Kenta Kobashi/Homicide vs. Samoa Joe/Low Ki (ROH 10/2/2005)

Surprised I couldn't find a thread for this. I always put off watching this match as I felt sad at the idea of not having any great Kobashi matches I hadn't seen before, but it lived up to my expectations. Initially, I was perplexed with why an injured Homicide was booked as Kobashi's partner instead of having him team with Danielson or Joe, but things clicked with me as the match went on. Though both Kobashi and Joe look banged up from their match the prior night, Kobashi is clearly the worse for wear of the two and he's also stuck with a partner who has a bum shoulder. Thus, we get the stiff strike exchanges and nutty head drops we'd expect from this match, but there's an extra layer of intrigue from the feeling of vulnerability on the Kobashi/Homicide team that makes this stand out a bit from the Joe/Kobashi singles match. Besides that, the crowd was on fire the whole way through and all 4 guys clearly had their working boots on, so there was never a dull moment. Kobashi and Low Ki working a bizarre juniors reversal sequence was probably the highlight of the match for me. Nice feel good finishing stretch with Kobashi cleaning house as well.