability to take a beating and create sympathy are world class in this. Fuchi bloodies his nose with a brutal jab to the face with a chair. He has Jumbo, Taue, and Fuchi stomp on his head for several minutes. We get some excellent hope spots, and they get the crowd completely behind Kobashi. What really make him standout are the kick outs of the Jumbo lariat, power bomb, and back drop from the second rope. Jumbo finally puts him away with a nasty back drop driver. He builds so much sympathy throughout the match that the crowd is chanting his name afterwards. Another great thing about this match is the Kawada-Taue feud taking center stage. They had some outstanding moments in this including Kawada giving Taue a receipt for the body slam on the floor. There were also several violent exchanges between the two throughout the whole match with kicks, punches, forearms, and slaps galore. Fuchi is great as the hit man again. His heeling against Kobashi is fantastic. He also is great on the apron being animated and giving the match life in the peripheral. The Jumbo-Misawa feud is higher than it’s ever been here. Jumbo is menacing as hell in this taking Kobashi’s head off with lariats, forearming the fuck out of Misawa’s stomach, and forearming the fuck out of Kawada’s back. His facial expressions when Kobashi kicks out of his big moves down the stretch are glorious. Finally, I loved his general pissiness and anger throughout the match like spitting after leveling Misawa with a forearm when Misawa tried to save Kobashi. He’s really great in this. Misawa doesn’t do much, but when he’s in he is stiff as hell. His forearms were extra snug here. Of course, his exchanges with Jumbo were awesome. The one where he just pummels Jumbo with forearms is my favorite. Man, these six mans are great. I have all three of the big six mans from 1990. This is a truly all-time great feud and series of matches.

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 01/02/91)

Holy shit, Hansen makes the most out of a chair ever in this match. He BRUTALIZES Kobashi with it four or five times. Those chair shots were painful to watch. Later, Hansen basically punches Kobashi as hard as he can in the face. There is some nice work around the cross arm breaker in this plus more hard hitting stuff from both guys. Hansen just lights Kobashi up numerous times in this. He is in amazing ass kicker form. Kobashi hits some nice offense and gets a great near fall off of the moonsault. I loved him blocking Hansen’s first attempt of the lariat with a dropkick to the arm. However, Hansen nails him with it on the second attempt for the win. This was a ten minute war with some brutal offense from Hansen. He is really great in this. Kobashi is good as well and is beginning to look more and more consistent.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 03/23/91)

Here we have another tremendous six man tag from this group. What’s so great about these matches is that there’s always a new mini-war between two wrestlers. This time it’s Misawa and Taue. Holy shit, do they beat the fuck out of each other. They both steal the show with their intensity. The forearm pummeling Taue receives from Misawa in this is brutal. Jumbo and Misawa also have a couple of great stiff exchanges. Fuchi is really awesome in this working over both Kobashi and Kikuchi’s legs. The Kobashi work is really great with him slamming Kobashi’s knee into the front row of seats. Kobashi’s selling is unfortunately inconsistent as later in the match he’s doing in sync dropkicks with Kikuchi and running around the ring. He then randomly limps over for a tag at one point. He’s still really good in this, but I’ve seen better selling consistency from him. Kikuchi is a great pin ball and sells really well here. His suicide plancha on Jumbo is great. Jumbo is fantastic smashing people with forearms and lariats. Overall, this is a pretty great match with great work from everyone involved.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 04/05/91)

This is a very good match. There is a lot of chain wrestling in this which is unique for a match between these two. Misawa does some arm work, and Kobashi works a headlock for a while. Both keep the match interesting. The finishing run of this is great with Misawa taking a DDT on the floor, him kicking out of the Tiger suplex, Kobashi kicking out of the Tiger Driver, and Misawa getting his foot on the rope in an outstanding near fall after the moonsault. Misawa finally puts Kobashi away with a second Tiger Driver. Both guys were really good in this. I enjoyed watching these two work a little bit different of a match.

Kenta Kobashi vs. Dan Kroffat (AJPW 4/18/91)

This is a fun spot fest. Kroffat hits a beautiful tope suicida, throws some nasty kicks and boxing punches, and does some wacky holds. I loved the teases of the moonsault. There were some great near falls down stretch, and the finish was great. Kobashi has built up a great offensive arsenal and several finishing moves by this point. He’s really starting to come into his own. He’s a lot of fun to watch in this. Kroffat is as well. Again, this is a fun match that showcases Kobashi’s talent.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 04/20/91)

This one is a classic. Kawada and Fuchi are incredible in this. They are simply on another level than anybody else in the match. And that’s with the other four being absolutely great as well. Kawada getting tired of Fuchi’s bullshit mid-match and flipping him off is priceless. Basically, Fuchi gets involved from the apron the entire match, interrupting submissions, pin falls, and preventing the other team from getting the advantage. He’s also the number one hit man doing his best to take out Kawada and Kobashi at different points of the match. He gets furious when Kawada disrespects him so he goes fucking nuts and tortures Kobashi’s leg. He and Kawada eventually have an exchange and it is one of the all-time great strike exchanges as they just lay into each other with slaps, punches, and forearms. What’s funny is that’s not the only story within the match. Kawada, Taue, and Kobashi all have extended in-peril sections. All do a wonderful job selling and creating sympathy. The Kawada section on the front end is started due to some awesome exchanges with Taue. Taue is an ass early slapping Kawada while he’s on the apron and knocking him off several times afterwards. Kawada gets livid and gets in a massive fight with Taue mid-match before he works underneath. Jumbo and crew just smother his head with stomps and shit. He takes a spike pile driver on the floor even. Taue eventually works underneath and takes an insanely long beating from the other team. It’s so long that he gets sympathy from the crowd. There are some great stand offs during this section as Misawa and company try to put Taue away. Kobashi ends up taking the final in-peril section that is stemmed from the Kawada-Fuchi interactions. Kobashi gets his leg torn to shreds for several minutes. I loved Jumbo in this being a fucking pissed off old man and stomping the fuck out of Kawada’s head and Kobashi’s leg throughout each in-peril section. Misawa mainly did apron work, but he had an all-time exchange with pissed of Fuchi which he ended up losing. He and Jumbo also kicked off the finishing run with some great near falls. I’ll never get tired of Misawa kicking out of that powerbomb. The final minutes see Misawa and Taue in the ring as all hell starts to break loose. Kawada makes one of the great saves of all time by throwing an extremely violent lariat to the back of Taue’s head leading into Misawa hitting the Tiger suplex for the win. This is probably the greatest six man tag of all time and one of the better matches of the 1990s. We got all-time level outings from Kawada and Fuchi and some outstanding performances from everyone else. This is a true classic.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 05/24/91)

This is the first match where Kobashi really feels like a star. He goes step for step with Jumbo and gets very close to beating him. The near falls in this were great and balanced. I loved the pacing of this as there isn’t any overkill but plenty of drama to keep it interesting. The near fall on the moonsault is spectacular. Kobashi’s facial expression afterwards is tremendous. Both guys looked great in this. Jumbo as the veteran, Kobashi is the young lion. I loved the combo Jumbo had to put together before finally pinning Kobashi. It made Kobashi look like he could compete with anyone. Overall, this is a really good match and a great highlight for Kobashi early in his career.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 08/18/91)

What makes this match stand out from the other matches in this feud is the legitimate heat Jumbo and Taue garner. It all starts when Taue is getting worked over by Misawa and Jumbo comes in and back drops him. The fans are pissed. Then later, Kobashi gets his eye worked over, and the crowd is LIVID. Jumbo rakes Kobashi’s eye on the tope rope, stomps on it, and scrapes it with his boot. It is great. Meanwhile, Misawa does an excellent job of selling the initial back body drop. Whenever he’s in, he grimaces in pain, and lets his arm hang where he hurt his shoulder/neck. He and Jumbo have some great exchanges in this including flying forearms on the floor and big saves. The end sees Kobashi kick out of Taue’s big offense including the powerbomb to a huge pop only for Jumbo to prevent Misawa to save him from Taue’s second chokeslam for the win. This match told a great story. Misawa and Jumbo are really great in this. I wish Kobashi had sold the damaged eye after having spent so much time getting it kicked in. Taue is great as well. Overall, it’s a really good match that tells a great story.

