Back كنتا كوباشى ARZ Kenta Kobashi German Kenta Kobashi Spanish Kenta Kobashi Finnish Kenta Kobashi French Kenta Kobashi Italian 小橋建太 Japanese 고바시 겐타 Korean Кобаси, Кэнта Russian Kenta Kobashi Slovak
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| Kenta Kobashi | |
|---|---|
 Kobashi in 2007 | |
| Born | March 27, 1967 Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, Japan |
| Spouse(s) |
Mizuki Mai (m. 2010) |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Kenta Kobashi Blaze[1] |
| Billed height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] |
| Billed weight | 115 kg (254 lb)[2] |
| Billed from | Kyoto, Japan |
| Trained by | Dory Funk Jr. Giant Baba Haru Sonoda Masanobu Fuchi |
| Debut | December 16, 1987 |
| Retired | May 11, 2013 |
Kenta Kobashi (小橋 健太, Kobashi Kenta, ring name: 小橋 建太) (born, March 27, 1967) is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired wrestler. Broadly referred to by the nickname "Tetsujin" (鉄人, Iron Man), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.[3][4] He is best known for his two runs in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH), of which he captured AJPW's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship thrice, and NOAH's GHC Heavyweight Championship once. He is the winner of numerous Match of the Year and Wrestler of the Year awards, including from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) and Tokyo Sports.
Kobashi started his wrestling career in AJPW in 1987, debuting the next year and becoming the star rookie of the promotion. Booked as a resilient jobber by AJPW founder Giant Baba, he became a key major figure in the shift between old wrestlers to younger ones in the turn of the Super World of Sports exodus. In 1993, he was officially dubbed as one of the members of the Four Heavenly Pillars of AJPW, alongside Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Akira Taue. He became renowned for his matches and rivalries with gaijin (foreign) wrestlers and fellow Japanese wrestlers alike. He became a widely successful tag wrestler, teaming with Misawa, the AJPW ace, as part of the Super Generation Army (超世代軍, Chou Sedai-gun), and becoming a noted combatant in some of the most highly acclaimed tag team wrestling matches of the 1990s.
He became successful as a singles wrestling star later on, usually by his determination and performance in highly acclaimed matches, usually for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship or in the Champion Carnival tournament. His matches with his fellow Pillars, as well as the likes of Steve Williams, Stan Hansen, Burning stable-mate and tag partner Jun Akiyama, and Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, are held in high regard and praise, especially those against the Pillars and Hansen. As a top singles wrestler in AJPW, he qualified for the 1997 and 1999 Champion Carnival finals, and won the 2000 tournament.
Kobashi was part of the dissenting crew who would take part in the second exodus of All Japan Pro Wrestling in 2000, which led to the creation of the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, and would later continue to work as a wrestler for the promotion for thirteen years. He notably concluded the inter-promotional rivalry with Misawa in Noah, winning the GHC Heavyweight Championship from him on March 1, 2003. He went on to have the longest singular reign for the championship of all time, holding it for 735 days, losing it to Takeshi Rikio on March 5, 2005. In that reign, he had defended the title thirteen times (the second most ever behind Takashi Sugiura, who had one more than Kobashi), and had sold out each of the Noah-affiliated shows that had him defend his title.
Kobashi spent many of the later years of his career sidelined due to various injuries. He underwent numerous surgeries on his arms and legs in the early-mid 2000s before retiring from in-ring action in May 2013. Kobashi continues to make sporadic appearances in Noah, as well as DDT Pro-Wrestling, whilst also promoting his own shows under the Fortune Dream banner.
- ^ "NOAH Halloween with NOAH « Events Database « CAGEMATCH - the Internet Wrestling Database".
- ^ a b "Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 - 2004 : 4 Kenta Kobashi". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Sports and Entertainment publications LLC. October 2004. p. 22. December 2004.
- ^ Podgorski, Alexander (May 16, 2015). "10 Reasons Kenta Kobashi Is The Greatest Wrestler Of The Modern Era". WhatCulture.com. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
- ^ Djeljosevic, Danny (April 28, 2022). "10 Things You Should Know About Japanese Wrestling Legend Kenta Kobashi". TheSportster. Retrieved September 22, 2023.