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Post by bossrock on Jan 18, 2018 16:48:06 GMT -5
Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen (AJPW - 9/4/1991)
Incredible match and rivals the famous July ’93 bout as my favorite between the two. We see Kobashi continue to inch closer to beating his arch nemesis as Hansen lays him out immediately and beats him down for the entire first half of the match, only for Kobashi to finally mount his comeback and come very close to finishing him off. Whereas the ’93 match focuses on Kobashi proving that he possibly CAN beat Hansen, this match is more about showing that he’s getting closer and closer to his level.
Possible top 50 contender.
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Post by elliott on Mar 11, 2019 23:22:27 GMT -5
Seconded. This is on the bubble for me but is a fucking amazing match and will get strong consideration. I could see it in the top 75 range. Want to really make sure it gets through.
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Post by elliott on Apr 28, 2019 19:20:30 GMT -5
Just watched this again because we're talking about it today and I have to fill an hour before the new GOT. This is so great. On the shorter side for a great AJPW match as it is under 20 min. But it is truly excellent. Hansen hits Kobashi with a lariat before the bell and knocks him the hell out. But the match hasn't started and so the ref refuses to count. Stan is pissed at the ref, the fans are pissed at Stan, and Kobashi doesn't know what the fuck is going on.
From there Kenta has to make the long comeback after being knocked on his feat. Stan controls for the first 5 or 6 min just dominating beating the crap out of Kobashi. I love the tough non-nonsense nitty-gritty Hansen offense mixed with Kobashi's theatrical style of selling (and just overall his overall nature, Kenta was a very theatrical & charismatic guy). Their differences are a big reason why I'm so drawn to their matches. Kenta fiiiinally slowly starts to get some hope spots in. He doesn't immediately cut off Stan and go on a run. Stan cuts him off over and over but Kobashi gets a little closer to maybe making a true comeback each time. The timing of the hope spots and cut offs is pitch perfect. Its 1991 though, so eventually Kobashi's head gets cut off. Kobashi's selling is outstanding and Stan is Stan. This really is an awesome match.
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Post by Cap on Oct 28, 2019 20:24:01 GMT -5
From my watching project... Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi (9/4/1991) Current Rank: 71 Trending: Up This was among a slew of Hansen/Kobashi matches I either haven’t watched forever or haven’t watched at all. I am presently getting that remedied before the next list, but I started here. When this whole thing is said and done, I may have 4-5 matches between these two in my top 100 and I am completely ok with that. I have said it a thousand times, this is my favorite pairing in wrestling. Not only is their chemistry great, but they both bring a style (and are the peaks of their respective styles to me) that I personally think is most conducive to producing great matches. The combination is almost always a home run. Hansen’s early murder attempts set the stage and the match never really slows. In this, more so than most other Hansen in Japan matches, this feels like it has shades of Hansen in PR, the sort of chaotic, unhinged monster who genuinely trying to take another man’s head off. It is all action and urgency punctuated by big moves and structured such that it winds up telling a lucid and compelling story. It also features one of my favorite lariats (the one on the outside where Hansen looks like he is throwing a damned punch). To me, this might in the conversation for best in ring storytelling or perhaps best example of wrestling as a storytelling art. It sort of runs up against Maeda/Takada on this list in that regard. When I first watched this match for the project a few months back I knew it had to be on the list and I slotted it in the 70s. I rewatched it back a few days ago and I think it probably needs to be higher. This match holds up – nay, gets better – on multiple watches. Full Post: gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/657/caps-watching-project-reports?page=2#ixzz63ha9ss7g |
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Post by superstarsleeze on Feb 9, 2020 16:56:16 GMT -5
Just watched this today and this is a strong contender for this year's list. Cool opening with Hansen's Lariat KO'ing Kobashi, but it does not count because it was before the bell. It really puts Kobashi, the ultimate underdog, in a huge hole. I love how Kobashi had to EARN his comeback and it takes time. It all leads to the Moonsault and he still cant put Hansen away. Then they do the whole sleeper thing. Then the finish is so epic with the two different countout teases and a great lariat finish. Yeah, I am pretty sure this is Top 100 material.
Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 9/4/91
To think the only Hansen vs Kobashi match I have ever watched before today was 7/29/93. What have I been doing with my life? This was fantastic and a total contender to make my Top 100 matches of all time list.
Hansen OBLITERATES Kobashi with the Western Lariat. Covers him, but wait it happened before the bell! Joe Higuchi refuses to count the pin. We have the ultimate underdog Kobashi in a 6 foot hole against the Grizzly Bear from The Revenant. It is every bit as epic as you would hope it would be. Hansen MAULS Kobashi. He is besides himself that Kobashi is kicking out. Then it becomes Kobashi just getting his foot on the ropes. He powerbombs him on exposed concrete. He hurls a table down on him. He exposes the knee smashes it into his head. He steps on his head for great heel heat. Kobashi just will not die! I loved the touch of Hansen starting to sell exhaustion. Kobashi is weather the storm and Hansen is starting to slow down. We see little openings for Kobashi here and there where he will get a strike in. It is the full nelson by Hansen when we know he is fatigued. He is going for a hold so he himself can recover. Once Kobashi gets out, thats when he starts his onslaught. It is gradual. Kobashi is selling an epic beating. He will hurl himself at Hansen but need to stop to collect himself in between. Eventually Hansen powders, Kobashi gives chase and slams his head into the post. Then it is enziguiri on the apron that sends Hansen head first into the exposed part of the turnbuckle. Finally it is the DDT on the exposed concrete. It took 5 minutes but Kobashi EARNED that comeback. Now it is a level playing field. Sublime pro wrestling.
