by Alan Counihan, JarryPark.com contributor
On December 2nd, 2007, at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, one of the most memorable and extraordinary comebacks in wrestling history was completed. Kenta Kobashi had overcome serious kidney cancer and follwoing a year and a half away from the ring, he was back to face some of his old rivals. The match was better than even the biggest Kobashi fans (a club of which I’m a card-carrying member) could have hoped for. However the question on everyone’s minds afterwards was whether this was Kobashi’s last great performance. As we entered 2008, Kobashi was set for his first non-Budokan tour dates.
NOAH was obviously taking a cautious approach because he was only booked on two shows during the January tour, both of which were six-man tags. Kobashi was paired with his Burning stable-mates in both bouts and faced off against the likes of Akira Taue, Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. The crowd response to each match was unsurprisingly very positive and Kobashi did not look bad at all. However, the next tour saw Kobashi booked for five dates and that’s when things got interesting.
His matches on 2/21 and 3/2 were among the best in Japan this year. 2/21 saw him team with Tamon Honda and rookie Shuhei Taniguchi to face Takeshi Morishima and the GHC Tag Champions, Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura. They put on an incredible match with Kobashi seemingly being the spark that lit everyone else in the match on fire. Taniguchi had by far the most impressive performance of his career and the tag champs were tremendous as heels taunting the legend relentlessly including bumping like maniacs whenever he touched them.
However, the most memorable momentwas perhaps the most foreshadowing and that was the interaction between Kobashi and Morishima. They tore into each other inside and outside of the ring and had the crowd going crazy. At the time, everyone knew Morishima was the future of the company and this was proven a month later when he became GHC Heavyweight Champion. A Kobashi vs. Morishima title match, and most likely title change, is bound to happen at some point. If their interaction on this night was any indication we’ll be in for a classic bout.
The 3/2 match was back at Nippon Budokan. This was the first clash between Kobashi and Yoshihiro Takayama since the comeback and what a match it was. The hatred between these two grew throughtout the match and when the finish came with KENTA getting the pin on Atsushi Aoki, Takayama and Kobashi were brawling at ringside. The brawl didn’t stop and it took an army of wrestlers and referees (many of whom were tossed off the ramp) to pull them apart. This is probably going to be Kobashi’s main feud for the time being and while a singles match may not be too likely (Takayama rarely has singles outings these days), there are a plethora of big-time tags that could be intriguing, especially if KENTA and Minoru Suzuki (fingers crossed) are involved.
Kobashi has been working a lot more dates on the current Global Tag League tour. I recently saw a match of his against D’Lo Brown, of all people, that was fantastic. The tour ends on April 27th at Budokan and, not surprisingly, it’s going to be a continuation of the Takayama feud. Kobashi teams with KENTA and Honda to face Takayama, Takuma Sano, and, most interestingly, Kobashi’s prize protégé, Go Shiosaki.
I don’t think anybody could have asked for anything more from Kenta Kobashi’s first five months back in wrestling. He has had great matches (with 12/2 being a legitimate classic) and seeds have been sewn for interesting feuds down the road. Touch wood, he stays healthy and doesn’t run into the ground by working too much. Quite frankly, every time the man steps into the ring these days, it’s a bonus because most people wouldn’t have overcome the kind of the problems he’s faced in the last ten years. Obviously, most people aren’t Kenta Kobashi.
The UFC descended upon Canada this past weekend and president Dana White was sure to make all of the media rounds in preparation for the event.
by Bob Boyer, JarryPark.com contributor
