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Kenta Kobashi

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Kenta Kobashi
File:Kenta-kobashi.jpg
Born (1967-03-27) March 27, 1967 (age 57)
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Kenta Kobashi
Billed height186 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Billed weight120 kg (282 lb)
Trained byGiant Baba
Dory Funk, Jr.
Masanobu Fuchi
Kazuharu Sonoda
DebutFebruary 26, 1988,
against Motoshi Okuma

Kenta Kobashi (小橋建太, Kobashi Kenta) is a professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling NOAH. He has previously worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Career

All Japan Pro Wrestling

Kobashi practiced Judo and rugby during high school in Fukuchiyama. He practised body building after his graduation while working "regular" jobs. He applied and was accepted to All Japan Pro Wrestling's dojo on June 20, 1987. He was trained there by Giant Baba, Dory Funk, Jr., Masanobu Fuchi, and Kazuharu Sonoda. Kobashi debuted as a professional wrestler in Ryuo, Shiga on February 26, 1988. He was booked by Shohei 'Giant' Baba to lose his first 63 matches (all singles bouts). It was all part of Baba's master plan: even in defeat, the fiery, charismatic Kobashi shined, and his gutsy, never-say-die efforts earned him the Rookie Of The Year award from the Japanese press. Kobashi won his first match in May 1989 (against Jim Crockett Promotions jobber Mitch Snow). Eleven months later he lifted his first title - the All-Asian tag team championship - with Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa). Over the next two years, Kobashi held the All-Asian belts with Johnny Ace twice and with Tsuyoshi Kikuchi once. The title win with Kikuchi over Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas in May 1992 came in the best match that year.

During 1989, when the Road Warriors were in AJPW, they taught Kobashi how to train every day. He first gained some prominence as member of Mitsuharu Misawa's faction during Misawa's feud with Jumbo Tsuruta. Kobashi during this period played dual roles according to who his partners and opponents were. When teamed with the higher ranking Mitsuharu Misawa or Toshiaki Kawada, Kobashi would play the gutsy underdog. At the same time, when teamed with the much smaller Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, he would play a "big brother" role, coming in to try to save the day after Kikuchi had been worked on for a while by the opponents.

Tag team with Misawa

In 1993 he became Misawa's main tag partner in the middle of the year when Kawada became Misawa's main rival. He gained his first singles victory over a former Triple Crown Champion when he defeated Terry Gordy in May of that year. On December 3, 1993 Kobashi gained his first pin over Kawada, won his first Real World Tag League, and won his first AJPW World Tag Team Championship.

Kobashi's singles matches around this time with Stan Hansen, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Toshiaki Kawada are amongst his most highly regarded. In tag competition he had strong efforts with opponents as diverse as rookie Jun Akiyama to elderly legend and promotion owner Giant Baba.

Over the next few years Kobashi continued to gain more honors, but his position in the company did not truly change. In the 1994 Champion Carnival he gained his first singles victory over Stan Hansen. In September 1994 he lost his first Triple Crown challenge against Steve Williams. His next title challenge, against Toshiaki Kawada, in January 1995 led to a 60 minute time limit draw.

On June 9, 1995 Misawa and Kobashi lost the tag titles to Kawada and Akira Taue. The match is also notable because it won the best match of the year award from Tokyo Sports. He suffered the first of many knee injuries in mid 1995. He worked through it.

In the early part of 1996 the company elevated Jun Akiyama by making him Misawa's main tag partner. While this was good for Akiyama and lead to some fresh tag matches, it left Kobashi without a real tag partner for most of the year.

Triple Crown

September 3, 1994 marked Kobashi's first shot at All Japan's prestigious Triple Crown of titles, which was held by 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams. Kobashi lost what was a breathtaking battle at Budokan Hall, Tokyo.

Further Triple Crown title shots against Toshiaki Kawada on January 19, 1995 and Misawa on October 25 of that year also ended in defeat for Kobashi, but did nothing to damage the challengers burgeoning popularity: his performances were so spirited and the matches so close that fans were left clamouring for Kobashi's next title shot. That would take place on July 24, 1996.

Kobashi defeated Taue on July 24, 1996 to capture his first Triple Crown. He lost the championship to Misawa on January 20, 1997, in a very highly regarded match.

