When I first started this journey to determine the best match in Japan during the 00s decade, there was no stretch I was looking forward to more than the Kobashi GHC Heavyweight Title Reign that lasted from 2003 through 2005. It is generally regarded as one of the greatest title reigns in the history of pro wrestling and I would argue was the high water mark of interest in puroresu in America leading to Ring Of Honor bringing in Kobashi to face Samoa Joe in New York City. The following blog echoes these sentiments plus will give a more comprehensive look at the title reign (I will only look at 8 of the 15 GHC Title matches over the course of two blogs): http://cewshreviews.blogspot.com/2012/10/sunday-supplement-kenta-kobashi-and.html
 |
| A Burning Champion |
On March 1, 2003, Kenta Kobashi did more than just win the GHC Heavyweight Championship from ex-tag partner, rival and fellow Four Corner of Heaven, Mitsuharu Misawa. He became The Man of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Tracing back to All Japan Pro Wrestling, Misawa had been undisputed Ace since 1992 and even though he would lose the Triple Crown, everyone still knew who The Man. It is similar to John Cena's status in the WWE when he does not have the title. Like Cena now, Misawa was winding down and it was time for another wrestler to assume the mantle of Ace of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Once Kobashi came back in 2002, Akiyama's days as champion were numbered and after two transition reigns Misawa regained the GHC Championship to build to the Clash of the Titans Budokan March 1, 2003 match with rival, Kenta Kobashi. The match did not disappoint in the slightest. It was a very fitting climax filled with high drama, intrigue and of course big bombs. Try as he might, there was no denying Kobashi on that night as he seized the torch from one of the greatest champions to ever live.
A title victory does not make a title reign great unto itself. While the best title defenses will be showcased in the part 2, this blog gives you a taste of what made Kobashi a great champion. Kobashi, one of the greatest offensive dynamos in the history of wrestling, took a step back allowed himself to be more vulnerable than ever before. He gave huge swaths of his matches to challengers like partner, Tamon Honda and New Japan invader, Yuji Nagata. In doing so, he constructed great matches that planted seeds of doubt into viewers' head and had them clamoring for the big Kobashi firework comeback. In the Honda match, he basically made life-long mid-card nobody Tamon Honda into an upper mid-card performer and a credible partner for him to defeat Akiyama & Saito for the tag titles. In the Nagata match, Nagata and Kobashi generated that rare big fight feel that makes a match special. Not to be outdone, Nagata just came off setting the record for most IWGP Title Defenses and defeated Four Corner of Heaven, Akira Taue. The match felt bigger than GHC Title. It was a match where the winner who would declared the best Japanese wrestler in the world at that point and the undisputed Japanese Wrestler of 2003. While, this is all going on, they are building to the big money match, Kobashi vs Akiyama at the Egg Dome.
After having a rocket strapped to his ass, Akiyama had settled down to rule the tag team division with the mountain of suck known as Akitoshi Saito. While does Saito does suck, I did rank their title defense against Kobashi & Shiga as the second best match of 2002. After Kobashi won, Akiyama began to provide commentary for Kobashi's title defenses or was shown watching them. He had defeated Kobashi at the second ever NOAH show via choke-out, but fell prey to the Burning Hammer in their epic December 2000 blowoff. Now both were on a collision course. Also apart of the buildup were tag team matches pitting their two stables Sterness and Burning against each other. At the June Budokan show, Kobashi & Honda defeated Akiyama & Saito to win the tag titles featuring one of the best home stretches in the history of wrestling. In August of the same year, the two stables faced off in 8-Man Tag, but this time the emphasis was placed on the rising stars of the Junior Heavyweight division, regardless Akiyama & Co. picked up the win. As we will see in part two, it all comes to head in NOAH's debut show at world-famous Tokyo Egg Dome with a crowd of 50,000 to watch Kenta Kobashi defend the GHC Championship against Jun Akiyama.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 02/27/00
2. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 03/01/03
3. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00
4. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01
5. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00
6. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 12/23/00
7. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Ohtani & Takaiwa vs Kanemoto & Minoru - NJPW 6/25/00
8. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title
9. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01
10. IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01
11. Shinya Hashimoto & Takashi Iizuka vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murkami - Tokyo Dome 01/04/00
12. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 04/13/03
13. Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - AJPW 6/30/01
14. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00
15. GHC Tag Team Champions Sterness (Akiyama & Saito) vs Burning (Kobashi & Honda) - Budokan 6/6/03
16. GHC Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 07/27/01
17. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yuji Nagata - Budokan 9/12/03
18. New Japan (Liger & Minoru ) vs. NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02
19. GHC Tag Champions Akiyama & Saito vs Kobashi & Shiga - NOAH 10/19/02
20. Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 07/23/00
21. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00
22. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00
23. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival '00
24. Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - NOAH #2 08/06/00
25. GHC Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02
26. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01
27. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 07/07/02
28. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama - Tokyo Dome 05/02
29. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Vader vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 2/27/00
30. IWGP Jr Tag Champions Kanemoto & Minoru vs Liger & Makabe - NJPW 9/12/00
31. Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final
32. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Champions Carnival '00
33. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Budokan 02/17/02
34. Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama - NOAH #1 08/05/00
35. New Japan (Liger & Inoue) vs NOAH (Kikuchi & Kanemaru) - NOAH 2/17/02
36. IWGP Jr Hvywt Tag Champs Liger & Minoru vs. Kikuchi & Kanemaru - NJPW 8/29/02'
37. Sterness vs. Burning 8-Man Tag - NOAH 08/03
38. Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 01/17/00
39. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 02/24/02
40. Yoshihiro Takayma vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax Semifinals
41. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax Round Robin
42. SUWA vs Dragon Kid - Toryumon 08/24/00 Hair Vs Mask
43. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka - Zero-One 3/02/02
44. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01
45. NJPW(Liger, Minoru , Makabe) vs Osaka Pro(Delfin, Murhama, Tsubasa)-NJPW 12/14/00
46. Toshiaki Kawada vs Vader - AJPW 2/17/00
47. Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama - Zero-One 3/2/01
48. Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 06/06/01
49. Naoki Sano vs Minoru Tanaka - Battlarts 01/30/2000
50. Dick Togo vs Tiger Mask IV - M-Pro 08/25/02
51. GHC Tag Team Champions Wild II vs Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito - Budokan 9/23/02
 |
| I wonder whats in the briefcase...I bet it is a backgammon set. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 3/01/03
This is how you seize the torch. Finally, Kobashi takes the mantle from Misawa as the full-fledged and embarks on a magnificent heavyweight title reign. Very rarely in wrestling and sports is a there a "torch passing" moment so when it does happen it truly feels like a special match. So when you take an extraordinary match add this touch of gravitas you have the makings of a Match of the Decade candidate. I would argue that this is the most famous match of the era and thus will come under extra scrutiny. After watching the match for either the fourth or fifth time, I believe it warrants inclusion among the best matches produced in Japan in the 00s.
The story of this match was Kobashi would not be denied on this night. After years and years of proving his mettle, he was ready to defeat Misawa definitively. For Misawa, it was his last stand as The Man of Japan. It was a fitting climax to the story of two great, competitive rivals. The beginning of the match is Misawa establishing control and setting the pace with his elbow. After scoring the first bomb (a backdrop driver), Misawa stymies Kobashi at every turn with the elbow while focusing on Kobashi's arm removing the lariat and chop from the arsenal. Kobashi sells the arm like a champ as he cant apply the sleeper due to the arm work. When Misawa has the opportunity to hit his customary diving elbow, he was not expecting to crash and burn into the railing chin-first coming up with a nasty gash. Much like the chin-first drop toehold in the amazing '00 Akiyama match, Kobashi sees his opening and pounces. Everything is focused on debilitating the neck of Misawa. If you have control of the head & neck, you have control of the body. Kobashi paces his work a little better than Akiyama reserving his bombs for later content for using cravats and DDTs. The best spot of the segment is when Misawa goes for the monkey flip and Kobashi just falls back and eats turnbuckle. Kobashi starts to chop the fuck out of Misawa's neck, but Misawa ain't having any of it. We were one muscle flex away from Misawa doing his best Luger impression. It does not matter if it is Greensboro Coliseum or Budokan Hall, that spot is over like rover. The playing field is levelled after a trading a spinning back chop and a Roaring Elbow,
