Originally published at L&WRR #12: Kenta Kobashi Biography [Match Recommendations]
On the latest edition of The Long & Winding Royal Road, WH Park and guest Case Lowe chronicled the career of Kenta Kobashi.
The two-hour show detailed Kobashi’s rise after several attempts to enter the All Japan Dojo and his legacy as one of the four pillars during the golden age of the company’s success.
As a companion to the podcast, we have assembled WH Park’s recommended match-list for Kobashi with five selections from his All Japan tenure, five from his NOAH run, and one honorable mention.
They are as follows:
ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (April 20, 1991)
AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship: Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat (champions) vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (May 25, 1992)
Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (July 29, 1993)
AJPW World Tag Team Championship: Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (June 9, 1995)
AJPW Triple Crown Championship: Kenta Kobashi (champion) vs. Toshiaki Kawada (October 18, 1996)
PRO WRESTLING NOAH
GHC Heavyweight Championship: Mitsuharu Misawa (champion) vs. Kenta Kobashi (March 1, 2003)
GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kenta Kobashi (champion) vs. Jun Akiyama (July 10, 2004)
Kenta Kobashi vs. Kensuke Sasaki (July 18, 2005)
Kenta Kobashi & Go Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kensuke Sasaki (May 11, 2005)
Kenta Kobashi & KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (June 14, 2008)
HONORABLE MENTION
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Samoa Joe (October 1, 2005)