Even though 1997 began with the end of Kobashi's title reign the year in many ways was more satisfying for Kobashi. In 1997 he began to feud in with Misawa, and in March 1997 in the Champion Carnival he gained his first pinfall victory over Misawa. At the end of the Carnival Kobashi for the first time had qualified for the finals; however, instead of the traditional one on one contest to settle the carnival this year a one night 3 way round robin was held due to Kobashi, Kawada, and Misawa all having finished the Carnival round robin with the same score. In the first match Kobashi went to a 30 minute draw with Misawa. However, this match left both men greatly weakened and Kawada was able to quickly gain his first singles pin over Misawa in the next match that gave Kobashi little time to rest. In the final match Kawada defeated Kobashi to gain his second Carnival title.

In October 1997 Kobashi won his first tag title without Misawa when he and Johnny Ace defeated Williams and Gary Albright. In the same month he challenged Misawa for the Triple Crown in another memorable match, but again Misawa defeated him.

While Kawada would finally end his quest to defeat Misawa for the Triple Crown at AJPW's May Tokyo Dome show, in 1998, Kobashi would replace Kawada as Misawa's top rival. On June 12, 1998 Kobashi defeated Kawada to begin his second Triple Crown reign.

Shortly before his victory he again suffered a major knee injury which he would not give time to heal. This injury nearly ended Kobashi's career. He lost the championship again to Misawa.

Real World Tag League

1998 would end with Kobashi gaining another career milestone as he with Akiyama captured his first Real World Tag League championship. As January began Kobashi was kicking off a new rivalry against Vader. Shortly thereafter, and totally unrelated, the founder and owner of All Japan, Giant Baba, died.

He won the Real World Tag League again with Akiyama in December 1999. In February 2000 he defeated Vader to earn his third triple crown reign. Then in April 2000 he won his first Champion Carnival while in the course of the tournament gaining his first televised singles victory over Misawa. In mid-2000 Misawa left the company to form Pro Wrestling NOAH. Kobashi, along with all but three All Japan native Japanese workers, left with Misawa. He was the reigning Triple Crown champion at the time, and the championship was thus vacated.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

During this period Kobashi's knee injuries were beginning to worsen to the point that he desperately needed time off to heal; however, he was needed to establish NOAH as a viable promotion. Upon the formation of NOAH, he was given a marquee position on the first two shows. First, splitting with Akiyama after they defeated Taue and Misawa in the main event of the promotion's first show, then losing to Akiyama in the second show in an attempt to establish Akiyama as the number 2 man in the promotion.

NOAH struggled to organize itself without any titles during this period. At the biggest show of the year on December 23, 2000 Kobashi defeated Jun Akiyama, avenging his loss earlier that year. Unfortunately for Kobashi the next month his knees finally deteriorated to the point he could no longer work through the pain and he was forced to take 13 months off for healing. He went through multiple knee surgeries during this time.

His return match was on February 24, 2002, and featured Kobashi reforming his pairing with Misawa to face Akiyama and New Japan Pro Wrestling's Yuji Nagata. His knees again gave out on him during the match. After taking another 5 months to recouperate he returned and NOAH began to slowly build towards him winning their top prize, the GHC Heavyweight Championship.

GHC Heavyweight Championship reign

In March 2003 he achieved this goal, defeating Misawa. Kobashi's reign spanned two years and included 13 successful defenses. Notable defences included: against Masahiro Chono at New Japan's May 2, 2003 Tokyo Dome event, against Yuji Nagata on September 12, 2003, against Yoshihiro Takayama on April 25, 2004, and against Jun Akiyama in the main event of NOAH's first Tokyo Dome show on July 10, 2004.

During his reign he won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's wrestler of the year award in both 2003 and 2004. In March 2005 he finally lost the championship to Takeshi Rikio. Despite the loss of his title Kobashi remained NOAH's top wrestler, the rest of the year was highlighted by matches with outsiders such as Genichiro Tenryu and Kensuke Sasaki (the latter on July 18, 2005 in the Tokyo Dome), and in the following year he had praised matches against junior heavyweights such as KENTA (March 5, 2006) and Naomichi Marufuji (April 23, 2006).