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 09/04/91)

After seeing this match, Hansen has to be Kobashi’s best opponent. This is outstanding. Hansen throws the lariat right at the bell. This allows for a really great, slow comeback from Kobashi. He gets powerbombed on the floor and gets whacked with a table, but slowly adds a kick or a chop here or there. When Kobashi finally makes his comeback it’s huge as he hits some big moves including the moonsault for a great near fall. The match transitions into the finishing run with some great spots including Kobashi getting body slammed onto the railing in sickening fashion, Kobashi getting the sleeper on Hansen which is worked really well into the match, and a violent lariat on the floor to Kobashi from Hansen. The finish is fantastic with Kobashi blocking a back drop into a pin attempt for a tremendous near fall. Hansen gets back on offense, but Kobashi ducks the lariat only to get smashed with one on the turnaround for the Hansen win. This is Kobashi’s best singles match to date. Kobashi’s selling and intensity is world class level and Hansen is right there with him. This is an early Kobashi classic.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 11/21/91)

This is very good. I loved Kikuchi in this as the scrappy underdog who keeps getting in the way. Misawa and Kawada are great in this tossing Kikuchi around and leveling him with strikes. Misawa’s forearms to Kikuchi were absolutely brutal. This match is all about dynamics with Kobashi being Kikuchi’s protector from bullies. Kawada and Kobashi have some great exchanges in this including the opening exchange with Kawada fucks with Kobashi by kicking him in the back only to get his head stomped in which pisses him off. Kikuchi is left to get demolished in the ring as Kawada keeps Kobashi at bay. Kikuchi kicking out of Misawa’s forearm onslaught is awesome. Misawa finally puts him away with the Tiger Driver. This is a really good match that highlights the dynamics of the wrestlers in All-Japan during the time period.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 01/10/92)

This is really good. Fuchi is once again tremendous. He’s having career performances in these six mans. His strike exchange with Kawada is awesome. They have my favorite strike exchanges in these matches. Both are throwing shots at the same time, and it’s great. The spot where he interferes and punches Kobashi in the face only to get slapped on his ass is great. I loved him being a prick and dropkicking Kobashi in the leg right afterwards. Jumbo and his crew work over Kobashi’s leg for a while. It’s good stuff, and then we get a hot tag to Misawa which starts a typically great finishing run. Ogawa is the victim to Misawa’s team early on and is once again the guy to go after in the final minutes. Misawa and Jumbo have a great exchange to kick the final minutes off then all hell breaks loose. Basically, Ogawa takes a beating, but he’s teammates keep making saves such as Jumbo after Kawada powerbombs him. Ogawa eventually submits to a camel clutch variation from Kawada. Everyone looks great in this although I’ve noticed a trend of Kobashi not being very apt to sell limb work throughout the match. He is still great here, but it’s becoming a flaw that will hurt him in my final rankings of this project. Still, this is a really good match and another notch on these guys’ belts.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue (AJPW 01/24/92)

In the least surprising news of the day, these guys produce another great six man tag. The roles are reversed in this one as Misawa takes the knee beating of a lifetime instead of Kobashi. And I believe it works better that way. Misawa tends to sell limb damage pretty consistently. He does here only running around once when he hits a running tope lariat on Taue. He also has a tremendous section with Jumbo that ends in a great cross face spot where Jumbo barely reaches the ropes. Fuchi is marvelous once again. He is the culprit that takes out Misawa’s knee. Some of the leg work he does here is totally awesome including using the ropes to wrench Misawa’s knee back and doing other neat wacky leg holds. He’s also a complete dick from the apron interfering and getting involved when Taue’s down. Kawada kind of takes a back seat in this one, but has a great exchange with Jumbo early and assists in the beating of Taue. Jumbo is really good in this as the veteran giving orders and kicking ass. He really excelled in that role during this period. His exchanges with Misawa are fantastic as well. Kobashi and Taue really impressed me in this. They are given the task of keeping the action going and moving smoothly. More importantly, they are the legal men in the last few minutes hitting some big moves for several great near falls. Kobashi goes down after kicking out of a chokeslam and powerbomb only to be chokeslammed again by Taue for the loss. This is a really great match, and I believe they found the perfect roles for each guy to play in this series.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 01/26/92)

This is another great match from All-Japan. Jumbo is GREAT in this. This is the best performance I’ve seen from him in a while. He bullies Kikuchi the entire match, and it’s amazing. I loved when he smashed Kikuchi’s head into the turnbuckle with Kikuchi’s hands locked behind his back, the numerous head dropping on the ropes, the awesome abdominal stretch where he shoves Kikuchi’s head to the mat, etc. Taue delivers a great beating as hell destroying Kikuchi on a giant swing into the ropes head first. Jumbo continues to fuck with Kikuchi all match kicking him in the head while he’s on the apron and bullying him constantly. Kobashi is good in this as Kikuchi’s protector having a tremendous exchange with Jumbo mid-match. Taue is great in this as Kobashi and Kikuchi hit him with several double team moves and shit, but he withstands all of it. He’s underrated at taking a beating. Kobashi goes for the moonsault at one point and Jumbo KILLS him with lariat knocking him off the apron and out of the match. Kikuchi gets hit with everything but the kitchen sink and kicks out of all of it making the crowd lose their shit. When Jumbo finally hits the back drop people know it’s over, and it’s great. This had a wonderful performance from Jumbo and another inspiring one from Kikuchi. Kobashi and Taue played their roles tremendously, and this turned out great in the end.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 02/27/92)

This is a great match. There are some breathtaking near falls in this. Jumbo goes all out in this even doing a flying cross body from the top rope. The pacing in this is fantastic, and the match built perfectly. I loved all of the sleeper stuff early. I hope Kobashi works a lot of his singles matches that way. The selling this is exceptional. I loved how they gave time to sell between near falls and transitions. I also loved the match sort of surrounding around Jumbo hitting the back drop and making the cover on time. He eventually finishes Kobashi off with it after regaining control of the match. Both guys are stellar in this. I might say this is their best singles match.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 03/20/92)

This is great. They work the body of the match around holds and headlocks from Kobashi. I’ve mentioned before that Kobashi is really good at working matches around holds. This is a good example of that. Kawada goes after Kobashi’s leg some to avoid all of the head locks and sleepers, but Kobashi keeps at it. The finishing run of this is excellent with some outstanding build to the moonsault and powerbomb. The near falls for both are tremendous because of it. The finish is great with Kobashi getting caught in Kawada’s abdominal stretch/crossface submission eventually submitting. Kobashi is great in this. Kawada is great in this. This is a very well worked match with a great finish. I liked it a lot.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 05/22/92)

This is incredibly great. It’s right up there with the 4/20/91 match in the greatest six man tags of all time discussion. All six wrestlers are up to task in this putting on some tremendous performances. In some ways this ends the mighty streak of legendary six man tags as none after ever come to as close as this one. I loved the tables turning on Jumbo’s team as Misawa’s team decided to use cheating tactics themselves. The crowd’s reaction to them is outstanding. Taue is phenomenal in this. He’s clearly booked as the weakest link of his team and so much so that he gets his ass beat a lot in the match. He injures his knee after the awesome opening plancha sequence and sells it for the rest of the match masterfully. He probably had the best limb selling performance I’ve seen so far from All-Japan in this project. He gets his ass totally kicked, and Misawa’s team uses him as payback for earlier cheating tactics on Misawa. They tangle him in the ropes and turnbuckle, choke him, stomp him, etc. It is great. Earlier in the match Misawa is in peril and getting the same things done to him which infuriates the crowd. Later, Kawada and Fuchi have a tremendous moment where Fuchi tries to break up a submission and Kawada flips him the bird. Another great exchange in the match is when Taue is trying to fight out of the other team’s corner and he gets pissed at Kobashi so he just slaps the fuck out of him on the apron. Kawada is really great in this as well. He gets worked over later on with similar cheating tactics from Jumbo’s team. Jumbo’s lariat to the back of Kawada’s head to start the in peril section is sickening. Jumbo and Fuchi are really good in this breaking all of the rules, stomping on people’s heads, and being old pricks. The last minutes of the match feature a great section with Kobashi and Taue and another great one between Misawa and Jumbo that is built around Misawa’s team trying to save him from the back drop. The finishing run features Kawada and Taue throwing bombs which is neat. Kawada kicks out of the chokeslam and powerbomb. Taue kicks out of Kawada’s powerbomb. The finish is great with Misawa’s team getting their submission finishers on all three members of Jumbo’s team and submitting them. In a sense, that is the final moment of the feud where Jumbo’s crew gives up and Misawa’s team takes the reigns for good. This is a wonderful match and all time classic. It had great performances from everyone.

Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat (AJPW 05/25/92)

This is GREAT. It also features one of the hottest crowds I’ve ever seen in wrestling. All four guys deserve credit for putting on a tremendous match. Kobashi and Kikuchi were absolutely sensational in this. Kikuchi as the hometown hero irritating the Can Ams with his scrappiness early on is great. His selling, bumping, timing, and ability to build sympathy in this are outstanding. I love all of the double team offense that the Can Ams hit on Kikuchi. They are fun as hell to watch. Kobashi is awesome as the big brother to Kikuchi kicking ass. The double clothesline spot is amazing. This has the most exciting finishing stretch of any All-Japan match I’ve seen yet. The near falls are breathtaking. The build to the moonsault is really excellent and when Kobashi finally hits it the place explodes. For the first time that I can remember, Kobashi wins a match with a moonsault as well. The three count is a great moment and one of the better ones in All-Japan history. This match is a classic.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW 06/05/92)

This is a great match, but I think they went overboard with the near falls in the closing stretch. This is really the first time that I’ve felt this way, but I don’t think Kobashi should have kicked out of the chokeslam/back drop combo. I know Misawa sort of saved him, but I don’t think that should have happened either. I think the match would have been better off if it ended with that move. With that said, this is still a great match. Kobashi doesn’t sell the limb work in this, but to be fair it isn’t nearly as extensive as it has been in the six mans. I liked Kobashi getting payback on Taue by working over his leg. Taue is really great in this selling really well again and taking a great beating. Misawa works overwhelmingly like a heel here being a dick and breaking the rules while working over Taue. He and Jumbo have some pretty spirited exchanges in this. I loved the spot where Misawa hit the springboard back elbow out of nowhere as a hope spot. Kobashi and Taue had some great moments in this too such as the tremendous strike exchange where Kobashi hits Taue and Taue has this hilarious facial expression of distaste. The finishing run is excellent and different from other ones with Misawa hitting a big forearm tope, a great hope spot with Jumbo whacking Kobashi into Misawa who flies off the apron, Misawa and Jumbo trying to prevent each other from making saves while at the same time trying to help their teammates put the other guy away, and of course some great near falls. Again, the last few near falls were overkill in my opinion, but I loved Taue getting the pin. The post-match celebration with Jumbo and Taue post pumping their fists along with the crowd was awesome too. All four guys put on great performances, namely Taue, but I wish it was a tad bit shorter and had ended on the big combo move.

Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 07/05/92)

KOBASHI SELLS THE KNEE! Thank God for it too. He is GREAT in this. I literally leapt from my bed and pumped my fist after he hit the moonsault and being grimacing in pain. That is now one of my favorite moments in wrestling ever. It took the guy over two years to sell the knee, but dammit once he did it paid off. There’s also a great spot where Ogawa trips him up, and Kobashi just grabs his knee whaling in pain. It is great. Fuchi is a master in this attacking Kobashi’s knee, tricking Kikuchi on the ropes into a punch in the face, and being a total prick. Ogawa does some good leg work on Kobashi, but man is he much less of a worker than the other three. It’s pretty jarring. He’s not even awful really. It’s just that the other three far surpass him. Kikuchi is really good in this as well withstanding a huge beating and kicking out of some crazy shit. I almost wish Fuchi hadn’t done two back drops for a near fall, because that one is a little bit too much to believe. Still, it’s a great near fall. I loved the spot when Kikuchi dropkicked Kobashi when Ogawa moved out of the way. It really made me believe they would lose the belts. I loved the finish too with Kobashi desperately protecting Kikuchi and Kikuchi getting the big win. This is a great match and the most satisfying Kobashi performance that I’ve seen so far. It might be the breakthrough performance in his career.

Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW 09/17/92)

This is a pretty great first match for Akiyama. I loved his facial expression before his comeback. He shows great intensity right off the bat. Kobashi is great in this too giving Akiyama just enough to look like a competitor. Akiyama’s power slam is fucking awesome and that near fall off the German is great. I loved Akiyama getting some big kick outs too including one after a back drop. Kobashi eventually puts him away with the pump handle Tiger Driver. This is a great rookie match. It might be the best of all time. Great effort from Akiyama and great job from Kobashi making Akiyama look good.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 10/17/92)

This match is good, but it’s a far cry from what these six man tags used to be. It’s Jumbo’s last relatively big match as he becomes a curtain jerker in comedy matches soon after this. Everyone looks good in this. Even Ogawa is a decent pin ball although I really don’t like him much at all. Kikuchi works a lot of this in peril and as always is great at it. We get some fun exchanges from Misawa and Jumbo and Kobashi and Taue as usual. The crowd seems completely exhausted of this feud, and I am too at this point. The change of scenery will be nice. Taue continues to get built up as a legitimate contender with the win. He really has come into his own by this point. His chokeslam to beat Kikuchi looked great. Again, this is a good match, but it’s really just the twilight match of this two year series. I did enjoy the post-match though. It’s cool to see Jumbo do his thing with new star Taue in probably his last major match.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Giant Baba (AJPW 11/27/92)

This is a great match, but I think it leans towards the Kobashi Show in the finishing run. Kobashi is great in this, maybe even the best he’s ever looked in some ways, but I have a problem with him kicking out of four or five moves in a row. It’s a little wearisome. That said Baba is TREMENDOUS in this. His facial expressions are out of this world great, and I loved how he cut off Kawada and Misawa at every turn. That counter into the Russian leg sweep is priceless. All of the Kawada-Baba and Misawa-Baba exchanges are great in this. Kobashi and Kawada really go at it in this. They work really stiff and have some amazing sequences. The finishing run is fun, but then starts to get absurd when Kobashi kicks out of the powerbomb and the Tiger Driver among other things. It’s still a great match even with its flaws. The same goes for Kobashi who is great in this, but with flaws as well. I really enjoyed this though, and it’s a great way to cap off my 1992 Kobashi viewing.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi & Jun Akiyama (AJPW 01/08/93)

This is another great six man tag. Everybody is really good in this. Akiyama has to be the greatest rookie ever. He gets a little repetitive in this offensively at times, but his selling is great, and he already has some confidence when he’s in the ring. Kobashi has morphed into the Kawada role of team ass kicker. He’s not quite as good Kawada is at it, but he’s still pretty entertaining in there having tremendous strike exchanges with Taue. The one they have towards the end of the match is out of this world great with headbutts and shit. Speaking of Taue, he’s great in this match. I loved him getting pissed at Kobashi knocking him off his ass and chokeslamming him on the floor as payback. Kobashi’s dazed selling and facial expressions are really great here. He withstands a pretty big beating and even kicks out of a couple of huge moves. It borders on the Kobashi show, but he tagged out before it got out of hand. Fuchi is great as usual heeling it up, going nuts on the apron, interfering, etc. He’s the master of the six man tag. Misawa is good when he’s in, but as in most six man tags he’s on the apron and usually there to make saves and prevent interference from the other team. I loved those Kikuchi-Akiyama exchanges. Every one of them is exciting. They just level each other with forearms. It’s great. I loved that they got to do the finishing run. They both looked great in it, and Akiyama getting the win is a huge deal. Right when I got worried that they were going to overdo it they ended it on Akiyama’s second German for the big win. I loved the post-match too with both Akiyama and Kikuchi exhausted after the match. Overall, this is a great match that introduces some much needed new scenery. I’m looking forward to the next stage of All-Japan 90s wrestling.

Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jun Akiyama & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 01/24/93)

This is a great match. It’s very fast paced and in a lot of ways a lengthy spot fest. I loved the early exchanges. It’s amazing that these guys don’t work like this that much. They work this style of tag matches very well. The match sort of surrounds Akiyama and Kikuchi and there issues with one another. All of their exchanges are tremendous. Kobashi is great in this throwing bombs, working as fast as the little guys, and is becoming a great ass kicker. I loved his exchange with Akiyama that ended in a vicious boot to the face. The near falls in this are spread out really well. The finishing run has an extended section between Akiyama and Kikuchi which is great. There are some great near falls here. I LOVED the finish as a callback and payback win for Kikuchi in the same fashion having to hit two German’s to put Akiyama away. Overall, I liked this match a good bit. Everyone looked good here, even Ogawa looked good. I’d say Akiyama is the best guy in the match though. He is tremendous in this.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 04/12/93)

We only get the second half of this, but it’s really good. I loved Kobashi blocking Misawa’s crossface and the Tiger Driver. The sequence around Kobashi’s sleeper is great too. They do so well building to the big moves in this. The finishing run in this is massive with huge near falls and big offense. I thought they did a great job of spacing out the near falls and keeping them from being too ridiculous. Kobashi kicking out of two Tiger Drivers is a huge deal. His selling in this is superb. The finish is awesome too with Misawa hitting the tiger suplex for the win. Kobashi is a great worker by this point. It’s pretty clear when watching his matches. Misawa is a much different worker than Kobashi, but is great in his own right. I wish I could have seen this in full. What is there is great.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 04/14/93)

This match is excellent. Both guys were terrific in this. Kawada’s selling is outstanding. He hurts his knee after he catches Kobashi off the top with a thrust kick. I LOVED the spot where he collapses after hitting the powerbomb. There were some tremendous strike exchanges in this too, particularly in the first minute or so. All of the moonsault and powerbomb teasing is awesome as well. Kobashi is great working over Kawada like he’s a wounded animal. The last moonsault spot is great because it looks like Kobashi’s finally going to hit it and Kawada moves out of the way transitioning into the final minutes. Kawada collapsing on top of Kobashi after the second powerbomb for a near fall is tremendous. Kawada hits a third powerbomb to put Kobashi away and win. This match is really great with a fabulous performance from Kawada and a great one from Kobashi as well.