Misawa is first up, but Kobashi still has fight left in him and Misawa elbows him back in the head. He rattles off his finishing sequence that has culminated in so many victories. He goes for Emerald Flowsion, but Kobashi desperately shoves him into the turnbuckles to save himself and hits a half nelson suplex. Kobashi will not be denied as he fights through elbows to hit a LARIATOOOOOO! The struggle over a suplex and MIsawa suplexes him on the ramp then dives through the ropes to elbow Kobashi on the ramp. After 25 minutes, they are both out on the ramp and I just wondering what is going through their minds knowing what the next spot will be. In the spot of the match, Misawa Tiger Suplexes Kobashi off the ramp onto floor. I still lose my shit when it happens. "KO-BASH-I" chants ring out in the Budokan and they tease the double countout finish to really put over that spot. Misawa only gets a two. To steal a phrase from DDP, this crowd is JAAAAAAAAACCCKED!!! Both men selling the fatigue and battle wear like champs. Kobashi throws wild chops, but Misawa catches him with nasty back elbows. Kobashi is falling over himself on jelly legs and finally Misawa hits it. The end all be all: Emerald Flowsion. 1-2-KICK OUT CROWD LOSES THEIR SHIT~! Delayed brainbuster triggers the MI-SA-WA chant. This crowd does not want it to end. Burning Hammer brings the match and the rivalry to a fitting conclusion. Kobashi grabs the reins from the Misawa in a classic barnburner. *****
 |
| This Is Gonna Hurt |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 4/13/03
This is my first Tamon Honda match and I don't think I got him until the tag title match after this so I will need to rewatch this match down the line. I thought it was a great match, but not an elite match. It is a perfect first title defense for Kobashi against a solid midcarder, who had some solid victories in 2002 and a very good Olympic record in freestyle wrestling. Plus established Honda as Kobashi's #2 and a reputable tag partner. This has to be Honda's career performance with a great array of throws and submissions to try put down Kobashi. Kobashi just has too much game for Honda, who is outgunned by the new champion.
The beginning match establishes just that: Kobashi is the champion and he is going to control the beginning because he is the better wrestler. Now, Honda is the game from the beginning going for cradles and being able to throw Kobashi on a headlock, but cant turn the tide early against the offensive juggernaut that is Kobashi. Kobashi DDTs him on the ramp and it looks like nothing can stop him. Until in a badass spot, Honda German suplexes Kobashi over the ropes onto the ramp. Now thats creatively badass. As is a staple of Kobashi matches, his opponent goes to work on the arm to take away the Lariat and the chop. Kobashi is such a master seller of this every time out and sells the cross-armbreaker very well. Honda goes back to the top wristlock to quash any Kobashi resistance. Honda freaking headbutts Kobashi's arm. Kobashi nails the back drop driver and sells the arm well, but you know it is coming, the Orange Tsunami is going to overwhelm Honda, a DDT and 2 half-nelson suplexes confirm it. Honda gamely tries to hold on by grabbing his Olympic Hell (did not realize this was a finish just thought it was a chinlock until after I did some reading.). Honda starts throwing Kobashi around climaxing with a top rope German suplex and again goes back to Olympic Hell. He can't put him away and goes for the powerbomb. Kobashi-rana and LARIAT!!! The end is nigh as they show the GHC title. Out of nowhere, spear by Honda. Honda force Kobashi over on the German, but eats a LARIAT. Everybody is out. Honda one last pin attempt before sleepr suplex and BURNING LARIAT continue Kobashi's title reign.
Kobashi worked the match much more underneath relying on his selling to get match over and in turn helping to make Honda look like a credible threat. Honda impressed me with throws and his work on the arm. Once I realized Olympic Hell was more than a intensely held chinlock I think I would like this match even more. I could see why some detractors of Kobashi who go after his offensive-laden matches may choose this as a shining example of a great Kobashi match. I thought it was perfect way to start a title reign, but at the same time allows to be even greater matches down the road rather than blowing your wad all at once. ****1/4
 |
| This Gonna Hurt More |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
GHC Tag Team Champions Sterness (Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito) vs Burning (Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda) - Budokan 6/6/03
During the home stretch of this match is when I got Honda, which is why I need to rewatch that GHC title defense again towards the end of the project. The GHC Title defense established Honda as a solid junior partner (not in the weight sense) for Kobashi to go up against Kobashi's arch-nemesis and his junior partner. The finish run of this match stands as one of the best finishes I have ever seen, but I thought the first half of the match was really just there. If you JIP to Kobashi's hot tag and then extrapolate out I could imagine someone dropping the full monty on this match, but the outset and Honda's FIP were really lukewarm. It is not as bad as a disjointed match to grade. It is just they sort of go from the ground floor to the top floor in two blinks of an eye instead of a gradual build.
