Kenta Kobashi

was born in Fukuchiyama in Kyoto Prefecture on March 27, 1967. He was raised predominantly in a single-parent household with him, his three-years-older brother Eiji, and his mother Miyako, after his parents had separated and later divorced. He competed in baseball in his youth, and was part of the Atsumi Fighters team. It was when he was 10 years old that he saw his first professional wrestling match with his brother Eiji, which was at an All Japan Pro Wrestling show. The match featured the then-rising star Jumbo Tsuruta versus Mexican luchador enmascarado Mil Mascaras at the Denen Coliseum in August 1977, shown on the pro wrestling block on NTV. To practice for pro wrestling, Eiji and Kenta constructed a custom-made can replica of the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship belt to use for their exhibition "title" matches. Kobashi joined a Judo club in junior high school, and he, in his senior year, placed third in the qualifying round at nationals, having been outweighed by his opponent in the semifinals by 50 kg (110 lbs). He also had practice in rugby union, but did not have any placements in competitions with the sport. He attended a New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) show at this time, of which he was, according to Kobashi himself, hit with Stan Hansen's bull rope. After graduation, in 1986, he took a job as a Kyocera General Affairs worker, working in plants in Kyoto City and Kagoshima. After being inspired by a magazine article featuring a young Mike Tyson, he quit his job the next year, and he sent his resume to the AJPW offices, which was rejected. After being in contact with International Wrestling Enterprise referee Mitsuo Endo, he was set up to do an interview at the Shiga Prefectural Gymnasium in Otsu on May 26, which happened to be with Shohei "Giant" Baba, the founder and then-head booker and chief executive officer of AJPW. After Baba declined to have an interview and instead prompted Kobashi to wait and relocate to Tokyo, Kobashi was accepted to their dojo on June 20, 1987. He was trained there by Baba, as well as Funk brother Dory Funk Jr., "Magic Dragon" Haru Sonoda and Baba-protégé Masanobu Fuchi. Sonoda died on South African Airways Flight 295 on November 28, and after having an argument with Baba, was sworn under pressure to be trained exclusively for a time by Fuchi. ==Professional wrestling career==

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1987–2000, 2009) Rookie years (1987–1990) Kobashi and fellow trainee Tsuyoshi Kikuchi made their first official appearances as All Japan Pro Wrestling trainees on December 16, 1987, appearing in a battle royal, which they both lost. Kobashi officially debuted as a professional wrestler in Rittō, Shiga on February 26, 1988, against veteran wrestler Motoshi Okuma, donning blue-based, white-stripped trunks and Masanobu Fuchi's old boots. Baba had been impressed with the match, and took Kobashi out to dinner with the rest of the invited wrestlers. He was booked by Baba to lose his first 63 matches, which were all singles bouts. It was all part of a plan set by Baba, that even in defeat, Kobashi shined and his gutsy, never-say-die efforts would garner him more momentum. He was earned numerous Rookie of the Year awards from the Japanese media, especially Tokyo Sports. During this time, Kobashi had officially commissioned, and was granted, his first real wrestling attire, which was adorned with red. Kobashi had his first championship match in February 1989, teaming with Giant Baba to lose to the incumbent All Asia Tag Team Champions Footloose, the team of Toshiaki Kawada and Samson Fuyuki. Kobashi won his first singles match on May 16, 1989, against Jim Crockett Promotions jobber Mitch Snow, and on June 6, he picked up a win over established Stampede Wrestling rising star Johnny Smith. During 1989, when The Road Warriors were in AJPW, they taught Kobashi the "Road Warrior Workout". Eleven months later he won his first title, the aforementioned All Asia Tag Team Championship with Tiger Mask II (Misawa); however, shortly after removing the mask, Kobashi and Misawa would vacate the title. Later in the year, he won them again, this time with Johnny Ace. Start of the Super Generation Army (1990–1993) After Genichiro Tenryu defected himself and several wrestlers from AJPW to form Super World of Sports (SWS), a gap was left in the higher-card roster of AJPW, which had recently integrated Tenryu-protégé Toshiaki Kawada and the former Tiger Mask II, Mitsuharu Misawa. Baba had slowed down his in-ring work to focus more on booking, and focus on the rookies and other young talent that he had that would fill gaps in the aging stars' departures, retirements or decrease in quality. In order to compete with their competitors, especially NJPW and the Akira Maeda-fronted Universal Wrestling Federation (and its later reincarnations), Baba chose to focus on the talents that had been most popular with the fans of AJPW; this included Kobashi, Kawada and Misawa, as well as former Sumo wrestler Tamakirin Yasumasa, who had now gone under his real name Akira Taue, and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Baba gave all of them an official group to assign themselves with, and they'd form the in August 1990 (the name of which was coined by AJPW commentator Kenji Wakabayashi). Kobashi would be confirmed as one of the five wrestlers assigned to the newly formed Super Generation Army, and would have his official first match as part of the new stable on August 10, 1990, defeating Joel Deaton and Johnny Ace in a tag match