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 04/16/93)

There are flaws in this. Hansen doesn’t sell the arm after it gets mauled. He also no sells an offensive flurry from Kobashi to do a strike exchange. However, this is a great match and an extremely fun one at that. For some reason Hansen seems to get the best out of Kobashi. They work the best possible way to do a bomb throwing brawl. That is to wildly hit moves, sell, throw another bomb, sell, and make sure every move is earned. I really loved the arm work by Kobashi. He is excellent kicking at Hansen’s arm, and those cross arm breaker sequences are great. Hansen never just sits in a hold. His opponent has to work their ass off to get anything over him. The extended brawl on the floor is awesome. They beat the fuck out of each other with chops, kicks, flying shoulder tackles, etc. Everything is earned. It’s too big hosses desperately throwing everything but the kitchen sink, and it’s great. The finishing run is so much different from Kobashi’s other matches. There isn’t so much pretty offense. It’s all about getting the advantage when possible and throwing everything at the opponent. I loved the wild dropkicks, strikes, and clotheslines. It’s the only way Kobashi can keep up with Hansen’s in your face style. The finish is GREAT with Kobashi leaping from the second rope into a brutal lariat for the Hansen win. I’m sticking with Hansen being Kobashi’s best opponent until someone else can prove otherwise. These guys have some of the more fun matches ever.

Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (AJPW 05/14/93)

This is a total slaughter. It’s basically an extended, competitive, violent squash for the Holy Demon Army. Some of the strikes in this are Futen level with Kawada and Kobashi throwing some out some brutal offense. That punch to Kobashi’s head in the corner by Kawada is ugly. Kobashi’s selling is tremendous as Kawada and Taue just destroy him. Kawada’s brainbuster and Taue’s chokeslam on him are fucking AWESOME. Kobashi kicking out of the powerbomb after all of that is kind of ridiculous, but not THAT bad. He did come across resilient as that’s pretty much his gimmick. I kind of wish Kikuchi had broken up that cover though. The finish sees Taue annihilate Kikuchi. Kawada chokeslams Kobashi to prevent him from saving poor Kikuchi. Taue puts Kikuchi away with the chokeslam for the win. This match is extremely unique from anything else going on in All-Japan at the time that I’ve seen. It’s obvious that HDA is getting built up for the big Misawa tags down the line. I liked this match a lot really because it’s so unique. Kawada, Taue, and Kobashi are all fantastic in this too. Kikuchi is good as well, but he’s barely in the match. This match puts HDA on the map. I’m excited for those big tags coming up.

Kenta Kobashi vs Terry Gordy (AJPW 05/29/93)

This is another great match, but it’s worked much differently from other matches. The pace is slower which allows the match to build more progressively. At first it doesn’t seem like a great match, but by the end I’m totally engrossed in it. The match is worked around Kobashi selling and mustering up comebacks. It builds and builds until Kobashi is dead even with Gordy in the finishing run. The near falls here are extremely well placed. They’re probably the most meaningful near falls of almost every Kobashi match I’ve seen so far. The selling in between paces the final run perfectly. The sequences in this are great too. I always love the lariat to the back of the head spot. The last minutes are worked around Kobashi trying to hit a second moonsault, and Gordy knows that’ll put him away so he fights out of it in desperation a few times. When Kobashi finally hits the moonsault again the crowd erupts knowing it’s over. I love how All-Japan mastered that. A lot of times its known how the match will end beforehand, but it’s how they get there. Gordy is good in this, but Kobashi is far better in my eyes. His selling is great in this. Overall, this is a terrific match that shows Kobashi’s versatility in working different types of match-ups. He really did have a remarkable 1993.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 06/01/93)

This is pretty great. Kobashi is outstanding taking a beating from HDA and having some world class exchanges in the process. Those Kawada exchanges are nuts. They’re on another level from anything in the world at the time. It’s almost like watching Futen. The spot where Kobashi is locked in the stretch plum and Misawa has his hand reached out to tag him only for Kawada to pull Kobashi’s hand away is an all-time great spot. When Kobashi finally does reach him the place explodes. I loved Misawa getting payback on Taue by knocking him off the apron with a forearm where earlier Taue had knocked Misawa off the apron to prevent him from saving Kobashi. That Misawa-Kawada exchange after the hot tag is incredible though. The place erupted after it. Misawa’s rana counter to Taue’s powerbomb is fucking awesome. The saves in the finishing run are spectacular. My favorites are Taue breaking up the three after the moonsault and Misawa breaking up the pin after the chokeslam from the top rope. Taue is left to take care of Misawa as Kawada tries to finish off Kobashi. Kobashi kicking out of the first powerbomb is huge. It’s a small sample of him showing that he can survive on his own. Misawa can’t save Kobashi in time for another powerbomb though and HDA get the win. Overall, this match has stellar performances from everyone. Misawa and Kobashi are both sensational. Kawada is tremendous on the other side, but Taue might be the greatest sidekick of all-time. In fact, I’d say he is. He’s pretty fucking great in this too. Finally, this is a tremendous match with some stunning saves and the start to the greatest rivalry of the 1990s. It’s on.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 06/03/93)

Here’s another great match. Misawa is such an elite worker at this point. It’s amazing. His exchanges with Kawada are world class. He’s also possibly the best hot tag in the world. The crowd can’t contain themselves when he gets tagged in. I loved it when he cleaned house and knocked everybody off the apron. He just has this aura and charisma that is so great it’s hard to describe. Kikuchi and Ogawa are given the chance to shine here which is cool. Kikuchi takes a huge beating in this. I loved Taue tossing him around on the floor. The slam into the ringside table is great. Ogawa is okay in this, but he is fun in there with Kikuchi in the finishing run. Kawada and Taue have the spot of the match where they knock Misawa and Kobashi off the apron when Ogawa hits a German. That ruled. Kobashi also has some world class exchanges with both Kawada and Taue. He’s also become an elite worker at this point. Kawada is also there. Taue is getting better and better every match. I’ve thought he’s always been good, but his confidence is becoming more apparent as I watch these matches. Again, I loved the finishing run with Kikuchi and Ogawa going at it. Kikuchi gets the win with the German. Ultimately, this is another great match in a rivalry that is sure to get even better.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW 07/02/93)

Hey, we have another great match here. This rivalry is so fucking awesome. Misawa is insanely great in all of these matches. He’s so subdued in the Jumbo rivalry. There is very few times where he brings out full intensity in that series. Here, it’s every match. That first exchange with him and Kawada is world class, and the plancha spot with Akiyama hitting one on Kawada is fabulous. Taue had prevented Kobashi from doing it, and then Akiyama just goes up top himself. It is awesome. When Ogawa’s in the match, the quality goes down some. He’s just not a very good worker. He can bump well and takes a pretty good beating, but his offense is lame compared to everyone else’s and he’s void of charisma. Things really picked up when Kobashi came in and had an out this world exchange with Kawada. The second half of the match is outstanding with Kobashi selling tremendously and Misawa and Kawada having wild exchanges all over the place. Taue is awesome in this as the asshole of the match. His facials are so great. I loved the one exchange with Kobashi where he throws him out of the corner by his face. By the end of the match he gets on Akiyama’s last nerve and they’re brawling on the floor even after the match. Taue takes cheap shots on him when he’s down, and it’s great. Misawa prevents Kawada from making the save as Kobashi hits the moonsault on Ogawa for the win. This is great shit with everybody getting some time to shine, but the Big Three and Taue being on another level.

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 07/29/93)

What a classic. I loved Kobashi taking up all of Hansen’s space and mauling him to start the match like Hansen usually does to his opponents. Hansen’s selling is tremendous. Kobashi works insanely stiff. All of his offense is hard hitting and aggressive. Nothing is light in this match. The transition spot in the corner with the kick to the face is extremely violent. THAT’S where Kobashi gets the swollen face. Hansen’s book caught him straight in the motherfucking face. The powerbomb spot on the floor is great. The entire stiff bomb throwing and selling afterwards is fantastic. I loved Kobashi pulling out a top rope leg drop for a near fall. Hansen takes everything Kobashi throws at him and stays alive. There were many great near falls here. However, the closing sequence is the one of the greatest in All-Japan history. They basically have a Futen match on the apron that ends in Kobashi taking the most brutal looking lariat of all-time. What a finish. It’s hard to say if I’d call this Kobashi’s best match of 1993. I really did love the 6/1/93 tag, but this one just might be better. It’s an all-time classic.

Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako (AJPW 08/20/93)

This is a great sprint. Asako gets his mouth busted up pretty badly by Kroffat’s kicks. Kobashi is tremendous on the apron reaching for a tag. They milk the hot tag really well including Kobashi getting knocked off the apron into the railing. When he’s finally tagged in, the place erupts. He’s such a great hot tag. He cleans house and helps Asako to try and put away Furnas then Kroffat. There are some great double team moves and near falls. I LOVED Kobashi desperately breaking up the pin after the first Tiger Driver. That is a great spot. Kobashi almost single handedly fighting off the Can Ams is a great spot only he gets tackled out of the ring by Furnas. Kroffat puts Asako away with a second Tiger Driver. Kobashi is excellent in this match. There is the one botch of Furnas’s frankensteiner, but they made up for it. I’m with impressed with Asako too. He’s sloppy, but I liked his selling. Overall, this is tons of fun and a great tag sprint.

Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 08/31/93)

This is a spectacular match. It features maybe Kobashi’s most incredible performance. The back drop driver’s in this are legendary. Unfortunately, this is the beginning of the trend of head drop suplexes. Williams is sensational in this too. He’s just as good as Kobashi. Kobashi continues to do everything he can to match up with the big guys. He’s getting closer and closer to victory. And this one is stiff as hell. There is a particularly awesome strike sequence in this that rivals those of the Kawada exchanges in the great tags. Every move looks brutal, in some ways even more so than the Hansen match. The finishing run and momentum swings in this are phenomenal. Kobashi busts out everything to put Doc away, but Doc won’t go down. The moonsault into the knees is a breathtaking spot. It completely sucks the wind out of the audience, and it’s amazing. That first back drop driver and near fall are equally brutal and great. I think Kobashi probably should have gone down after the second one, which is horrifying. He lands directly on his head. This is really the first true instance of “fighting, burning spirit” Kobashi that we will get much more of down the road. I’ll give it to him that he’s still selling the move, but the dramatization is a little much for me. Doc puts him away with a third back drop driver and pinning combo. The post-match is great though. Both guys are completely drained with Doc’s awesome music playing in the background. This is a pretty legendary match for good and bad reasons. It’s extraordinary, but fantastic. The Kenta Kobashi we all know is finally here.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 10/02/93)

Well, this is great also. The Kawada-Kobashi exchanges in these tags are awesome. There are two excellent ones in this. The first one is off a hot tag with Kobashi coming in, the feeling in the arena changes as shit’s about to go down. They lay into one another big time, and it’s great. The second exchange is even better as Kobashi comes in to save Kikuchi and slaps the fuck out of Kawada several times. I loved Kawada just throwing Kikuchi out of the way so he can deal with this problem. He takes all of these strikes then just LEVELS Kobashi with a slap knocking him on his ass. Kobashi’s selling of it is tremendous. He just slowly collapses. Kikuchi gets his ass kicked again, and it’s still great. Taue and Fuchi terrorize him in and around the ring. Kawada comes in for scraps to lay in some nasty kicks. I loved Kawada slamming him on the floor. Taue almost puts Kikuchi threw the ringside table again. It very nearly broke this time around. Fuchi is great as usual working the hit man gimmick and being a tough old bastard. Misawa is awesome in this crushing people with elbows and forearms. He had some great exchanges with Kawada again, and his hot tag is awesome. In the end, Kikuchi survives a dangerous back drop, but Kawada tremendously finishes him off with a lariat for the win. All six guys are great in this. This rivalry just keeps on delivering.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 10/23/93)

I’ve been waiting for this one. It’s a pretty great match. Many of the sequences in this are out of this world great. Those chops to the face and haymakers are violent as fuck. The one sequence where Kawada knocks Kobashi out with a face chop is epic. I loved the callback to the back drop driver. Kobashi took a few more mortifying bumps on his head. The long term selling in this is probably the best I’ve seen out of either one of these guys so far. I loved Kawada’s glazed look after Kobashi back dropped him on his head. What stands out about this match other than the elite strike exchanges are the minimal near falls. There’s only about four of them in this. It paces the match even better and really makes the back drop drivers down the stretch extremely dramatic. I loved the finish of this with Kawada making Kobashi pass out to the stretch plum and pinning him from there. This is an awesome match. This is probably the best way to work a match around back drops on one’s head without being too much overkill. Both guys put on elite performances. This is now a feud, and it’s getting better and better.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams & Big Boss Man (AJPW 11/24/93)

This is quite the spot fest. There is a story here which is Kobashi saving Misawa from getting pinned. Kobashi is starting to become more than just Misawa’s sidekick. He’s almost on even footing with him. Doc and Boss Man work some U.S. style tag wrestling over on Misawa. Misawa is a great face in peril. I loved when Boss Man used the nightstick. A U.S. staple getting inserted into a Japanese match is awesome. Kobashi is a great hot tag here. He cleans house, but then takes two insane bumps. Doc suplexes him off the top rope in a gigantic bump, then later gives him ANOTHER back drop driver. Kobashi is taking way too many head drops in 1993 alone. Both moves got great near falls. Misawa gets a hot tag and has some great sequences with Boss Man. The punch into flying Misawa by Boss Man and the forearm to the back of Boss Man’s head by Misawa are both tremendous spots. Boss Man hits some big moves on Misawa for great near falls. Kobashi saves Misawa each time which is an interesting turn of events. Boss Man eventually goes down after kicking out of the frog splash only for Misawa to hit him with a German for the win. All four guys are great in this. It’s a lot of fun.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen & Giant Baba (AJPW 11/30/93)

This is a very good match. There were some great spots with Baba in this. I loved the moonsault near fall on Baba. It is tremendous. The cut spots from Baba in this are great too. The best ones are on Kobashi. The chop cut off spot is particularly awesome as Kobashi is revving himself up in the corner and charges straight into a huge chop knocking him on his ass. Later, Baba almost takes his head off with a back elbow to the face. Kobashi’s in peril segment and cut offs are great in this as well. I loved the spot where he countered Baba’s whip into the lariat with a dropkick. He also had a tremendous strike exchange with Hansen. The urgency and chaotic atmosphere is a lot of fun here. All four guys go all over the place and try to isolate one man to get the win. The best section is when Misawa and Kobashi had Baba isolated. There were some great near falls during it. The last few minutes are fun with some everybody desperately trying to get the win before time expires. The match eventually ends in a draw. I loved Baba’s reaction to the bell. He looked so nonplussed. Everyone looked good in this; even though I don’t think the match is necessarily great. It’s definitely a novel match of sorts for All-Japan during this period, and I enjoyed it for that.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW Real World Tag League 12/03/93)

Kawada puts on the performance of a lifetime. He’s absolutely incredible in this match. It’s the best performance I’ve seen out of any match that I’ve watched for this project. From the entrances where he’s basically getting helped to the ring, to the tenderness of the knee in the early moments of the match, to the turning point in a common exchange with Kobashi, to not even being able to bridge for a pin after a German suplex. That one sequence with Kobashi is one of the greatest sequences of all time. They are in this violent strike exchange, Kawada kicks Kobashi in the leg, Kobashi returns the favor. It’s such an average move that creates a grand story. It’s fantastic. I don’t want to pass on Kobashi’s performance in this. He has a great in peril section leading up to the big Kawada exchange. I loved him getting Taue back for the throat dropping on the ropes with his own version. The fans didn’t respond to it as well I did, but I love payback spots. He also had at least one masterful strike exchange with Taue. Misawa and Taue both are great in this too. Misawa has some great strike exchanges with Kawada, but that release German is something else. Misawa killed Kawada with it. I also loved the double chokeslam spot. If Kobashi doesn’t make that save, the match is over. Taue is great trying to save Kawada and keep his team in it. He’s just not quite on the level of his partner, and he’s unable to save Kawada in the end. Misawa is constantly keeping Taue from interrupting the match. The flying forearm followed by Taue’s wild bump off of it is awesome. Kobashi ends Kawada’s misery with a dangerous back drop on his head for the win. This is just an amazing match championed by an all time performance from Kawada. The man couldn’t stand. That is selling, and this is a classic.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 01/07/94)

This is a neat match. It’s worked much differently than anything else these guys had been doing up to this point. Kobashi has some elite exchanges with Fuchi and Kawada before Kawada German’s him on his head. Kobashi’s selling is phenomenal here as he rolls to the floor and his out cold. Misawa has to work the match on his own. Kawada ends up hitting a standing senton on Misawa which hurts his chest. Fuchi and Kawada work over Misawa’s chest while Kobashi slowly recuperates on the outside. They paced this section of the match poorly in my opinion. They didn’t enhance the action or speed it up enough to keep things interesting until Kobashi got back in the match. It’s the match’s biggest flaw. Kobashi eventually gets back in. I loved his staggered selling for the rest of the match. Kobashi going right for Kawada’s leg as payback is great. Kawada then reciprocates it with another head drop, this time a back drop driver. Fuchi is AWESOME in this as the fucking asshole of the match strutting around and taking his pretty time with concussed Kobashi back dropping him some more and kicking him in the head. Kobashi makes a few big kick outs and builds to a slow comeback by chopping the fuck out of Fuchi. The spot where Fuchi prevents the tag right afterwards is fantastic. Misawa gets the hot tag and starts to clean house. He hits a German bridge pin, but can’t sustain the bridge because of his hurt chest. Kobashi’s and Misawa’s selling is masterful in this. Misawa decides to German Kawada on his face, literally after he saves Fuchi after the moonsault. Kobashi hits the top rope leg drop on the back of Fuchi’s head for the win. This actually has four great performances, but the poor pacing in the match hurts it overall. It’s still a very good match, maybe even great on, but they needed to make that portion of the match more exciting. I still loved all four guys in this.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Giant Baba vs Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 01/29/94)

This is long. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good match. It’s just really long. I liked everyone in this to a degree. Team Kawada were all great. Kobashi is probably the standout of his team. Misawa is good in this, but I wish he’d sold the neck damage more. He’s in peril for a long time getting his head and neck worked over pretty extensively. He didn’t really sell it afterwards which is unusual for him. Kobashi is excellent in this having world class exchanges with all three members of Kawada’s team. Taue is the star from his team being a total prick, stepping on Kobashi when he’s down, dropping Misawa neck first all over the place, etc. He also took some mean elbows and forearms from Misawa in this and took Baba’s offense excellently. Baba is pretty entertaining in this and has some fun exchanges with everybody. I never thought he looked bad in this, just limited like always. I really liked the finish of the match. Kobashi hits the top rope leg drop on Fuchi again. The pin is broken up, but Misawa and Baba get rid of Fuchi’s teammates and Kobashi hits the moonsault for the win. This is a very good match, but it’s just too long. If they had shaved off fifteen minutes, this would have been absolutely great.

Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako vs Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori (AJPW 02/19/94)

This is a good match. It’s more on the decent side, but we got a couple of great exchanges between Kobashi and Kawada. Asako and Omori were kind of lost in there during their section. It’s not all bad, but they don’t have the intensity or the charisma to carry through into the match. I did love the spot with Asako throwing haymaker slaps on Kawada only to get blasted with one massive slap that knocked him on his ass. Omori ends up preventing Kobashi from saving Asako as Kawada launches him across the ring with a jackknife powerbomb for the win. Kawada is great in this, Kobashi is good, and the other two are learning. It’s a nice random match to have to see how Kawada and Kobashi work with younger talent.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen & Giant Baba (AJPW 03/05/94)

I liked this. I’m not a fan of Misawa selling very little after being worked over for so long. This match could have been shorter of course. However, I love Baba and think he gets shit on unfairly. He’s a good worker in my opinion. He knows what to do, when to do it. He’s not flashy, he’s not athletic, and he’s very limited. However, he maximizes those limitations. I believe he did that here. More importantly, Baba’s facial expression after Misawa knocked him down with the flying forearm is TREMENDOUS. Honestly, it’s probably in my top twenty five of “greatest facial expressions in wrestling ever.” The closing stretch is awesome in this. Misawa and Kobashi do everything they can to put Baba away. Hansen keeps getting in the way too which makes for fun exchanges. The moonsault near falls is really great in this. It might be the best one yet. The simultaneous collision of Misawa hitting the flying clothesline (Baba’s move) from the top rope and Hansen tackling Kobashi is tremendous. Misawa gets the pin over Baba which is huge. He’s even better than Baba now. The post-match is great too. Yeah, this is too long and features a lot of Baba, but I think it’s a damn good match nonetheless. It’s a pivotal moment in All-Japan history. That’s enough to at least give it some consideration.

Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue (AJPW Championship Carnival 03/24/94)

This is very good. Kobashi kicking out of three chokeslams is a little absurd. At least the third one is a good bit after the other two. Although, that begs the question of why they hell he kicked out of the first two. I did love the strike exchange leading to the second chokeslam. Kobashi’s staggered selling during it is tremendous. Taue is great in this early on working over Kobashi’s neck hitting a great piledriver and locking in a tight dragon sleeper. Kobashi’s initial strike exchange comeback is awesome (payback clothesline on the ropes included), but the bizarre headlock sequence followed by a half crab from Taue made no sense. Another beef I have is the double clothesline occurring twice. I’m not even sure that spot should ever happen, but it’s placement in this is annoying and allows an unnecessary reset. There are many things I liked about this match though. I loved Kobashi’s glazed eyes after Taue kicked him in the head in the corner, I loved the DDT on the floor, Kobashi’s sleeper spot continues to be done very well, and I liked the desperation roll ups and cradles before the final chokeslam and time limit bell. However, the near falls here would have worked better if they were placed differently within the match instead of having resets. Kobashi should have never kicked out of three chokeslams either. Bitching aside, this is a very good match with two great performances. They just needed to tone down the excess some and move things around a little bit in the match to make it great.

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/10/94)

This is absolutely fantastic. What a great match. The selling performances in this were simply stellar. The near falls are outstanding in this. They are brilliantly paced, and the big ones mean a lot. Kobashi kicking out of the powerbomb is a great, great near fall. The selling is so excellent between near falls that every kick out is believable. The early exchanges in this were epic. That shoot head butt from Hansen is incredible. Kobashi sells it like death. Hansen going nuts on the floor is awesome. All of the table stuff is great. That powerbomb on the floor and Kobashi’s subsequent selling are out of this world great. Kobashi’s facial expression tells it all. Hansen missing the flying shoulder tackle in the guardrail is such a great spot. Hansen’s selling of the ribs afterwards is an all-time great performance. Kobashi’s slow comeback is phenomenal. Just as he gets the momentum, Hansen cuts him off. That slap/lariat combo is one of the greatest spots of all-time. The long dramatic selling breaks are terrific. I loved that Hansen couldn’t make the cover after that big combo. If he would have gotten the cover, he would have won. Hansen kicking out of the first moonsault had to happen. People kick out of the moonsault all the time. It’s important that he kicked out of the first one to build up the drama just a little more. The second moonsault is tremendously executed. It’s one of Kobashi’s better ones, mainly because Hansen gets in the perfect position for it. That three count is great, the post-match is great, and that match is great. To me, it’s an all-time classic.

Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/11/94)

This is pretty good. I dug all of the strike exchanges. Kobashi never seems to have a bad strike exchange. In fact, they’re all pretty much great. His neck selling is cool. I loved him smacking his neck and trying to shake it off. The half nelson suplex is great here. I also liked the northern lights suplex teases and eventual near fall off of it. Kobashi’s counter into a DDT to transition on offense is nice. I think Akiyama kicked out of too much stuff. The first few were great, then he kicked out of the powerbomb, and I rolled my eyes. Basically, we got the Kobashi Show here, and that’s not my favorite thing in wrestling. Kobashi finally put Akiyama away with the moonsault. Overall, this is a pretty good match with a lot of fun strike exchanges and a good performance from both. It’s a little excessive towards the end, but I still enjoyed it.

Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Championship Carnival 04/15/94)

Oddly enough this is a match that suffers from a disappointing first half, rather than an excessive second half. There were a lot of near falls in this, but I think they were all spread out well and fit into the story of the match. The first half of the match had a surprisingly disappointing strike exchange, too much meandering around, and a bunch of stuff that didn’t come together. I did like Doc press slamming Kobashi to the floor, but that’s really the only highlight from the first half. The second half is great with strong selling, big bombs, and exciting teases. I liked the German near fall a lot, and the teases for the back drop driver leading to some excellent strike exchanges were great. I loved the neck chops/urikan combo from Kobashi. One could argue there were a few new falls that weren’t necessary, but the selling and pacing is good enough to overcome it. Doc wins on two back drop drivers again. Kobashi doing the stumbled selling is definitely great this time around. It’s strange because it didn’t seem out of place or odd at all here. Doc goes on to the final to face Kawada. The first half hurts this a lot. With a better first half, this could have been a really great match. Still, both guys managed to put on a very good match.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Stan Hansen, Giant Baba & Takao Omori (AJPW 04/16/94)

Kobashi is great in this. It’s a very good match, but Kobashi is the star here. That finish is spectacular and one of the few jaw dropping finishers I’ve ever seen. The Orange Crush is such a dangerous move, but it’s amazing to see. Omori lands almost directly on his head and neck on the landing. It is sickening. Kobashi also had tremendous exchanges with Baba. The chop battle is great, the powerbomb teases are great, and the moonsault near fall followed by the rolling cradle is great. I can’t forget the AWESOME Hansen exchange mid-match. Kobashi blasts Hansen with a forearm, and Hansen’s facial expression after the fact is great, great, great. Hansen loses it and starts a brawl with Kobashi in the middle of the match. That ruled. There were other parts of this I liked. Misawa’s selling is really good in this. He gets dropped on his head and neck and sells it like a champ. Hansen later knocks him off the apron and Misawa starts grasping his neck and shoulder grimacing. He’s just brings nice touches like that in almost every match. Akiyama and Omori had a nice little section of near falls towards the end. Omori actually looks pretty decent in this for the most part. Akiyama is solid. Of course, “do everything we can to put Baba away” is always fun to watch. But man that finish. That finish is just fucking insane.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (AJPW 05/21/94)

It’s match number three. This is like two matches in one. Everything up to Kawada kicking out of the Tiger Driver is one match. Everything after that is another. All four wrestlers are fantastic in this. I loved the story of Kawada getting back at Kobashi for the knee from 12/3/93. Kobashi does an excellent job of selling the knee throughout the match. Kobashi gets a mid-match payback of his own by dropping Kawada knee first on the ringside table which is cool. There are a multitude of world class exchanges in this. All four guys paired up at one time or another and gave us some epic strike exchanges. The Kobashi neck chop on Kawada early is great. Although, that Misawa-Kawada exchange in the second half of the match is one of the greatest exchanges I’ve ever seen. Misawa gets pissed, and his facial expression is out of this world great. Also, that Misawa hot tag is one of the greatest hot tags of all time. What a moment. The second half of the match is both great and completely absurd. A lot of the near falls had some tremendous saves which I will never complain about. A partner making a save isn’t kicking out. So, I’m cool with that. There are definitely a few ridiculous kick outs in this towards the end. Namely Misawa kicking out of Kawada’s second powerbomb and Taue kicking out of Kobashi’s powerbomb. Kobashi getting another win is humongous for him. He’s had such a massive push in 1994. He gets it with a third moonsault on Taue (the second is an absurd kick out, the first has Kobashi selling the knee afterwards). This is a pretty great match. It’s probably a classic too. The excess is high though, and becomes annoying in the last few minutes. It’s a shame, because all fours are absolutely terrific in this. It didn’t have to go as long as it did. Again, it’s still a great match and another enormous win for Kobashi.

Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs Akira Taue & Tamon Honda (AJPW 06/03/94)

This is a very good match. Kobashi and Taue are both terrific in it. Kobashi manages to have great exchanges with everyone. His Honda exchanges were even fun. There is one elite exchange with Taue in this that is incredible ending in Taue chokeslamming Kobashi into the turnbuckle. I really loved Taue in this. He moves around with this attitude about him. It is great. I love how he takes his time on offense. Everything is deliberate, but with force. He’s a great worker. Akiyama threw great chops and had a couple of nice near falls on Honda. The finishing run of this is fun, but these excessive kick outs are strangely hard for me to get into. I used to love this kind of shit, but now it annoys me. Kobashi wins with the moonsault on Honda. I hope I can learn to love ten near falls in a match. It’s hard for me right now. Still, this is a very good match.

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (AJPW 07/22/94)

This is great. I really loved all of the saves in this down the stretch. It makes the big bombs and near falls that much more special. It makes these finishing runs seem even more important. All of the early exchanges are great. Kobashi and Williams have some outstanding exchanges in this. Williams’s goofy face, no selling is great. The early powerbomb in this is awesome. It comes out of nowhere, but it creates a sense of “uh oh” for Kobashi. Kobashi’s selling of it is excellent too. Misawa’s in peril is really great. Williams and Ace do some GREAT double teaming to try and put him away. There are some cool hope spots mixed in like Misawa trying to brawl his way out of their corner. Kobashi has a nice hot tag then goes in peril for a few minutes adding a few more great hope spots. The near falls in this are really great. There are some awesome saves in this. Misawa, Kobashi, and Williams all make huge saves for their teammates. Kobashi gets rid of Williams which is a big deal because he’s his team’s equalizer. Ace has some huge kick outs including kicking out of the Tiger Driver before Misawa finally puts him away with the flying clothesline from the top. This is an awesome match. All four guys are great in this. They really did a great job with the numerous near falls which is hard to do. I’m starting to get used to the video game bar of all the wrestlers so I get why they kick out of some stuff. All in all, this is a great tag team match. It’s one of my favorites of the year.

Steve Williams vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 09/03/94)

This is a great match. It went too long, but I actually don’t think the near falls in this were bad at all. If anything there might have been just too much selling. I mean, the selling is great. It’s superb. I think they could have gotten a better match out of it in twenty five minutes instead of nearly forty five minutes. There’s also some filler in this, which adds to the overselling. It’s weird; they should have sold as much as they did. They just did too much stuff. They slowed it down a little bit too much. The back drop diver teasing is great, the spread out near falls are great, the exchanges are great, the early rolling cradle and test of strength are great, Kobashi kicking Doc in the knees to bring him down in desperation is great, and yes dammit the selling is great. I just think it’s bloated. This match is bloated. That’s all. All of the intangibles are there, and it’s all great. Just shorten it. Shorten it at least a little bit. It’s a great match, but they needed to trim the fat for it to be really great.

[elliott]

This is awesome!

[Dylan Waco]

Devon! Run the table (on Kobashi)!

[Exposer]

I appreciate the love. The length of these matches is the biggest obstacle I face. It takes time to get through this stuff. As of this point, Kobashi is definitely making my list. I'm not sure where yet. He's a great worker. He definitely works extremely hard in a lot of his matches. When he turns matches into the Kobashi Show it annoys me. The crying, the excessive near falls, and the histrionics are frustrating. At his best he's a masterful seller with sensational offense and builds sympathy as good as anyone ever has. He should do well on my list even though I haven't quite gotten to his worst habits yet. His "ball park" placement is still in question. He's certainly a top 50 guy. Top 25 is a stretch for me right now. After I wade through the second half of the 90s, I'm sure he'll be closer to that range. I don't see him as a top 10 guy though. His negatives have already become a little too common by 94. We'll see where things go from there.

[JerryvonKramer]

Top work here! Down the line we might have to have you come on the All Japan Excite series.

 

Only thing I'm missing is star ratings (cos I'm a ratings kinda guy).

[Exposer]

Thanks! I'd love to be on the show!

 

I might go back and add star ratings to these. I'm not the biggest star ratings guy, but it does help me order matches from best to worst.

[WingedEagle]

I'm a fan of ratings for that reason but absolutely get why some folks aren't. What are your thoughts on Taue after watching all of those matches? Sounds like you were a big fan of his as well, as I can't imagine someone really being down on him from that era, but where does he fit in big picture?

[Exposer]

Taue is a great worker. I think his early 90s stuff is underrated. He's really great in those six mans. It's kind of amazing to watch him develop around 91-92. His cheating and heel tactics infuriated the fans. At first, he doesn't really react to it, but as he grows he starts to build on those reactions and continues to piss the crowd off by stepping on somebody's face or clotheslining someone on the ropes two or three times in a row. I think he's an elite worker by 94, maybe even 93. His presence is awesome. He has great facials, is always the first to break the rules, has great heel offense, knows when to give and when not to, is great at selling, etc. He will certainly be on my list. He's definitely top 50 as well. I will try and watch some of his other stuff in my 90s AJ viewing. I love the guy. He's honestly my favorite of the Four Corners/Pillars.

[WingedEagle]

Awesome. Glad to find more love Mr. Taue. At the end of the day I'm prety sure he'll rank below Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi because of the singles matches that each has on their resume, but he just might be my favorite out of the bunch. He pulls off basically the perfect heel character with the facials and mannerisms to go along with it all the while fitting within the world that is All Japan. Just so unique. What an era.

[dawho5]

Early 90s Kobashi is, to me, the best Kobashi. I have 1993 pegged as his best year for being polished and not going overboard with his more annoying tendencies. In 94 and 95 he bad tendencies start getting stronger but he's still really fun to watch. Post 1997, he becomes hit and miss for me. When he's on I absolutely love him, but there are a lot of matches where a few things he does completely take me out of the match. That's not to say I wouldn't have him in my top 30 based on the sheer amount of great things he did in the ring. One thing you'll notice going forward after that 93 RWTL match is when Kobashi and Kawada go at it, somebody is always working a leg. Kobashi attacking Kawada's injured knee in that tag left a lasting impression on Kawada it seems. Kawada was Kobashi's second best opponent (Hansen has to be number 1), and I think one of the best parts of the matchup was the really gritty way they both approached the simple All Japan style matwork in the early parts of the match. That and how neither of them was ever willing to give up an inch that wasn't earned. It seems pretty simple when you think about it. Take Kobashi, easily the best of the AJPW guys at garnering sympathy and making fired-up comebacks and put him against either of the two most uber-violent pricks of the 90s (Kawada and Hansen) and you usually get a really good to amazing match.

[Childs]

Awesome. Glad to find more love Mr. Taue. At the end of the day I'm prety sure he'll rank below Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi because of the singles matches that each has on their resume, but he just might be my favorite out of the bunch. He pulls off basically the perfect heel character with the facials and mannerisms to go along with it all the while fitting within the world that is All Japan. Just so unique. What an era.

 

I actually think Taue vs. Akiyama will be an interesting call for me. I would've said Taue was the no-brainer choice for years, but Akiyama has managed to keep it going for so long now and has produced excellent matches in a lot of sub-optimal settings. We'll see.

 

But I've said often in the '90s threads that Taue-Kawada was the great underappreciated rivalry of early '90s All Japan. Parv, you guys could do a whole show on their matches and eventual partnering.

[WingedEagle]

 

Awesome. Glad to find more love Mr. Taue. At the end of the day I'm prety sure he'll rank below Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi because of the singles matches that each has on their resume, but he just might be my favorite out of the bunch. He pulls off basically the perfect heel character with the facials and mannerisms to go along with it all the while fitting within the world that is All Japan. Just so unique. What an era.

 

I actually think Taue vs. Akiyama will be an interesting call for me. I would've said Taue was the no-brainer choice for years, but Akiyama has managed to keep it going for so long now and has produced excellent matches in a lot of sub-optimal settings. We'll see.

 

 

I'm really looking forward to comparing Taue & Akiyama. I've seen little of Akiyama post '04 or so but if he has as much quality stuff throughout that next decade as it sounds like, I'm not sure I can keep Taue ahead of him.

[dawho5]

Taue is an interesting case 04 and beyond as well. He really does some great work, carrying Rikio, Morishima and (surprise of surprises) Marufuji to career matches. And he has a great match in 04 with Kobashi that I think has one of the best finishing runs of the decade. Basically, if Taue is in a big match in the 2000s, he hits a home run. Not taking anything away from Akiyama here, just saying that Taue in his twilight years really adds to his case in a big way.

