| "Superstar" Steve and Kenta Kobashi |
| Written by "Superstar" Steve |
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Kenta Kobashi is one of the most respected Japanese wrestlers of our time. Over the years Kenta Kobashi has done extensive damage to his body just to give the fans their money’s worth. He has severely damaged his knees from his repeated top rope moonsaults. He won the Triple Crown three times. The Triple Crown is ALL Japan Pro Wrestling's version of the heavyweight championship that is comprised of three different belts. While competing for All Japan Pro Wrestling, Kenta Kobashi was the last man to hold the title before the much documented NOAH split. In 2001, Kobashi had numerous surgeries on both knees forcing him to take an extended leave of absence from the promotion. Many thought that there was no way that he would be able to come back and be the same man he was before, but true to his nature not only did he come back but he was on the verge of an historic feat.
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Kobashi returned to the ring on February 17, 2002 to a sold out Budokan Hall. He competed in a tag team match with Mitsuharu Misawa as his partner taking on the team of Jun Akiyama and Yuji Nagata. Being there to personally witness his return was quite the experience, although nothing compared to what was to come. The atmosphere was electric and this was the match that everyone had come to see. The building was whipped into a frenzy anticipating the entrance of Kobashi after his extended absence. The 16,500 people in attendance were chanting KO-BA-SHI, KO-BA-SHI, KO-BA-SHI, waiting for him to make his appearance, and when he did they all exploded in excitement. Up until this point in my career I had never seen someone receive such an ovation. Once the bell rang all four men gave it everything they had and naturally Akiyama and Nagata focused on his knees. At 26 minutes and 49 seconds into the match Kobashi was pinned by Akiyama with a variation of his finishing maneuver, the Exploider suplex. Kobashi had successfully made his return to the ring with an outstanding performance; however, he ended up suffering further ligament damage to one of his knees that required more time off.
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Come July Kobashi was ready to make another comeback. This time instead of starting off in the main event of one of the company’s biggest shows, he would start back in the opening match and work his way up the card. I also happened to be on this tour and ended up wrestling against Kobashi in various tag team and six man matches, six of them to be exact. The first match was actually the second show of the tour and I had no idea what to expect. Being in the ring, looking across at him was almost unreal. No matter what the situation is, whenever Kobashi is around you can't help but to be in awe of the man and the attention and respect that he receives and demands. The man’s strength is incredible and he had no problem tossing me around. On this occasion his team would be victorious. After this first encounter I thought that maybe I would have an upper hand in the rest of the matches since I had the experience of being in the ring with him, however that was not the case. In all six matches that I faced Kobashi and his team, I came out on the losing end. It was as if he actually was getting stronger as the tour went on. Not only was he wrestling every night but he was also the first guy to begin his workout before the shows and usually the last to leave after the show. If there was one good thing to come out of this tour though, I would have to say it was a turning point in the career of Superstar Steve. I may have lost every match that I had with Kobashi but it quite the learning experience and one I will never forget.
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It seems that Kobashi must have agreed with me and felt he was getting stronger during the July tour. The next tour began in late August and ended in early September. He had moved up to the middle of the card on most nights. The momentum was mounting and soon it would be unstoppable! Kobashi was slowly returning to his old form. He was moving around in the ring better than he had in some time, and his desire to succeed was undeniable. By October he was wrestling primarily in the main events and upper card matches on every show. I had the opportunity to wrestle him on the first show and couldn't believe how much he had progressed from just a few months before. However, towards the end of this tour things changed and I had the opportunity to team up with Kobashi. It was a six man match and our opponents were Misawa, Ogawa, and Sano. The result of the match was Sano pinning me with a northern lights bomb, but the focal point of the match was Misawa and Kobashi squaring off against each other. they were both very well aware of each other as Kobashi was actually Misawa's young boy when he was breaking in to the business, which means basically that he was Misawa's gopher. Anything that misawa wanted Kobashi to do he would have to do, that’s just how the Japanese culture is. Eventually, they would go on to be tag team partners and eventually bitter rivals. When they were in the ring at the same time the heat was off the charts. It must have planted a seed in Kobashi's mind because on the August/September tour Misawa had won the GHC heavyweight title. I think Kobashi may have seen the response that the two of them had and decided that he may soon be in good enough shape to challenge for the title.
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The next two tours found Kobashi still primarily at the top of the cards with it becoming more and more clear that he was building up to a title match with Misawa as he was wrestling more singles matches and competing in tag matches with more of the top guys. He even squared off against Misawa a total of seven times on those two tours. Shortly after the conclusion of the January tour it became official that Kobashi would challenge Misawa on March 1, 2003 at Budokan Hall for the GHC heavyweight title. Being scheduled for the March tour myself, I was ecstatic!
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The first show of the tour had Misawa and Kobashi facing off in the main event to heat up the singles match that would conclude the tour. It took place at a sold out Korakuen Hall and as you can imagine, the heat for these two men was off the charts. Misawa ended up winning the match for his team, but it also got across just how intense their singles match would be. As the tour went on Kobashi seemed more and more focused on his match. His intensity in all of his matches was unparalleled and it seemed there was no stopping the man. Finally, when the the day of the Budokan Hall show arrived you could just sense that something great was going to happen. Everything seemed normal as the day progressed, but by the time I came out for my match there was an electric feel in the air, something that cannot really be explained. I was the 4th match on the card in a six man tag and the building was already packed, which is unusual for the fans of Japan as they normally work late and miss the first few matches. I could tell they were waiting for the main event with great anticipation. By the time the match rolled around I found the best place in the building to watch.......ringside. If you happen to see a tape of this match you will see me looking on, right next to the ring. The anticipation for Kobashi was mounting and when his music hit everyone in unison was chanting KO-BA-SHI, KO-BA-SHI, KO-BA-SHI. When he finally made his way from behind the curtain, the audience exploded with an ovation. It was just amazing how much they loved and respected Kobashi. Misawa received a thunderous ovation himself when he entered from behind his curtain. I was like a third grader on Christmas morning waiting for mom and dad to get up, the anticipation was killing me by this point! Once both men were in the ring there was an official proclamation read stating that this is a title match that was one fall and had a one hour time limit. It is tradition in Japan to throw streamers into the ring. There were so many streamers thrown that it took several minutes to get the ring cleaned. As the referee called for the bell for the match to begin, the place went nuts waiting for the first lock-up. They started by feeling each other out, neither man wanting to make a mistake that would shift the momentum in the other man’s favor. The action would soon pick up with both men alternating who was on the offense. Kobashi used his trademark move, the chop, as his primary weapon with Misawa using his trademark fore-arms. It was an intense battle with both men taking each other to their limit before Kobashi was finally triumphant with his trademark finishing move, the burning hammer, a move so dangerous that he has only used it on rare occasions to secure a victory. At last Kobashi was the GHC heavyweight champion.
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Kobashi would go on to hold the title for two full years before finally falling to Takeshi Rikio on March 5, 2005 at a sold out Budokan Hall. In the time that Kobashi was champion he sold out nearly every major show, including a show at the Tokyo dome that drew 58,000 people. His title reign was one for the record books and his winning the title is something that I will never forget, as it ranks high on my list of all time favorite matches. In June of 2006 Kobashi was diagnosed with cancer on one of his kidneys and took an extended leave of absence from wrestling. On December 2, 2007 he made his triumphant return to a sold out Budokan Hall that was going crazy for him. Unfortunately, Kobashi was on the losing side of this match and is in the process of wrestling only a few matches per tour. One has to question whether or not he will soon be finding himself back in the title picture. I wouldn't bet against it.
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