The match follows the usual Japanese formula the heels isolate the junior partner, but cant handle big gun. I love this formula; I just did not think it was executed with as much panache as usual. At the beginning, Akiyama pokes Kobashi in the eye, which fires up Kobashi to chop the fuck outta him. When Saito and Honda tango, Saito gets an upper hand so Kobashi comes in and puts him in his place. When Honda is back in, Saito wins a suplex struggle and Akiyama hits a high knee. Thus the basic strategy is established isolate Honda because Kobashi is too much man to handle. What I love about Japan is not everything so black and white even though Honda is the junior in the pecking order, he is still a world class athlete so he can defend himself and throw Akiyama down. However, everything has been fine to this point, but not super badass then you had some meaningless bomb throwing: Akiyama hits Kobashi with a DDT on the ramp and the next move is a Kobashi superplex. Sterness gets the match back on track with a sweet spike piledriver on the floor to Honda. The face in peril sequence after that just kinda meandered as they were just going through the motions.
Honda spear and hot tag to Kobashi ignites the crowd and takes a good match and turns it into a classic. It is spinning back chops for everyone and Akiyama is out on his feet. Sleeper suplex, but finally Saito does something worthwhile and hits a HUGE German suplex. Saito had not ruined this match for me, but he was definitely not making it better. C'mon Saito you are still going to do a lot more than just that to take Kobashi down. Spinning back chop and a half-nelson suplex on ramp and Kobashi was back on top. At this point, Honda takes over the match for 5 or so minutes is the best wrestler in the world. No written word recap will do this finish justice. It is one of the more dramatic finishes to a Japanese tag or any match ever. It is filled with saves, Honda Germans, Olympic Hell out of Exploders and high drama. The pop for Honda's victory over Akiyama is one of the loudest I have heard from a Budokan Hall. This match is why you can never project where a match is going to go. What started as a ho-hum match turned into a classic finish with a great underdog babyface victory. It is hard to rate, but I will need to re-watch. I am going conservatively and saying ****.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Burning (Kenta Kobashi, Tamon Honda, KENTA) & Naomichi Marufuji vs Sterness (Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Makoto Hashi) - Korakuen 08/23/03
I was watching a spotfest when I wrote this. Forgive me if it goes astray.
I have actually been looking forward to seeing KENTA & Marufuji's big run as it is something I missed that is highly polarizing. I am always interested in wrestling acts that are highly polarizing. I really liked the KENTA/Nakajima series from 2009 and in general enjoyed him. I always thought Marufuji would have been better off on the Japanese gymnastics team or the Japanese version of Jackass/Stupid Human Tricks. This is NOT a Kobashi/Akiyama match at all. It is actually quite jarring watching Kobashi & Akiyama take part in such a 00s spotfest. I am not trying to say they are beneath it. It is just not how they work that makes this strange to watch. This is definitely a KENTAFuji showcase and their new en vogue style.
This match affirms everything I remember: KENTA is pretty good and Marufuji is just atrocious. There are just so many lame gymnastics exchanges from Marufuji that look especially bad when Kobashi comes in and just chops the fuck out of Kanemaru. KENTA is athletic, but remembers to actually hit you. I thought this was a very quiet performance from Honda, which disappointed me after his monster performance in the GHC Tag Title match. I could watch Kobashi chop the fuck out of Hashi & Kanemaru all day. Once Marufuji starts getting his ass kicked I start to enjoy the match a lot more. Nothing makes me want someone to get their ass kicked more than after they hit Sliced Bread No. 2. When you hit that move, I just want you to take closed fists to the head and piledrivers to eternity. Unfortunately all good things come to an end and Marufuji takes out Akiyama's knee and tags in the big man, Kobashi. Kobashi crushes Akiyama. Saito throwing KENTA down with an urnage was the best thing he has ever done. If this review seems disjointed, it is because they are just throwing out a ton of shit. Saito powerbombs KENTA and Kanemaru frogsplash, but triple save. Burning quadruple teams Kanemaru. Ballshot Kanemaru! Use the Ballshot!!! In the spot of the match Kobashi puts Kanemaru on Honda and winds him up to hit an Inverted Alabama Slamma. That was pretty cool. KENTA runs through some offense, but gets pinned from behind on a rollup. What the fuck?!?!?!
