Best of Japan 2000-2009: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi, AJPW 1/17/00

1. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi, AJPW 1/17/00

Really dug this match even though Kobashi stuff kinda bugs me more now than it used to. It felt like there was some hierarchy stuff here which kinda made the match structure odd. Kawada got what felt like 2/3 of the offense but the way Kobashi sold still made the match feel like an extended squash. No matter what Kawada did it would eventually lead to Kobashi just popping up and going back in control. No matter how much he temporarily sold offense it always had the feeling that there was no way Kawada was going to win. Kawada, however, was just as awesome as you remember Kawada being. Kawada's running yakuza kick is one of my all time favorite moves. He has his awesome haircut with the neck fringe and the shaved sides and parted top. He looked like he could play percussion in M83 or work as a barista at the downtown Stumptown. All his kick combos were amazing, his glazed eye stares were a good as ever, and some of his individual moments of selling were all time classic. At one point Kobashi levels him with a manly clothesline, Kawada kicks out and struggles up to his feet, and as Kobashi comes off the ropes to deliver another Kawada's knees buckle and he collapses to the mat before Kobashi makes it to him. Beautiful. Even if his selling lapsed when convenient, there's no denying Kobashi took a furious beating here, and bumped big for a large guy. Him flying off the apron and into the guardrail from a Kawada yakuza kick was epic. But this match was all about how awesome Kawada was. Big strikes and really knew how to put over Kobashi's big moves, whether it was getting bounced off the mat with a massive powerbomb, or not backing down from that infamous match ending short arm lariat.


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