[Childs]

Taue is an interesting case 04 and beyond as well. He really does some great work, carrying Rikio, Morishima and (surprise of surprises) Marufuji to career matches. And he has a great match in 04 with Kobashi that I think has one of the best finishing runs of the decade. Basically, if Taue is in a big match in the 2000s, he hits a home run. Not taking anything away from Akiyama here, just saying that Taue in his twilight years really adds to his case in a big way.

Agree with this. Taue produced some great moments in NOAH. I just watched the 9/18/05 tag with him and Kobashi against Akiyama and Tenryu, and he was arguably the best guy in it.

[Superstar Sleeze]

 

Taue is an interesting case 04 and beyond as well. He really does some great work, carrying Rikio, Morishima and (surprise of surprises) Marufuji to career matches. And he has a great match in 04 with Kobashi that I think has one of the best finishing runs of the decade. Basically, if Taue is in a big match in the 2000s, he hits a home run. Not taking anything away from Akiyama here, just saying that Taue in his twilight years really adds to his case in a big way.

Agree with this. Taue produced some great moments in NOAH. I just watched the 9/18/05 tag with him and Kobashi against Akiyama and Tenryu, and he was arguably the best guy in it.

 

 

Not only was he the best guy in that match, I have that match in my top 10. 2005 Kobashi tags were all really great. "Chopbashi" may be my least favorite pejorative in wrestling. Yeah, the Dome Sasaki match is not all that great, but I chock it up to their freaky negative chemistry they have with each other. Kobashi still had one Match of the Decade contender in 2005 and three other great matches in 2005. In 2006, he had a great match with Marufuji. which I thought was on par with the Taue match. During his comeback, he crushed it in his return tag match and had a great six-man. I didn't think "Chopbashi" really became a self-parody until Burning vs KO shit in 2008.

 

I may be alone, but I think the 2000s add a lot to Kobashi's case as a Number one and at the every worst a top ten candidate. When I am not at work, I will delve deeper into it. The crux is that Kobashi is one of the few wrestlers we saw the entire journey. The 90s is the chase, he is the underdog, working hard, climbing the mountain, but the 00s allows us to see him on top. In wrestling either, we are missing the beginning or the full ascension never happens. There is a fullness to Kobashi's career that I feel like no other wrestler can claim. If you just watch the 90s, you are missing the ending of the movie when our hero finally makes it.

[Justtxyank]

Sorry to dig up an old thread in here but something I’ve always wondered...

 

I love AJPW in the 90s. Some of the most rewatchable stuff for me.

that said, I’ve always wondered whether they could have worked elsewhere and gotten over. If Kobashi had worked in the USA as a full timer, would his style have gotten over? Not the way it worked in a smark workrate place where he’s over for being Kobashi, but genuinely gotten over starting as a mid carder. Or would American audiences just never embraced his work because he wasn’t American? 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, Justtxyank said:

If Kobashi had worked in the USA as a full timer, would his style have gotten over? Not the way it worked in a smark workrate place where he’s over for being Kobashi, but genuinely gotten over starting as a mid carder. Or would American audiences just never embraced his work because he wasn’t American? 

No chance. The only guy who got over as a star in the US had been the Great Muta, and he was a gimmick. Shinsei Shinzaki who had a killer gimmick and presentation and could work like no one else never got a chance in WWF and after two killer match with Bret was soon back tagging with Barry Horowitz and feuding with the Body Donnas (which in itself wasn't *bad* because Candido vs Hakushi could have been a show stealer anywhere anywhere if given the right attention). The only two Japanese guys who really made it somewhat in the US in the 90's were Ultimo Dragon in WCW, but again he had a really distinct look with the mask and colorful attire and was working in a very ground-breaking division, and Tajiri in ECW (then WWE to a much lesser extent in the 00's), basically doing a Great Muta gimmick of sort and also working a cruiserweight style mostly. Kenta Kobashi with his very AJPW-heavy style with stiffness galore and dangerous suplex would have no one able to work with him and no one would figure out what to do with him in term of presentation. He probably would have gotten the Orient Express music in WWF if in had showed up in the early 90's... 

Actually, apart from Asuka to a degree, there has never been a true Japanese star in WWE. Nakamura has been an embarrassment to his NJPW legend, but that's at least as much his own doing than WWE for once.

[Matt D]

I think he could have worked as a Marcus Alexander Bagwell partner (Scorpio/Patriot/Riggs). That's about his level.

[NintendoLogic]

The WWF actually had serious interest in bringing in Kobashi in 1998 as a top level star. I can't imagine that ending in anything but disaster, but it shows that American decision-makers saw something in him. More generally, he was versatile and driven enough that I think he would have done whatever it took to get over at least at a cult midcard level. There's the famous story about how he thought he would have to work as a stereotypical salt-throwing Japanese heel in ROH before Samoa Joe set him straight.

[El-P]

There were these crazy rumours of WWF working with FMW in 1997 too (Shamrock and Vader did work an FMW Stadium show), can you even picture Onita in WWF at this time ? Whereas if it were today, Onita showing up in AEW would be totally "Yeah, sure". Times they are a-changin'...

[Robert S]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

No chance. The only guy who got over as a star in the US had been the Great Muta, and he was a gimmick. Shinsei Shinzaki who had a killer gimmick and presentation and could work like no one else never got a chance in WWF and after two killer match with Bret was soon back tagging with Barry Horowitz and feuding with the Body Donnas (which in itself wasn't *bad* because Candido vs Hakushi could have been a show stealer anywhere anywhere if given the right attention). The only two Japanese guys who really made it somewhat in the US in the 90's were Ultimo Dragon in WCW, but again he had a really distinct look with the mask and colorful attire and was working in a very ground-breaking division, and Tajiri in ECW (then WWE to a much lesser extent in the 00's), basically doing a Great Muta gimmick of sort and also working a cruiserweight style mostly. Kenta Kobashi with his very AJPW-heavy style with stiffness galore and dangerous suplex would have no one able to work with him and no one would figure out what to do with him in term of presentation. He probably would have gotten the Orient Express music in WWF if in had showed up in the early 90's... 

Actually, apart from Asuka to a degree, there has never been a true Japanese star in WWE. Nakamura has been an embarrassment to his NJPW legend, but that's at least as much his own doing than WWE for once.

Liger also got over, probably thanks to his high profile match against Pillman (plus the costume). Thinking about Japanese 90ies wrestlers without a very special look, I think Hiroshi Hase and Shinjiro Ohtani could have done great in 90ies US wrestling. Ohtani had the wild facials that IMO were one of the reasons that Tajiri got as over as he did and Hase is a guy that always oozes with charisma in ring. And yes, I realize that both have done a couple of WCW shows, though usually wrestling matches happening in a void. Of course it always depends on which period you are talking about, on the high point of the Attiude era, barely anyone would have done well, 93-96 though, the door was much further open.

[El-P]

8 minutes ago, Robert S said:

Liger also got over, probably thanks to his high profile match against Pillman (plus the costume). 

Yeah, I fogot Liger but really, it seems like the only thing he ever did was have two matches with Pillman over half a decade and then show up for Starrcade 96.

8 minutes ago, Robert S said:

Of course it always depends on which period you are talking about, on the high point of the Attiude era, barely anyone would have done well, 93-96 though, the door was much further open.

WWF totally squandered TAKA Michinoku and Kaientai DX, which were some of the hottest workers anywhere in the world (at least TAKA & Togo were). Talk about completely ruining a bunch of great workers who had already everything going for them, as showed by their ECW matches. The dream matches back then was "what if these guys ended up in WCW instead", working with Rey & Juvy & Eddie...

[The Thread Killer]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

There were these crazy rumours of WWF working with FMW in 1997 too (Shamrock and Vader did work an FMW Stadium show), can you even picture Onita in WWF at this time ? Whereas if it were today, Onita showing up in AEW would be totally "Yeah, sure". Times they are a-changin'...

I remember watching an FMW show back at that time and Shawn Michaels was a Special Guest Referee, of all damn people.

EDIT:  Yeah, I just went back and checked and it was actually a bit later...it was the FMW 10th Anniversary Show in 1999.  Michaels was the ref of the Hayabusa/Mr. Gannosuke match.  It's on YouTube.  Shawn Michaels in FMW...very weird.

[El-P]

2 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

I remember watching an FMW show back at that time and Shawn Michaels was a Special Guest Referee, of all damn people.

Yes, that was later on during the Fuyuki era. Micheals little promotion was working alongside FMW and I think that's the first time I saw Daniel Bryan as American Dragon working the undercard of some FMW shows. I believe Micheals was the special ref for H vs "Hayabusa" (who was Gannosuke) or something. Damn, FMW booked by Fuyuki, some fun memories and some not so fun ones... (Exploding Anus Death Match anyone ? Some FMW guys making appearance on some porn because Chokoball Mukai was trying his hands at pro-wrestling ?)

[The Thread Killer]

1 minute ago, El-P said:

Exploding Anus Death Match anyone ?

Yeah...that was when we definitely crossed into serious WTF?! territory

I remember watching that match with a friend and we were looking at each other and basically speechless.