KENTAFuji are taking over. Ok? Get used to it. Spotfest in every sense of the word. It is a really fun match with some cool stuff in it. I thought the finish was pretty lame as they should have gone out like they came in a blaze of glory. I dig spotfests, but they can only get so high for me. ***1/2
--------------------------------------------------------------
 |
| NOAH vs New Japan |
GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yuji Nagata - Budokan 09/12/03
"Mr. IWGP" Yuji Nagata having just broken the title defense record as the IWGP champion (10 defenses, which would stand until Tanahashi's 2011-2012 reign) and defeating Akira Taue at the most recent Budokan show in June looks to wrest the top prize in NOAH from their ace, Kenta Kobashi. A victory here for either would cement the winner as the hottest star in puroresu. Both took part in New Japan's last ever sellout of the Egg Dome in May of 2003 where Nagata lost his IWGP title to Takayama while Kobashi successfully defended against Masa Chono. Kobashi was riding a tidal wave of success as the freshly minted ace of NOAH having defeated Misawa in March and was looking like the biggest star in Japan. However, a loss here and Nagata could easily claim the mantle of the hottest star in puroresu. This just had a big fight feel that the last three matches were lacking. The Budokan crowd was rocking from the outset and never let up. They were lapping up everything from the first chop exchange to the final BURNING LARIATO!
Early on, Kobashi asserts his dominance over Nagata with his chop. He suckers Nagata into his type of match: chop exchanges, tests of strength and and bombs. Nagata eventually realizes that is not a game he can win. He just gets tired of Kobashi chopping him and starts unloading with kicks to Kobashi's chopping arm. Nagata even pushes the ref away from him as he works over the arm and that gets the crowd on his case. The Nagatalock III is an armbar variation that has proven to be a death knell for all his opponents and the entire time in this segment Nagata works his darndest to apply the hold and Kobashi works equally hard to stay out of it. This sense of struggle lent itself to great drama and the best Nagata singles performance I have seen yet. Once Kobashi is able to score a bomb (half-nelson), Nagata seems to lose his sense of strategy. Kobashi is able to level the playing field with a lariat. Kobashi is still selling the arm allowing for Nagata to hit his own bombs including a wicked back body drop that only gets two. Kobashi is able to shift his weight on a suplex attempt and after a lot of struggle he hits a corner powerbomb (Im such a mark for that move). They are selling battle exhaustion really well here even if they dropped arm story prematurely. Surprisingly, Kobashi gives a lot of the home stretch to Nagata after Nagata hits a wild spin kick to press advantage. This ultimately helped the crowd dynamics as they are more predisposed to cheer for the underdog so after Kobashi survived the Nagata onslaught of a super exploder, a barrage of enziguiris and a back drop driver, the crowd exploded with a huge "KO-BASH-I" chant. Kobashi reversed an Irish Whip with a Lariat. I love the camera shot of a concerned female fan who is all of sudden ebullient then they cut back and Kobashi has that "This Fucker Bout To Die" expression. Brainbuster gets two and a BURNING LARIAT secures the win.
Budokan crowd loved this match and really was hanging on every nearfall. Nagata had been so well-built by NJPW and the win over Taue made him one of the better challengers from a booking standpoint. From a match standpoint, Nagata just is not an elite wrestler. He is missing the intangibles. He does not doing anything poorly, but he is not great at anything. I think they could have had a classic if they stuck with the arm work and told an interesting story. Instead they went with the bomb throwing match, which is something that Kobashi excels at. The match just felt very safe. They performed a match in Kobashi's wheelhouse and delivered satisfaction to those in attendance. The difference between a Nagata and a Hashimoto or a Mutoh would be they would have forced Kobashi out of his safety zone. In turn, Kobashi would have forced Hash and Mutoh out of their comfort zone. If Nagata forced Kobashi to work a little more NJPW style (read: more matwork) I think it could have been a more unique match. As it stands it is just another very good Kobashi match. ****
No comments:
Post a Comment