#225: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi, AJPW October Giant Series (10/25/1995).
This is for Misawa’s Triple Crown Championship.
This is also Kobashi’s very first attempt at winning the Triple Crown from his long time partner and friend in Misawa. After failing previously to take the championship from Steve Williams and Toshiaki Kawada, he looked to begin his first reign by beating the Ace of the company. That, however, would prove to be a tough task, indeed.
They exchange a quick handshake, and then the bell rings. They lock up, and Kobashi forces Misawa into the ropes. He backs off, and we have a clean break. They lock up again, and Misawa sends Kobashi into the ropes. Kobashi with a shoulder tackle, and a big clothesline. Kobashi looks for a suplex, but Misawa blocks and looks for the Tiger Suplex. Kobashi counters that, and we get a series of reversals with both men, which ends with the fans applauding.
Misawa takes the side headlock, and they shoulder each other. Neither man goes down, and Kobashi sends Misawa chest first into the mat. He hits a release suplex for a 2 count. Misawa goes to the floor, and Kobashi follows. After failing to hit a suplex, Kobashi instead hits a nasty powerbomb onto the floor. Hey, those mats on the floor? Pretty fucking thin. Back in the ring, Kobashi gets a nearfall. He looks for a Dragon Suplex, but it’s blocked. Kobashi explodes with machine gun chops to the back of the head, and then hits the suplex for a 2 count.
Kobashi hits the powerslam, and he goes to the top for the moonsault, but Misawa rolls away. Kobashi isn’t messing around tonight. Misawa with an elbow to the head, and another. Kobashi responds with some hard chops to the chest. In the corner, Kobashi hits his trademark machine gun chops. A standing leg drop to the back of Misawa’s head follows, and now he’s on the middle rope. Misawa avoids a diving senton.
Misawa goes to the floor for a quick breather, as Kobashi eyes him like a hawk. Back in the ring, Kobashi explodes with chops, and Misawa explodes with elbows. Kobashi with an arm drag into a cross arm breaker submission. Misawa is able to get his legs on the ropes. Kobashi hyperextends the arm over his shoulder, and then repeats it. Misawa responds with an elbow to Kobashi’s arm! Thrust kick to the throat by Kobashi, followed by some rapid throat chops, and a DDT. He covers, and Misawa kicks out.
Misawa has had it with all the knee strikes by Kobashi, and lets him know with a rare facial expression. Elbow and chop exchange follows, with Misawa winning out. He hits a nice back suplex to the challenger, followed by a running elbow. More stiff elbows to the side of the head by Misawa, who’s showing quite a bit of fire here! Kobashi ain’t putting up with that shit, and he chops the hell out of Misawa. Snap mare by Kobashi into a double arm stretch behind his back.
After some time, Misawa is able to reverse the pressure onto Kobashi’s arms, but the challenger won’t go down quietly. He quickly reverses it back to his control, then eats a dropkick. Kobashi looks for a sleeper hold now. Misawa is able to get to the ropes, but eats a headbutt to the back and half nelson suplex that nearly spikes him. Kobashi covers, and he only gets 2. He goes right back to the sleeper hold. Misawa is close to the ropes, until Kobashi grapevines the midsection with his legs.
Misawa is able to get out of it and go to the floor. Kobashi pulls him to the apron, and explodes with rapid fire chops to the neck. Kobashi looks for a back suplex off the apron, but Misawa dings him with an elbow to the face. Back in the ring, Misawa stays on offense with a couple of jumping knees. He attempts the Tiger Driver, but Kobashi blocks it. Axe kick by Misawa, and the Tiger Driver connects for a 2 count. Misawa tries it again, but Kobashi forces him to the turnbuckle. Middle rope shotgun dropkick by Misawa, then a diving elbow off the top rope sends Kobashi to the floor. Misawa follows that with a diving Tope to the outside onto the challenger.
In the ring, Misawa hits a top rope frog splash for a 2 count. Tiger Suplex by Misawa into a bridge, and Kobashi kicks out again. He elbows Misawa in the jaw, but can’t block the release Tiger Suplex that sends him across the ring! He’s back on the floor, and the crowd is right behind him with their chants! Kobashi looks glassy eyed, as Misawa meets him out there for more. He brings Kobashi back inside the ring, and makes the cover. Kobashi is aware enough to kick out.
Misawa connects with a few elbows, followed by a discus elbow that appears to knock Kobashi out clean. Misawa covers, and the challenger kicks out. Drop toe hold by Kobashi out of nowhere, followed by a leg drop. Both men are back to their feet, and Kobashi hits a thrust kick to the throat again! Nasty German Suplex follows, and Misawa is able to kick out. The referee has to check on him, though, because he looks wobbly!
Big shoulder tackle sends Misawa crashing into the turnbuckle. Powerbomb by the Iron Man, who looks to stay ahead of his senior. He hits a running dropkick to the back of Misawa’s head against the ropes, and makes the cover. The referee counts, and Misawa gets the shoulder up. Kobashi connects with headbutts to the back of the head, before hitting a bridging Powerbomb for a close nearfall. Kobashi hits a powerslam and a leg drop, and another leg drop.
He bangs his head off the turnbuckle, and hits a running legdrop. He then goes to the top rope and connects with the moonsault! He covers, and Misawa kicks out. Kobashi goes right back up and hits another to a crotched Misawa, landing right on his back! That had to fucking hurt, dude. The crowd are going bananas now, as Misawa hits a kick to the head. Kobashi fires back with a lariat! Another lariat off the ropes connects flush!
Kobashi with a running elbow off the ropes drops the champion. He lifts Misawa up and hits a German Suplex, but Misawa is right back up to connect with an elbow to the face. Kobashi bounces up and hits a dropkick to Misawa, which gets him a close nearfall. A couple of elbows and an axe kick, as Kobashi looks for the powerbomb again, but Misawa counters with a hurricanrana! Misawa with a discus elbow to the back of Kobashi’s head drops him.
Misawa rolls him over, and makes the cover. Kobashi is able to kick out. Misawa brings Kobashi to his feet, and hits a nice looking release Tiger Suplex. He slowly makes the cover, and Kobashi is able to get his shoulder up. Kobashi has a far away look in his eyes, as Misawa explodes with more elbows to the head. The referee is checking on Kobashi, who begs for the match to continue. He tries to fight back, but Misawa continues to dominate.
More elbows to the head by the champion, but here’s Kobashi with some chops to the chest. Misawa blocks a back suplex, and Kobashi chops him in the neck. More offense from Kobashi, but Misawa is holding him at bay with those deadly elbows. Hard clubbing blow to the back, and another discus elbow. Misawa hooks the arms, and destroys Kobashi with the Tiger Driver 91! He covers, and that’s enough for the win to retain the championship.
It was starting to get repetitive in the final five minutes, I’ll admit, but the 30 minutes that preceded it were phenomenal. Kobashi, on the biggest stage of his All Japan career to this point, stood toe to toe with the best in the company, and gave him one hell of an effort. He was aggressive, and not afraid to stand and trade strikes with the man with the most dangerous elbow in professional wrestling. Misawa, however, was just too much for him on this night.
As the match wore on, Kobashi’s strikes meant less and less, and Misawa was able to pull from his endless reserve of strength to power on and just completely decimate his former partner with elbows. It was a good back and forth showdown between two hosses, but Kobashi never seemed to be in a position to take the title from Misawa. He did his best, as he always does, but this wasn’t his time quite yet. Misawa bested his friend here, because he was the better big match wrestler by this point.