alongside Kawada. The stable would then start an official feud with the Jumbo Tsuruta-led . Once a loved babyface now turned to a tweener role, Tsuruta now wanted to declare himself superior over the Super Generation Army in spite of his age. A lot of the matches featuring both stables had mixed the rivalry between Misawa and Tsuruta, and the prowess of Kobashi, who had been thrown in as an underdog to the more experienced wrestlers, mostly including Tsuruta himself, as well as Masanobu Fuchi, Yoshiaki Yatsu (Jumbo's tag partner for several years) and The Great Kabuki. At the same time, when teamed with the smaller Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in the All Asia Tag Team Championship division, he would play a "big brother" role, coming in to try to save the match after Kikuchi had been worked on for a while by the opponents. The title win with Kikuchi over Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas, the Can-Am Express, took place before a rabid crowd in Kikuchi's hometown of Sendai on May 25, 1992; the match quickly gained legendary status among tape-traders, and was voted 1992's Match of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. During this time, he had started a feud with Stan Hansen. Hansen and Kobashi had begun to have their first matches together in the late 1980s, with Kobashi being beaten every time by Hansen and his tag team partners, predominantly Genichiro Tenryu. With Tenryu gone, their matches usually then turned to singles matches, with Kobashi losing every time to Hansen via the Western Lariat. For the next few years, especially during the period between 1991 and 1993, Kobashi would increasingly have longer matches with Hansen, which would culminate in close falls and traded offence. Tag team with Misawa, Four Heavenly Kings (1993–1995) 1993 By 1993, the Super Generation Army had become less and less relied to the feud with Tsuruta, after the latter had to temporarily step away from the ring, and later, the entirety of the higher-card division of AJPW. Misawa, the leader of the Super Generation Army, had become the most popular wrestler in AJPW, and one of the leading candidates for the most popular wrestler in all of Japan. During this time, Misawa had won and defended the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship more times than anyone prior to him in one reign. Kawada and Taue would become more distant from the Super Generation Army after they had formed a temporarily partnership from their rivalry, which spanned from their inner-conflicts in the stable to Taue's defection to Tsuruta-gun; this would culminate in the creation of the . Likewise, Kobashi became Misawa's main tag partner in the middle of the year when Kawada became Misawa's main rival. Kobashi gained his first singles victory over a former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, when he defeated Terry Gordy in May of that year in Sapporo. The match, and the subsequent ones also featuring the three other company of Misawa, Kawada and Taue, against their foreign foes (Hansen, Steve Williams and Dan Spivey respectively), marked a shift in the guard for AJPW and their main event scene. Heralded by Baba and coined by journalist Shoichi Shibata, who'd borrow it from the Buddhist concept of the same name, each of the kings would become the four big national faces of AJPW, and would be heavily featured on magazines and other media as such. On July 29, he faced Stan Hansen in a singles match, which Hansen won. The match was considered a superior match to the main event: a Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match between Misawa and Kawada. It also was Kobashi's first singles match to be awarded five stars by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer. On August 23, Kobashi was targeted with the first ever of Steve Williams' Homicide Backdrop suplexes, which was responded with the crowd of gasps of horror, with Misawa commenting that he thought for a second that Kobashi had died. On December 10, at the Nippon Budokan, Kobashi appeared before the fans and announced that he would return "without fail". On September 8, 2007, news broke that Kobashi would make his return on the December 2, 2007 Budokan Hall event where he would team up with Yoshihiro Takayama to face Akiyama and Misawa. On the card, Misawa would pin Kobashi with an top-rope Emerald Flowsion, but the fans still gave Kobashi a rousing ovation. During the 2008 Global Tag League tournament finals in April 2008, he, KENTA and Honda defeated Takayama, Shiozaki and Takuma Sano in a six-man tag team match. On June 14, Kobashi and KENTA would face their respective rivals, Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima, during the Great Voyage 2008 In Yokohama; the match resulted in a thirty-minute time limit draw, with Nakajima and KENTA brawling after the match. On June 22, Kobashi took part in the European Navigation tour, competing at a wXw crossed-over program. Teaming with Shiozaki, he faced "Bad Bones" John Klinger and Big Van Walter, later widely known as Gunther, in a successful effort. He made his return to Kensuke Office on August 17, competing in an Eight-Man Tag Team Survival Match. He teamed with Pro Wrestling Noah younger talents KENTA, Atsushi Aoki and Akihiko Ito, losing to Nakajima, Sasaki, Kento Miyahara and Takashi Okita. Kobashi lasted for nearly forty minutes in the match overall, and ended when Nakajima pinned KENTA after hitting a Death Roll kick whilst Sasaki was holding Kobashi in the outside of the ring, preventing him from saving the match after a thirty-five minute