Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Wrestling / KentaKobashi

Go To

1[[quoteright:226:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/KentaKobashi_6122.jpg]]
2
3->''"Kobashi! Kobashi! Kobashi!"''
4-->--'''A common chant heard during his matches'''
5
6Who is '''Kenta Kobashi'''? Simply put, he is one of the greatest practitioners of [[ProfessionalWrestling puroresu]] in history.
7
8Kenta Kobashi (Born 小橋 建太 on March 27th, 1967) started his career in Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling in the early 90's by losing 63 matches in a row, all to establish him as the ultimate {{Determinator}}, showing plenty of fire, charisma, and fight in every one, until the day he finally won his first singles competition. He eventually rose to the main event and put on legendary bouts with longtime nemesis Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa, [[OvershadowedByAwesome Akira Taue]], and Wrestling/{{Toshiaki Kawada}}. And then he did it all again when he eventually moved to Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH alongside his erstwhile friend Misawa. He is also the progenitor of the ''Burning Hammer'' finishing move, a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that is so well-protected and so infrequently used it became legendarily powerful, to the point that anyone who has tried it since him has only ever done it in the most dire of circumstances, and it's pretty much always finished the match. He's even said [[Memes/ProfessionalWrestling to have killed his own cancer with it]].
9
10Unfortunately, years of knee injuries began to take their toll on his body, and finally Kobashi announced his retirement in December 2012 -- 25 years after his first match -- before spending the next four months training just for his retirement match, which was held on May 11th, 2013. He's since been more of a supporting figure for his many proteges, as well as being a special guest of honor in NOAH and AJPW for special events.
11
12Kobashi finished his career one of the most decorated and successful champions in Japanese wrestling history. Having won AJPW's Triple Crown World Championship three times, The AJPW world tag team championships six times with three different partners, and winner of the 2000 Champions Carnival. In NOAH, he only won the GHC World Heavyweight Championship once, but holds the record for longest reign (735 days), and the second-most successful defenses of said belt with 13. He was also a winner of the GHC Openweight Hardcore belt, and a 2-time winner of the GHC-Tag Team Championships, both with Tamon Honda. Outside of the ring, he was given plaudits by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Tokyo Sports, PWI, and Nikkan Sports, all of whom labelled him either "Wrestler of the year" [[note]]especially in 1996, where the Newsletter, Tokyo Sports, and Nikkan all uniformly awarded him the title[[/note]], having participated in the Match of the Year, or awarding him five stars in many of his matches.
13
14
15!!'''The following tropes are found in Kenta Kobashi:'''
16
17* AlliterativeName: Far as anyone knows, or is willing to reveal, it's his only ring name.
18* CaptainErsatz: He, or rather, lawyer friendly he, has been a regular in ''Videogame/FireProWrestling''.
19* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Fighting Spirit!
20* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Orange when he was with Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling.
21* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The reason the Burning Hammer is considered such a devastatingly powerful move is because it's very nearly THE most dangerous move ever invented in professional wrestling, basically amounting to picking your opponent up across your shoulders, then dropping sideways to slam them down ''right on their head.'' The move is flat-out ''banned'' in Wrestling/{{WWE}} because it's too dangerous to be used, and even Kobashi himself only used it ''7 times'' in 25 years. [[spoiler:When [[Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick Brian Kendrick]] pulled it out against Wrestling/KotaIbushi in their match at the Wresling/WWECruiserweightClassic tournament, the crowd predictably lost their shit- even more so when [[CueTheFlyingPigs Ibushi kicked out of it]].]]
22* {{Determinator}}: His (original) defining trait.
23* FinishingMove: Kenta Kobashi used the Burning Hammer seven times in his career. It won the match every time. For the matches that he won without using the Burning Hammer, he mostly uses either a lariat, a brainbuster, or a moonsault.
24* IKnowKarate: Took up UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} in high school.
25* LightningBruiser: In his early years, he was fast, strong, and tough, complete with having a moonsault for his finisher, although age and a horrific number of knee injuries (at least in part racked up from said moonsaults) turned him into a MightyGlacier.
26* MadeOfIron: He used to absorb insane amounts of punishment in his matches.
27* TheMentor:
28** To Wrestling/KentaKobayashi. To avoid confusion with his mentor, Kobayashi changed his ring name to KENTA (all caps and in Roman letters).
29** Was also also mentor and tag partner to Gou Shiozaki who at one point was essentially "mini Kobashi."
30* PecFlex: Even when he's just goofing off it can be rather intimidating.
31* RealMenWearPink: Don't laugh at his pink shorts!
32* RedBaron: [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Absolute Champion]], [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes Orange Crush]], Iron Man (See MadeOfIron above).
33* RetiredBadass: Wrestled his last match, an 8-man tag team, on May 11, 2013 at NOAH Final Burning in Budokan.
34* RugbyIsSlaughter: Played in high school.
35* UnderwearOfPower: He has plenty of patterns and colors for variety(though he usually just sticks to black) but if you see him in anything else, he probably won't be wrestling.

Top