Is there a better moment in pro wrestling than Kenta Kobashi's fist pump before he goes for the Moonsault. It is so electric. It is so passionate. How could you root against Kobashi? Kobashi HITS the Moonsault! 1-2-NO! Awesome! He goes for another top rope move. You need to take risks against a Monster like Hansen, but they need to be calculated. This time Hansen is standing so he evades the dropkick and immediately goes to work on the back with a Boston Crab. Kobashi makes the ropes and powders. Hansen BODYSLAMS Kobashi on top of the railing and then puts him in a Boston Crab on the floor. Thats when the match from ok this is a great novelty match to stone cold classic. Hansen then Oklahoma Stampedes Kobashi's back into the post. WOW! Back in, Hansen starts lighting Kobashi up in the corner, but the ref tells him to break and this is Kobashi's chance. Great stuff to break up the onslaught. Then the match takes yet another interesting twist. Hansen misses wildly on a chop and Kobashi wraps him up with a sleeper. Hansen suplexes Kobashi, BUT Kobashi HOLDS ONTO THE SLEEPER! I am such a mark for that spot. Kobashi puts the Grizzly to sleep! 1-2-NO! Kobashi does his barrage of leg drops, still no dice. Right back to the sleeper. They end up rolling to the floor, but Kobashi will not relinquish the sleeper in the crowd. He does however to beat the count. Kobashi is the personification of determination and perseverance. However, his honor gets the best of him. He goes back out so that he can collect Hansen so he can beat him in the ring. Hansen SMOKES Kobashi with a Lariat on the floor! MARK OUT CITY! They do a second countout tease this time with Kobashi. I think it could have ended there and I would have been happy. They tussle on the apron. Kobashi shifts his weight on the back suplex into the ring. I love that finish and it was a great nearfall here. Kobashi dodges the first Lariat, but Hansen FUCKS HIM UP ON THE REBOUND! 1-2-3! I love Pro Wrestling! ****3/4
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Post by KB8 on Feb 9, 2020 17:30:30 GMT -5
Yeah, I watched and wrote about this last year. It's terrific.
Goodness, this might be the meanest Stan Hansen there's ever been. That covers a ridiculous amount of ground and it's nigh on impossible to know for sure, but he was in a deeply unpleasant mood on this night and he took every bit of it out on Kobashi. Before the bell even rings he just murders him with a lariat and for the next five minutes Kobashi is googly-eyed trying to regain his bearings. Hansen drags him outside, powerbombs him on the floor - which is the ever-present in their rivalry - and recklessly chucks a table at his head. He just wallops him up and down the place and Kobashi can only fight back with a chop here or a kick there. Of course every hope spot he gets, no matter how minuscule, elicits a massive reaction. I actually watched their match from 1990 just before this and you could already see the progress Kobashi had made from then to this, not necessarily as a worker (though that too, obviously), but more his standing in the All Japan pecking order. In the 1990 match his hope spots were ragged, more of an annoyance to Hansen than anything he truly had to worry about. Here he was getting worried, especially after Kobashi hit the moonsault, and then again when Kobashi took it to the floor himself. I've written about a few Hansen/Kobashi matches on this stupid blog over the years and I always bring up how you can track their interactions from beginning to end, how they evolve, the threads that run through all of them -- it might be my favourite of the prominent 90s All Japan match-ups in that respect. At the end of the day it's simple enough. Hansen is a menace who runs roughshod over everything, Kobashi is the young prodigy who's destined for the crown. The former's decline coincides with the latter's rise and at a certain point in their trajectories Kobashi will overtake Hansen. It's just how it goes. How Hansen tries to fight back the tide with each subsequent bout is where the dynamic thrives. At this point there isn't a huge amount of danger that he'll lose, but Kobashi doggedly going after the sleeper out on the floor had Hansen reeling and the way he shut him down with that second lariat was fucking incredible. Hansen was pissed off before but that felt like a real breaking point, where he was thoroughly fed up with this kid and just wanted to go chew some tobacco in peace. The way he slammed him into the barricade afterwards was borderline absurd and the finish is another all-time Hansen v Kobashi level finish. Stan Hansen, you truly were the surliest.
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Post by mvz on Apr 18, 2021 6:52:16 GMT -5
Cap posted a list in the Hansen thread on PWO and it made me want to look at some of the matches I hadn’t seen in a while or at all. I am very high on the Colon feud, the Funk 83 match, the tags with Tenryu, the Andre match...I mean, he may not hit it out of the park every single time, but most of the time there is a lot to keep you engaged.