period. Double-arm surgery, final years & retirement In September 2008, Kobashi underwent emergency surgery on both of his arms. The surgery was successful, and Kobashi was expected to make a full recovery. Kobashi was expected to be out of action for up to a year, but he would return to the ring less than six months later. Prior to returning to the ring, Kobashi stated that he wanted to start in opening matches, and rebuild himself to be a main event player. Kobashi made his return to wrestling on March 1, 2009, at Nippon Budokan, defeating Masao Inoue in the opening match of the card with the Burning Lariat. Kobashi won the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship, his final championship, from Makoto Hashi on June 8 in Hachiōji during Noah's Southern Navigation tour. Mitsuharu Misawa died on June 13, 2009, in a show in Hiroshima, leaving Akira Taue to fill the role as head of Noah's booking team and presidency. On August 30, 2009, Kobashi returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling for one night only, competing in his first match for the company in nine years. Kobashi teamed with Akihiko Ito and fellow AJPW alumnus Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in a losing effort to then-current AJPW stars and representatives Satoshi Kojima, KAI and Hiroshi Yamato at Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku, Volume 8. On December 23, 2009, Kobashi was seriously injured in a three-way match against Honda and Kikuchi. He was sidelined for 19 months with nerve damage in his right arm, mainly from the usage of his knife-edged chops. Kobashi declined the advice to stop using the move, and continued using the move until he retired. Kobashi made his return on July 23, 2011, teaming with Go Shiozaki in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Akitoshi Saito and Jun Akiyama. On August 27, 2011, he debuted his new temporary charity ring gear, mixing his later-stage black and early-stage orange at the inaugural All Together show at Nippon Budokan, teaming up with Keiji Muto to defeat Chaos members Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano. On October 6, it was announced by Noah that Kobashi had stepped down from his position as an Executive Vice President of the promotion. On December 3, 2012, Noah confirmed that they had released the now-45 year old Kobashi from his contract, which had been decreased to exclusive in-ring competition. The news sparked shockwaves in Japan, as Atsushi Aoki, Shiozaki, Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru spoke out, declaring their intent of not re-signing with Noah after their contracts expire in January, out of loyalty to Kobashi. On December 9, Kobashi attended Noah's Ryōgoku Kokugikan event and, during an in-ring interview, he revealed that he was planned to retire in a Noah ring in 2013. Noah and Kobashi seemingly came to an agreement to let him retire as opposed to forcing him to leave the promotion. Despite this change in plans, Noah confirmed on December 19 that Akiyama, Shiozaki, Suzuki, Kanemaru and Aoki all would be leaving the promotion after December 24. On January 23, 2013, Kobashi announced that his retirement match would take place on at the Nippon Budokan. Kobashi's retirement event, Final Burning in Budokan took place on May 11. His retirement ceremony was held after the second match on the show and was attended by former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, legendary NTV announcers Akira Fukuzawa and Kazuo Tokumitsu, former colleagues Akira Taue, Hiroshi Hase, Masahiro Chono, Mitsuo Momota, Toshiaki Kawada, and Stan Hansen (the latter via video message), along with many others. In the main event, Kobashi teamed with Jun Akiyama, Keiji Muto, and Kensuke Sasaki in an eight-man tag team match, where they defeated Kobashi's Noah and All Japan-affiliated protégés: Shiozaki, KENTA, Maybach Taniguchi, and Kanemaru. In the match, Kobashi pinned Kanemaru with a moonsault for the final win of his career. The event at Nippon Budokan was attended by 17,000 fans and aired live across Japan on the television network BS Sky! and in movie theaters. Post-retirement (2013–present) On March 17, 2013, Kobashi made an appearance for All Japan Pro Wrestling to promote his retirement match. Before the main event, Hiroshi Hase announced that he would be resigning as Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) chairman to focus on the National Diet and that Kobashi would be replacing him, after his retirement on May 11. On September 8, Kobashi appeared as a color commentator at All Japan splinter promotion Wrestle-1's inaugural event. On October 27, it was confirmed that Kobashi would not be joining All Japan after all, when Dory Funk Jr. was announced as the new PWF chairman. On February 14, 2014, Kobashi announced that starting June 8, he would begin producing his own independent events under the brand "Fortune Dream". The inaugural event featured wrestlers from various promotions, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Kaientai Dojo, Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Wrestling New Classic. On May 10, 2015, Kobashi returned to Noah to serve as a "special witness" for a GHC Heavyweight Championship match between champion Minoru Suzuki and challenger Naomichi Marufuji. Kobashi's role included making sure that the Suzuki-gun stable did not interfere in the match. In September 2023, he made an appearance for DDT Pro Wrestling's Shinkansen specialty match between Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi. Notably, during the appearance, he did a gyaku-suihei chop (knife-edged chop) on Suzuki, who also won the match later on. He assumed the role of a ticket checker on the Shinkansen train. Other wrestlers who appeared in the match included the now-DDT signed Jun Akiyama, Kazunari Murakami and Hikaru Sato. == Professional wrestling style and persona ==

