One of my many New Years Resolutions is to publish more content on pro wrestling. I write numerous reviews almost daily on prowrestlingonly.com (celebrating its tenth birthday! Congratulations Charles!) as Superstar Sleeze, which is also my twitter handle (@superstarsleeze). I want to take those reviews and start organizing them and really spotlighting the matches that really showcase the intricacy, depth and beauty of professional wrestling.
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| All Hail Kenta Kobashi! |
The easiest way to organize is through lists. I want to compile lists of the greatest matches for a given time period and promotion/geography. I am not as much a completest and perfectionist as some wrestling fans. I live by Voltaire's words "Search for perfection is the enemy of good.". That being said, I still want to make sure I watch all important matches before I release lists. My one problem is I am the opposite of obsessive compulsive and have a hard time watching one era continuously before I want to switch gears. Thus I am starting with the Best of Japan something I have published before, but I never really gave it the time it deserved on this blog.
I will explain the year system at a later date, but this first series will look at the Best of Japan has to offer between 2003-2007. I am going to highlight the top 13 matches from this time period in Japan. Here are the other 9 matches that were given at least ****1/2 as honorable mentions.
22. AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07
21. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama - Tokyo Dome 07/10/04
20. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/10/06
19. Akira Taue vs Yuji Nagata - NOAH 6/6/03
18. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 04/13/03
17. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH 11/5/05
16. Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs Jun Akiyama & Genichiro Tenryu - Budokan 4/24/2005
15. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 7/19/04
14. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Togi Makabe - NJPW 07/06/07
New Years Day is a day of hope. No match in my mind represents hope like Kenta Kobashi's return match to Pro Wrestling NOAH in the hallowed Budokan Hall on December 2, 2007. Kobashi, who played the hero his whole career, had vanquished his toughest opponent, cancer and now was returning to the place he truly loved, the squared circle. Kobashi is one of those wrestlers that when you watch him you wrestle you can see the love and passion he has for the craft. We have the opportunity to watch Kobashi mature and develop not just as a wrestler but as a man. From the boy that was manhandled by Stan Hansen through the early 90s to finally overcome the loudmouth Texan bully. From being the junior partner of Mitsuharu Misawa in the mid-90s, constantly in peril to finally ascending to his place in the Sun seizing the torch from Misawa in 2003. He became Kobashi The Destroyer a world beater that went on an amazing two year title reign in mid-2000s. Cancer cripples even the mightiest of heros. But in true Kobashi's fashion he made his fiery, burning comeback and defeated his greatest adversary. With that victory, he earned the opportunity after twenty months to return to his home inside the ring and join his rivals, peers and friends. He was no longer Kobashi The Destroyer of the mid-2000s and he had come full circle back to the vulnerable hero in peril beaten down, but never out because that fire inside him always burns. His story is one of hard work, dedication, passion and most importantly hope. The hope that no obstacle is insurmountable, no goal out of reach and nothing that cannot be destroyed by A BURNING LARIAOTOOOOOOOOOOO!
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| Down but never out! |
13. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama -
Pro Wrestling NOAH Budokan 12/02/07
"Do not be afraid for I am with you."
Emotionally, there is no more moving 00s puroresu match than this. It was a conquering hero's welcome for Kenta Kobashi. The fans chanting "Ko-Bash-I" before the match. Tamon Honda crying on commentary. Kobashi teaming with one of his great rivals against two of the fellow All Japan Five Pillars in his return match from cancer. Regardless of how I felt about Kobashi from 2005 and 2006, I had an ear-to-ear smile seeing Kobashi again. I mean it is not like Kobashi was going to job to cancer.
I would argue you cannot separate the emotion and content of the match. The match is so fueled by Kobashi's return that intangible propels this match into a 2007 Match of the Year Candidate. Takayama was so surprisingly good at being a cheerleader and playing to the crowd to get Kobashi involved. I don't know if Kobashi was selling the after effects of cancer or if he was actually severely weakened because I found his shine sequence a bit tepid and even sluggish. At first, I was exclaiming "Poor Akiyama!" because it seemed like he was made to be the jabroni of the match. I was beginning to think that emotion would not be able to sustain the heat of the match.
Misawa catching Kobashi with an elbow as he comes off the top is when the match goes from good to excellent in really quick order. Kobashi is no longer Superman and all of sudden we get 1993 Kobashi playing face in peril against two of the greatest offensive wrestlers in history. Save for the Kawada/Fuchi heat segment on Iizuka, I can't think of a better face in peril segment in the 2000s in Japan. Kobashi as a face in peril is just so timeless. Even though it is 2007, we have not seen vulnerable Kobashi in so long and it is so refreshing. When you add that Kobashi was coming back from cancer, the sympathy levels are just off the charts. I loved that when Kobashi seems to be turning the tide on Akiyama, Misawa comes in and elbows Kobashi to a chorus of boos!!! Takayama has to hold Misawa on the top rope to allow Kobashi to hit a superplex and tag out to Takayama.
Takayama as a hot tag is so awesome to finally see. It is so short-lived because Misawa blows him out of the water with an elbow. I really loved the Takayama/Akiyama sequence and would have loved to seen them mix it up in a high-profiled singles match. Takayama could have gone for a cover on Akiyama, but he knows that the crowd wants Kobashi and he tags him in. Kobashi runs through his spots to great crowd reaction and I was beaming right with them. Misawa saves Akiyama again, but Takayama tackles Misawa so that Kobashi can hit the moonsault on Akiyama. Kick out! Honda crying! From there, Kobashi gets another nearfall on Misawa with the Burning Lariat, but eventually AKiyama and Misawa were able to overwhelm the weakened Kobashi. Misawa could not score the win with the Emerald Flowsion, but he secured the victory with a Super Emerald Flowsion.
So the time honored tradition continued with the returning wrestling doing the job with the rationale being ring rust and having to earn his return. Kobashi is at his absolute best as the underdog and for the first time since the 90s he is in the role he was meant to play. Takayama was great at being a badass, but always showcasing Kobashi. Akiyama was thankfully not a total jabroni in the match even though he was the one that Kobashi could get over on. As good as Akiyama was as a dick, but my God, Misawa was excellent. It is not his best match in the 00s, but I thought it was his best performance since February of 2000 against Akiyama. He was so cold and calculating, He did not care that his ex-partner and his friend was returning from cancer. He was here to win. He was not going to take it easy on Kobashi. All the factors came together to produce an amazing tour de force. ****1/2
Post-Script from Second Viewing: It was the feel good match of the 2000s in Japan and I know it is a time-honored tradition that "he who returns" jobs, but fuck Kobashi should have won. They chanted Kobashi during Misawa's theme during the exit. If there was ever time to break with tradition, it was now. The crowd was just on fire for Kobashi. I was going crazy for a second time for the moonsault. What a reaction! Takayama was destroying everything, Akiyama was kneeing everything and Misawa elbowing everything. I never thought I hear Misawa get booed AND Takayama cheered for suplexing Misawa. Crazy! I loved Kobashi showing vulnerability and being that never say die Kobashi of the 90s.
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