Next on the ‘BURNING: The Greatness of Kenta Kobashi’ (click here for the list) list for Kenta Kobashi’s ‘Pro Wrestling NOAH’ years is a contest against Yoshihiro Takayama. Now, I’d never heard of Takayama before this list…but he is a highly decorated wrestling champion, winning belts in NJPW, AJPW, WAR, and NOAH itself, winning the GHC Championship before being defeated by Mitsuharu Misawa. And Misawa would hold that belt until being beaten by…Kobashi! That 2003 bout between Kobashi and Misawa is one of the greatest of all time (click here for my review), and that was just the start of Kobashi’s epic World Title reign. But how would he fare against the ferocious, tough SOB Takayama?
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149. Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs Kenta Kobashi (Triple Crown Championship Match, AJPW Super Power Series 12/6/1998)
It appears I missed an AJPW match on ‘BURNING: The Greatness of Kenta Kobashi’ (click here for the list). So, before I continue with Kenta Kobashi’s NOAH career, let’s have a look at the match I missed out. From 1998, it’s between Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada and Kobashi for the championship. Like all of the Four Pillars of AJPW, Kobashi and Kawada had fought each other countless times, from the late ‘80s to the end of Kobashi’s tenure in AJPW (Kawada was the only Pillar to refuse to defect to NOAH in 2000). Dave Meltzer hailed their 1995 bout the best 60 minute match he’d ever seen. I may return to that one, but for now I’m following the list!
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