KENTA vs. Kenta Kobashi

[9.0] "nice brutal bout between the two KENTA uses his speed and striking combos to gain control in the match whereas kobashi uses chops and suplexes top moment for me was when kobashi chopped KENTA's forehead i felt like the use of the burning hammer added to a great story of KENTA being respected and deemed worthy of such a finishing blow"

[9.0] "(Grade:A/*****) I'm baffle by how brutal and genuinely Kenta & Kobashi were dishing out so much stiff offense at one another. Right from the jump Kenta was able to knock Kobashi down giving he a gnarly head kick while he was kneel, continues to try and wear him down limb by limb and Kobashi at times using he's overwhelming power to bring Kenta down a peg. Some notable moments in this match that caught my eyes were Kenta hitting a frankensteiner to Kobashi on the apron, Kobashi bringing Kenta back into the ring with a decapitating head-chop over the ropes, Kobashi hitting a apron power-bomb, Kenta hitting numerous running knee to Kobashi's front and back of he's hand, and many more! As soon as Kobashi caught Kenta with that lariat and variation of Burning Hammer it was warps and I found this to be a pleasant surprise I came across on!"

[8.0] "It's pupil vs. mentor as the two Kentas go at it in another one-on-one matchup (they had an earlier singles bout in 2004 that nobody really talks about, for whatever reason.) The story here is that KENTA starts the match *relatively* respectful of his elder, but as the bout drags on, he gets more and more aggressive (and desperate) in his attempt to show up his sensei. The fun, of course, is in watching Kobashi *slowly* take the kiddie gloves off and start giving KENTA the beatdown of a lifetime. Karate chops to the throat, karate chops to the forehead, abdominal stretches where Kobashi literally wears his opponent like a belt, not to mention the last PROPER Burning Hammer ever dropped in a wrestling ring -- it's just delightful seeing KENTA get what's coming to him. Maybe it's not a truly great match in a hyper-competitive sense, but it's immensely enjoyable to revisit."

[10.0] "I can't believe this rating isn't higher, I love this match. Genuinely one of the best David vs Goliath matches ever, but not in the way that you would think. Most matches like this are simple, the smaller competitor is the face and the larger competitor is the heel. On this occasion, that cliche is flipped on it's head. Kobashi is the older, washed up legend whilst Kenta is the young, ferocious, overconfident prospect, and Kobashi must absorb 10 of Kenta's attacks just to land his one. Kenta kicks the daylights out of Kobashi, to the neck, head, body, back, everywhere, and Kobashi never backs down. At one point, after eating a couple more forearms, Kobashi, the brute that he is, shoves Kenta back into the corner, and on come the chops. Kenta utilizes just about every possible attack he can think of, but Kobashi won't stay down. He lands a few running knees, then goes to run the ropes for one more decisive knee, and right as he does, BURNING LARIATTTTTTT! The Iron Man picks Kenta up one last time, and puts him down for good with a pump-handle variation of the burning hammer. This is what Pro Wrestling NOAH is all about."

[10.0] "One of the best matches I have watched in forever. The intensity KENTA was taking to Kenta Kobashi with full force kicks to the head was nuts. The hurricanrana to the floor. It never had a dull moment. I loved Kobashi's comeback spots, then having to pull out the Burning Hammer. Wow."

[8.0] "Pretty good story of the cocky youngster trying to upstage his mentor and basically poking the bear until it comes back to haunt him. Kobashi needing a Burning Hammer to put KENTA down speaks a lot to it as well."

[8.0] "This match has some good wrestling and some cool power moves but it lives and dies on the intensity and physicality from both men. At times a bit too physical. But its pretty damn good."

[9.0] "[4.75*] Matches between Teacher vs Student always provide incredible dynamics, Kenta started here challenging Kobashi who always brutally countered Kenta's disrespectful blows. The exchanges between them were very cool, Kenta attacked very well with his kicks while Kobashi retaliated with his chops. The last ten minutes of this match were so good, Kobashi did a wonderful Machine Gun Chops Powerbomb sequence, the way he beat Kenta in this match was insane. The ending was really good, Kobashi submitting Kenta with a Burning Hammer was AMAZING, what a phenomenal match."

[9.0] "This was a classic match between mentor and student. Kenta Kobashi is without at doubt one of the greatest Japanese wrestlers ever, which is incredible when you consider aside from a special appearance every now and then, he never really worked as a New Japan wrestler. His student Kenta is also great, and he brought the fight to his mentor here. This was a stiff match with some great spots, like Kenta hitting Kobashi with a rana to the floor or Kobashi chopping Kenta right in the face. Kenta actually dominated for the early part of the match, something that was surprising given the size difference as well as how revered Kobashi is. I loved the story of Kenta getting the better of Kobashi, but his ego getting in the way of trying to finish it and allowed Kobashi to bounce back and go on offence. It's also notable that Kobashi had to use a variation of the Burning Hammer, a move he used on rare occasions. So for Kobashi to beat Kenta with the Burning Hammer was a big deal and is something of an endorsement to how he feels about Kenta that he would do that for him. This was just awesome. ****1/2"

[8.0] "Very enjoyable match here between two NOAH greats. It was hard-hitting and had some nasty looking spots throughout. Kenta Kobashis offence is so fucking menacing it is unbelievable."