Excursion outside Japan

In late 2005, Kobashi made his first appearance in North America with Harley Race's World League Wrestling promotion, defeating then WLW champion Wild Wade Chism. His second and third North American appearances were for Ring of Honor, where he defeated Samoa Joe in a memorable singles match (given a full 5-stars by the Wrestling Observer as well as their Match of the Year 2005), and teamed with Homicide to defeat the tag team of Samoa Joe and Low Ki. Kobashi also traveled to Europe where he had matches in Germany, and at Universal Uproar in England, in November 2005.

Illness

Kobashi had medical concerns through part of 2006, so he and partner Tamon Honda vacated their GHC Tag Team Championship with (Mohammed Yone and Takeshi Morishima, the same men that Kobashi and Honda won the belts from won the vacant straps on December 2, defeating Yoshihiro Takayama and Takuma Sano in a tournament final). On December 10, at the Budokan, Kobashi appeared before the fans and announced that he would return "without fail."

In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Rarely used finishing moves
  • Factions
  • Burning
  • Nicknames
  • "Orange Crush"
  • "Zettai Ohja" (絶対王者,The Absolute Champion)
  • "Mr. Puroresu" (named by Harley Race; generally Japanese fans use the title to refer to Genichiro Tenryu)

Championships and accomplishments

  • PWI ranked him # 8 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in 2006.
  • PWI ranked him # 33 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
  • PWI ranked him # 6 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" in 2003 with Mitsuharu Misawa.
  • Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
  • He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 2002)
  • 1990 Most Improved Wrestler
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (All Japan Pro Wrestling, October 19, 1990)
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Masanobu Fuchi & Akira Taue (All Japan Pro Wrestling, May 22, 1992)
  • 1992 Match of the Year (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon)
  • 5 Star Match: with Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas (All Japan Pro Wrestling, May 25, 1992)
  • 1993 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Toshiaki Kawada (All Japan Pro Wrestling, April 14, 1993)
  • 5 Star Match with Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (All Japan Pro Wrestling, July 2, 1993)
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Stan Hansen (All Japan Pro Wrestling, July 29, 1993)
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Steve Williams (All Japan Pro Wrestling, August 31, 1993)
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (All Japan Pro Wrestling, December 3, 1993)
  • 1994 Most Outstanding Wrestler
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa & Giant Baba vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Toshiaki Kawada, & Akira Taue vs. Stan Hansen (All Japan Pro Wrestling, February 13, 1994)
  • 1995 Tag Team of the Year (with Mitsuharu Misawa)
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (All Japan Pro Wrestling, January 24, 1995)
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Toshiaki Kawada (All Japan Pro Wrestling, January 19, 1995)
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (All Japan Pro Wrestling, March 4, 1995)
  • 5 Star Match: with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (All Japan Pro Wrestling, June 9, 1995)
  • 1996 Wrestler of the Year
  • 1998 Match of the Year (vs. Mitsuharu Misawa)
  • 5 Star Match: vs Mitsuharu Misawa (All Japan Pro Wrestling, October 31, 1998)
  • 1998 Best Wrestling Maneuver (for the Burning Hammer)
  • 1999 Wrestler of the Year
  • 1999 Tag Team of the Year (with Jun Akiyama)
  • 1999 Match of the Year (vs Mitsuharu Misawa)
  • 5 Star match: vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (All Japan Pro Wrestling, June 11, 1999)
  • 5 Star match: with Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (All Japan Pro Wrestling, October 24, 1999)
  • 2003 Wrestler of the Year
  • 2003 Match of the Year (vs. Mitsuharu Misawa)
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (Pro Wrestling NOAH, March 1, 2003)
  • 2004 Wrestler of the Year
  • 2004 Best Box Office Draw
  • 2004 Match of the Year (vs. Jun Akiyama)
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Jun Akiyama (Pro Wrestling NOAH, July 10, 2004)
  • 2005 Wrestler of the Year
  • 5 Star Match: vs. Samoa Joe (ROH Joe vs. Kobashi, October 1, 2005)
  • 2005 Best Box Office Draw
  • 2005 Match of the Year (vs. Samoa Joe)

References

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