This is my kind of match, a start that cracks up the drama right away, big Moves and big selling, memorable spots throughout (the power bomb, the slam into t he barricade) work that plays with your expectations (the sleeper/countout teases) and then a rocking finish. That is didn’t go long is a point in it’s favor as well.
I have seen at least one other match in their series, but will try to get to a couple in the near term. I can already tell that limiting my list to 100 is going to be heartbreaking , but this seems like it belongs.
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Post by elliott on Apr 18, 2021 10:41:33 GMT -5
Cap posted a list in the Hansen thread on PWO and it made me want to look at some of the matches I hadn’t seen in a while or at all. I am very high on the Colon feud, the Funk 83 match, the tags with Tenryu, the Andre match.. .I mean, he may not hit it out of the park every single time, but most of the time there is a lot to keep you engaged. This is my kind of match, a start that cracks up the drama right away, big Moves and big selling, memorable spots throughout (the power bomb, the slam into t he barricade) work that plays with your expectations (the sleeper/countout teases) and then a rocking finish. That is didn’t go long is a point in it’s favor as well. I have seen at least one other match in their series, but will try to get to a couple in the near term. I can already tell that limiting my list to 100 is going to be heartbreaking , but this seems like it belongs. I'm going to push back on this as long as it takes. Hansen has an extraordinary number of high caliber matches whether they be all time classics, MOTYCs or just Match of the Night Candidates. Even with limited footage of his 70s run and completely different goals for his matches, Hansen has as many great matches as anyone else and as few stinkers. What do I mean by a different goals for his matches? Well, Hansen has a ton of matches like Hansen & Dibiase vs BOckwinkel & Hennig. Matt D and I went around a little on this match during the last GWE here so it sticks out in my head forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/28583-stan-hansen/?do=findComment&comment=5711076The goal of this match isn't to "go out and have a great match!" Its a tiny piece of multiple larger stories being told. Not even a scene in a movie, more like a line of dialogue. Hansen COULD go out and bump and sell for Curt Hennig and build a dramatic match. We saw him do it mere months later in AWA. But if Hansen went out there and bumped around like a pinball in All Japan in 1985 for Curt Hennig, it would have been stupid and bad wrestling. He didn't do it. He shouldn't have done it. Its not a "great match" or even a "good one" but to label it bad or missing the mark is not understanding the purpose of the match. Compare that to Daniel Bryan for year after year the "goal" for everyone of his matches was "Have a great match!" It was the fans expectation for every match and his intent for the vast majority of his matches for his entire career. That Hansen was able to have so many great and classic matches in his career when the explicit goal was never to just have a great match is a credit and impressive. Stan isn't a high floor/low ceiling guy. He's a high floor and a high ceiling guy. He's Stan the Man Musial batting .310-.375 year after year with 35 Homers & 125 RBIS. |
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Post by mvz on Apr 18, 2021 13:29:59 GMT -5
The part that Elliott bolded may look like damning with faint praise, so I should have been more careful with a throwaway comment. I definitely don’t want to see Stan Hansen pinballing for Curt Hennig and agree that he works in a way that is true to himself and lends itself to the kind of wrestling I want to watch.
There was some interesting reading in that thread though, so I appreciate it:)
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Post by mvz on Apr 18, 2021 13:35:08 GMT -5
I posted but wanted to add I agree that Hansen has an extraordinary number of high end matches. He may wind up as many matches in my top 100 as anyone, and just about everything I have seen is worth watching.
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Post by Cap on Apr 18, 2021 16:55:17 GMT -5
Yeah... I think MVZ and I are on the same page with you here elliott. I think if you look at my original line in context and obviously with mvz's response, we agree with you. My original point was about his high end singles matches, which were brought into question by others. I think if we are approaching this in the context of elite matches, sure... Hansen has a few odd balls and maybe even matches that don't hit at all for some folks. However, if we are approaching things more broadly. He is just a guy who delivers (hence the last part of my line).
Long story short. I personally think he is a high floor high ceiling guy. He is on the short list of "I desert island wrestlers", but I sort of get why others might be lower on some matches or may find bigger flaws for their taste.
The point about bryan seems like it might open up a larger conversation. I think if you look at my general taste, I prefer organic great... matches that aren't trying to be great, but just become that. Greats like Hansen and Funk excel at that and I think it is much more likely one emerges with a genuine classic from that mentality. On the other hand, it almost makes it more impressive that someone like Bryan accomplished so many great matches while performing in a wrestling landscape that was constantly striving for that. As weird as it is. I think it is easier to look great from our particular vantage point if you weren't trying to have great matches. If you are... our critical lazer eyes (the 2021 fan, if that is a thing) start carving folks up pretty quick.
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Post by puropotsy on Mar 4, 2023 19:04:07 GMT -5
Hansen is like a horror movie here, attacking Kobashi relentlessly from before the bell. Kobashi fights back like a world-beater and puts Hansen down with a sleeper outside the guardrail. Hansen makes it back in and they battle it out with Hansen missing a lariat but then spinning around with another one to get the pin. Amazing stuff that shows what all-time opponents these two are.
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