[1992-03-27-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi

[Superstar Sleeze]

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 3/27/92 Championship Carnival

Hansen vs Kobashi RULES! Hansen is the Champion going into the Carnival and Kobashi came pretty close to beating him six months ago. Lets see how this breaks down. 

At first glance, I thought this was going to be another spirited, sprint brawl. Hansen bounces a chair off Kobashi back very early on. There are their trademark spots: Hansen powerbombing Kobashi on the floor and Kobashi DDT'ing Hansen on the floor. Overall, this does not reach the level of their '91 classic. Still I would not complain if this was on RAW every week and this was still awesome. Kobashi is going after the Lariat arm and Hansen goes into Grizzly Bear mode and mauls Kobashi. Kobashi gets his hope spots in but this is a drubbing. The crowd comes alive for Kobashi after he kicks out of a second powerbomb. Hansen pours it on with a  big suplex and a piledriver. He signals for the Western Lariat, but Kobashi grabs a DDT. Crowd is pumped. Kobashi pugnaciously grabs a Sleeper, shades of their '91 match, he is so overzealous I think he busts his nose on the top of Hansen's head as he is bleeding after that. He weakens him enough to hit a top rope legdrop, fist pump, YES, Moonsault, no one home! Too bad! Hansen goes for his third powerbomb but collapses under the weight! Great selling by Hansen he really put Kobashi over. Kobashi goes head-hunting and pours it on with a ton of leg drop variations he cant get it done. Hansen is fighting back but Kobashi is just chopping through it. Kobashi tries a backslide and inside cradle. On an Irish Whip, Hansen reverses, Kobashi ducks the Lariat, but Hansen SMOKES him on the rebound! Awesome finish! Great TV match! Efficient and compact! These two are just plain awesome together! ****

[KB8]

More of a condensed, low-key version of this match-up, but then even the low-key version of these two is going to bottom out at pretty great. It's everything that makes it a timeless pairing. Kobashi is dogged and his refusal to stay down in the face of such a mauling is inspiring, while Hansen does what he always does and overwhelms Kobashi with redneck fury. Kobashi dips into his big bag of offence and once or twice it looks like he might sustain a real advantage, but then Hansen will outright punch him in the face or boot him in the throat and shut him down. We get the staple powerbomb on the floor and I love how Kobashi just stares dead at the ceiling afterwards like "why do I keep getting in the ring with this man?" Hansen going after the neck for a bit and sort of using the dragon sleeper as a base was a really cool wrinkle as well, one that I don't remember him using in their other matches. He's such a big guy that you can easily buy him smothering you with something like that. Incredible finish as well, with Kobashi seemingly coming up with a way to avoid having his head taken off, only to turn around and have his head taken off. There was also a moment in this at the very start that encapsulates everything great about Hansen. He drags Kobashi to the floor and tries to wade into the crowd for a chair. The barricade blocks his way, but in his haste to procure a weapon he doesn't seem to realise that the gate opens towards him. He tries to shove it the opposite way but of course that's not how it's supposed to open. So instead of stopping for literally one second to open it correctly, the way the gate was intended to be opened by design, he just boots it inward until the hinge no longer has any say in the matter. Bend to his will or be broken. The Hansen way.