[1993-01-26-AJPW-New Year's Giant Series] Kenta Kobashi vs Akira Taue

[PeteF3]

Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi 1/26/93

 

Kobashi on fire early but Taue puts a quick stop to that with a Nodowa sending him to the floor. Such great back & forth offense with Kobashi looking to show he belongs on this level with the opposition's de facto ace in Jumbo's absence. Taue does so many little things here add up. His facials while wrenching an abdominal stretch and punching Kobashi's ribs. The way that much of his offense looks clumsy, but is so deliberate and impactful. Meanwhile Kobashi looks like someone who just got a huge weaons upgrade but doesn't quite know how to put it all together yet. The crowd is huge behind Kobashi looking for the upset and setting the stage for a year's worth of that. Really fun. Not sure why this was left off of the set, but glad I checked it out.

 

***3/4

 

[garretta]

YouTube this, please!

[Zenjo]

Some impressive action on show and an involved crowd. Kobashi was often in the underdog role in 1993, but he was closer in status to Taue than the other natives above him. So it felt more like a battle of peers. There were some pacing issues that just held it back from my top 100 for the year (it would've made it in literally any other year). The start was too fast so there was a lull when they began to build. Also they started to bring it home a little early so had to tread water a bit towards the end. The chokeslam was the move of the match and appropriately the final one.