[6.0] "I just wasn't into this at all. Yeah, there were some nice stuff throughout, just overall I didn't see much behind this. I love the wrestlers involved, but I did not love this match. All the no selling, and just repeated strikes kinda took me out of it. I didn't see much high profile stuff too. Underwhelming. ***"

"Absolutely amazing match, it was a battle of student vs master, the new vs the old. Everything felt right, the stiffness was brutal and KENTA definitely got what was coming to him. **** 1/2"

[9.0] "Reviewing this match is impossible for me, honestly. Atleast without a Bias, This is one of the matches (along with the first Kobashi vs KENTA singles match) that got me into NOAH, after i was a young child who saw KENTA in ROH and random youtube clips and Instantly fell in love with him and thought he was the greatest thing ever and desperately tried searching for more matches. This is also the match that made me love Kenta Kobashi. One of my favorite matches of all time because of that. Could watch it over, and over, and over. And probably will do that for the rest of my life! ."

[9.0] "Excellent match between Kenta Kobashi and KENTA, a generational battle for sure. I loved Kobashi's selling of his arm and KENTA's offense was awesome as always. KENTA couldn't get the GTS off and Kobashi pulls off the win with the Burning Hammer. Not the best looking Burning Hammer ever, but the move is still enough to get a pop out of me. We also get some really awesome half-nelson and sleeper suplexes from Kobashi. Overall, this was pretty awesome."

[8.0] "This match was really cool. It? s the legend vs. the protege, and the big man vs. the little man. KENTA brought an amazing level of intensity from opening to closing bell. KENTA used his speed to create momentum that somewhat evened up the power difference. Very good match. Kobashi won cleanly with the Burning Hammer. (****)"

[9.0] "What a difference two years can make! During their classic encounter in 2004, KENTA was looking to prove that he belonged with the best of the best. He took the fight to his mentor, but the differences in size, strength, and experience were clear as say. Two years later, KENTA is finally prepared to prove that he is Kenta Kobashi? s equal. And the devil is in the details with how the story plays out. KENTA shockingly dominates early, employing a similar approach to the one Kobashi found success with two years prior. It is about more than dominance, though. It is about control. And KENTA? s obsession with control drives his every motion. Unfortunately, it also drove his ego. Every time it seemed as though KENTA was going to break through, his incessant need to humiliate his mentor persevered. And if there? s anything that we know about Kobashi, it? s that there is only so far he can be pushed before he snaps. And when he snapped, the offense got violent and ugly. And yet another compelling story unfolded. 4. 5 stars, 9 out of 10."

[9.0] "****1/2. Great fight between two all-time greats. Kobashi nearing the end of his career and KENTA just beginning his. This is a STIFF contest with stiff lariats, chops, kicks and knees being dished out. The work KENTA does on Kobashi's arm through the first half of this match is superb with many of KENTA's trademark kicks being centred on the arm Kobashi uses for his chops. Also has the FINAL burning hammer Kobashi ever performed, and it's a wrist-clutch variant too, seals the deal for this match. Puts KENTA over huge as he more than sticks with Kobashi in there. Fantastic match that's perhaps over looked because of the insane caliber of amazing matches these two have had over the course of their careers but defnitely worth a watch."

[10.0] "Kenta and Kenta Kobasho had an even more gorgeous match. I do not have enough words to convey all the emotions. 5 stars."

[8.0] "This was great! This really felt like a fight. They hit each other really hard, sometimes in unsafe places. KENTA was playing cocky dickhead youngster, and Kobashi was not having it. Really enjoyable watch. ****."

[7.0] "Kenta Kobashi -vs- KENTA [*** 1/2] Heavyweight legend vs the junior heavyweight ace. And it was surprisingly the lighter weight of the two that controlled the match beating up Kobashi. It kind of made sense since Kobashi is so broken down at this point moving slow and always in pain and KENTA used his youth, fitness and speed to take care of business. Kobashi made an occasional comeback throwing little KENTA around with his half-nelson and sleeper suplexes. One of the coolest moments was Kobashi knocking a horizontal KENTA down with a karate chop landing in the middle of the head!"

[9.0] "This tells a great story of KENTA being much more vicious, much more focused & much more complete than he was in their previous match in 2004. Here he borderline DOMINATES Kobashi at points, doing awesome work over him - Kobashi's comebacks were tremendous & the ending with him busting out the goddamn BURNING HAMMER was the perfect ending to the story this match told. I didn't like this as much as their 04 match, but it was still great. ****"

[8.0] "A hidden gem! The student was strong and disrespectful against his trainer, using lots of stiff kicks, kicking/slapping him when he was down, taunting him with poses and cheap pins, and aggressively working over his arm. I love how this all showed Kenta’s desperation to establish himself and prove his lower weight didn’t make him weaker, so much so that he could even dominate a wrestling legend like Kobashi. Kobashi’s enraged responses to such insolence were also awesome, as if the master was brutally disciplining his pupil back in the dojo. Kenta injured Kobashi’s arm and Kobashi sold it very well while Kenta kept his targeting of the arm convincing. Kobashi slightly dropepd the selling near the end, but the arm had faded from the match focus anyways, plus Kobashi enacted his fighting spirit enough to explain his ignoring of it. Kenta’s botched GTS on Kobashi may have been a counter from Kobashi, since it slightly looked like Kobashi’s weight dragged Kenta over, but regardless of whether it was or not it still played well into the story of how Kenta wished to prove weight would not determine who was a better wrestler but was still unable to physically lift Kobashi up for his finisher, bitterly reminding him of the reality that weight is detrimental in combat sports. Kobashi using the Burning Hammer to put Kenta away solidified how great Kenta looked here, as he required the god of all wrestling moves to be beaten. A great story with some incredibly stiff action. ****1/4"

[7.0] "This was a good match overall but I felt like it could've been something special if it gone the right way. This felt like an exhibition after Kobashi decides to stop selling the arm plus it went a bit long for my taste. Crowd was into this and I was surprised to see Kobashi busy out te Wrist-Clutch Burning Hammer too. (***1/4)"