Kobashi is known by the moniker in terms of his wrestling ability for popularizing and/or innovating several wrestling moves throughout his career. Among those moves include: • the moonsault, which was used predominantly as his finishing move until 1996 • the double under-hooked DDT (which would later be used and modified by the likes of Jon Moxley, Mick Foley, Drew McIntyre and Crash Holly) • the Burning Hammer and it's wrist-clutch variant (which would later be adopted into a signature maneuver by the likes of AJ Styles, Michael Elgin and Dan Maff in tribute to Kobashi) • the Machine Gun Chops, multiple knife-edged chops to an opponent from the ropes or turnbuckles (which would later be replicated by wrestlers such as Eddie Kingston and, most notably, Satoshi Kojima) • the Orange Crush, a suplex that had transitioned into a sit-out powerbomb (notably modified by El Generico) Kobashi is known to have not gone any time in his career being a heel. With his noted work as a determined, belligerent wrestler, it made him more likeable with the crowd, especially at the early stages of his career. Showing that he'd never give up in his career, Kobashi's presence in the ring was always noted for his determination to endure and deal damage, as seen evidently in his championship matches against his fellow Four Heavenly Kings: Misawa, Kawada and Taue. == Personal life ==

Kobashi was known in the locker room to be friendly and unreserved for conversations with his fellow peers. Notably, in the AJPW dojo, he got along with Mitsuharu Misawa's daughter Kaede, playing with her whilst her father trained. Kobashi and Misawa have been described as brothers, notably with Misawa seeing himself as Kobashi's , or elder brother. Kobashi married his girlfriend of 14 years, singer Mizuki (née Mai), on October 2, 2010. In August 2015, Mai gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter. ==Legacy==

Kobashi has the fifth-most 5-star matches (as rated by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter) with 23. In 2002, he was inducted by Dave Meltzer into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame as the third inductee of the 2002 class and the 148th inductee overall, for his accomplishments in AJPW and Noah. For his last match on May 11, 2013, he was presented a replica of the GHC Heavyweight Championship belt as a farewell gift by the Noah staff and wrestlers. Del "The Patriot" Wilkes considered him as the greatest wrestler of all time, and Eddie Kingston labeled him a "perfect wrestler". Kobashi has stated that he was "happy" knowing that Gunther, also known as Walter, was influenced by him. == Championships and accomplishments ==

• All Japan Pro Wrestling • All Asia Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Tiger Mask II (1), Johnny Ace (2), and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (1) • Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times) • One Night Six Man Tag Team Tournament (1999) – with Jun Akiyama and Kentaro Shiga • World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1993–1995) – with Mitsuharu Misawa • World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1998, 1999) – with Jun Akiyama • World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fresh Award (1991) – with Tsuyoshi Kikuchi • International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame • Class of 2023 • Nikkan Sports • Match of the Year (1997) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on October 21 • Match of the Year (1998) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on October 31 • Match of the Year (2003) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on March 1 • Match of the Year (2004) vs. Jun Akiyama on July 10 • Match of the Year (2005) vs. Kensuke Sasaki on July 18 • Match of the Year (2007) with Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama on December 2 • Outstanding Performance Award (1996) • Fighting Spirit Award (1997, 2007, 2008) • Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998, 2004, 2005) • Ranked No. 6 of the top 100 tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Mitsuharu Misawa in 2003 • Pro Wrestling Noah • GHC Heavyweight Championship (1 time) • Lifetime Achievement Award (2013) • Match of the Year (1995) with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada on June 9, 1995 • Rookie of the Year (1989) • Tag Team of the Year (1993, 1994) with Mitsuharu Misawa • Wrestling Observer Newsletter • Best Box Office Draw (2004, 2005) • Best Wrestling Maneuver (1998) Burning Hammer • Match of the Year (1992) with Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon on May 25 • Match of the Year (1998) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on October 31 • Match of the Year (1999) vs Mitsuharu Misawa on June 11 • Match of the Year (2003) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa on March 1 • Match of the Year (2004) vs. Jun Akiyama on July 10 • Match of the Year (2005) vs. Samoa Joe on October 1 at Joe vs. Kobashi • Most Improved Wrestler (1990) • Most Outstanding Wrestler (1993, 1994) • Tag Team of the Year (1995) with Mitsuharu Misawa • Tag Team of the Year (1999) with Jun Akiyama • Wrestler of the Year (1996, 2003–2005) • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2002) ==References==