[101][102] This was followed by multiple members of the roster saying goodbye to Itami on social media. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideo_Itami_(professional_wrestling) After months of trying to persuade his mentor Yoshihiro Takayama to join No Mercy, on June 26 Takayama turned on his partner Takuma Sano during a tag match against Kenta and Kanemaru and became the fourth member of the group. The story By the summer of 2005, Kenta Kobashi had accomplished pretty much everything there was for him to do. NOAH - 09-18-2005 - Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & Genichiro Tenryu. MSK vs. Breezango non-title match set for WWE NXT 5/11 12:19pm PDT. WWF Wanted Kenta Kobashi, Planned to Push Heavily if Acquired (Wrestling Observer - Feb. 1998) In a video announcement published on October 18, Itami vowed to return to in-ring competition at NXT's first show in Japan on December 3. He was trained there by Dory Funk, Jr., Giant Baba, Kazuharu Sonoda and Masanobu Fuchi. In November, Kenta entered Noah's Global Tag League and developed a new submission move he called "Game Over" to help him dispatch heavyweights. kobashi is a legend, you guys are not giving him enough credit here, whats to stop him getting over in the WWE, brock lesnar did in no time and nobody knew who the hell he was in april 2002 whats to stop kobashi adapting to the WWE style, if people like trish stratus can, i give kobashi … [135], Kenta made a surprise appearance for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) at the Beach Break event on February 3, 2021, attacking Jon Moxley. Their chemistry together is just as great as that between Kobashi and Misawa or Misawa and Kawada. 22 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the, Matsumoto Day Clinic Cup Contention Heavyweight Battle Royal (2013), One Day Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2002) – with, Global Tag League Fighting Spirit Award (2014) – with Yoshihiro Takayama, This page was last edited on 10 May 2021, at 21:29. When teamed with the higher ranking Misawa or Toshiaki Kawada, Kobashi would play the gutsy underdog. He is best known for wrestling under the ring name KENTA. He’s one of the best. His knees again gave out on him during the match. May 11, 2013 [80] After weeks of feuding with The Ascension, Itami and Bálor defeated them at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution on December 11. Simultaneously, Kenta began teaming with Katsuyori Shibata as The Takeover, challenging for the GHC Tag Team Championship, the heavyweight version of the company's tag team title. Signature moves: Go 2 Sleep GAME OVER Busaiku … [57] Kenta returned for In Your Face featuring him in a three-way match against Joe and Danielson, which ended in similar fashion. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, before taking part in a mass exodus led by Mitsuharu Misawa, which led to the formation of Pro Wrestling Noah. He participated in a fatal four-way match involving cruiserweight champion Buddy Murphy, Kalisto, and Tozawa at the Royal Rumble, where he lost after being pinned by Murphy. [133] On the January 29 episode of Strong, Kenta was attacked by United States Champion Jon Moxley. However, both continued the match without referee stoppage. On June 12, 1998, Kobashi defeated Kawada to begin his second Triple Crown reign. However, he was needed to establish Noah as a viable promotion, and was given a marquee position on the first two shows. [82] At NXT TakeOver: Rival, Itami defeated Breeze in a rematch. In February 2000 he defeated Vader to earn his third Triple Crown reign. Kenta made his next appearance on the Glory By Honor VI tour; the first night had him team with the GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa against Takeshi Morishima and Naomichi Marufuji, with the match ending in a thirty-minute time limit draw. [104] On February 22, Kobayashi was officially released by WWE, as the company formally acknowledged his departure on Twitter. However, instead of the traditional one on one contest to settle the carnival, a one night 3 way round robin was held due to Kobashi, Kawada, and Misawa all having finished the Carnival round robin with the same score. [64], Kenta made his return in 2009 against ROH World Champion, Nigel McGuinness in a losing effort at the company's seventh anniversary show. [99] On the December 18 episode of Raw, Itami would make his main roster debut, aiding Finn Bálor to fend off and face Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a tag team match, which Itami and Bálor would win, turning face in the process. Kobashi's role included making sure that the Suzuki-gun stable did not interfere in the match. [70][71] His signing was officially announced during an in-ring segment on July 12 in Osaka. On May 25 Kenta and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki of the ANMU stable to win the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Kobashi's reign spanned for over two years and included 13 successful defenses. In 1993, he became Misawa's main tag partner in the middle of the year when Kawada became Misawa's main rival. Noah and Kobashi seemingly came to an agreement to let him retire as opposed to forcing him to leave the promotion. The title win with Kikuchi over Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas took place before a rabid crowd in Kikuchi's hometown of Sendai on May 25, 1992; the match quickly gained legendary status among tape-traders, and was voted 1992's Match of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Kenta Kobayashi (小林健太, Kobayashi Kenta, born March 12, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler. [56] He returned to the company the following year for Best in the World in New York City on March 25 where he and Naomichi Marufuji defeated the team of Samoa Joe and ROH World champion Bryan Danielson after Kenta connected with his finishing strike, the Go 2 Sleep, on Danielson. [64] The following night, Kenta wrestled Misawa for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort. Description Highspots - Kenta Kobashi "Punch The Sky" Hand Signed 8x10 Photo *inc COA*Hand Signed by Kenta Kobashi in Las Vegas, NV during Starrcast 2 on May 26th 2019Please note Autograph and position may VaryComes with Highspots Certificate of AuthenticityFirst Listed on Wrestlingstore.co.uk on March 2nd 2021 Kobashi won his first match in May 1989 (against Jim Crockett Promotions jobber Mitch Snow). WWE King of The Ring 2019 | The Wrestling Page from www.thewrestlingpage.com This is the kind of match every wrestler would want to have. He was trained by legendary wrestlers Kenta Kobashi and Yoshihiro Takayama. However, he was needed to establish Noah as a viable promotion, and was given a marquee position on the first two shows. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, World's Strongest Tag Determination League, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, https://prowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Kenta_Kobashi?oldid=1784547, "Zettai Ōja" (絶対王者, "The Absolute Champion"), January 2 Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal (1993), One Night Six Man Tag Team Tournament (1999) – with Jun Akiyama and Kentaro Shiga, World's Strongest Tag Determination League (, World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fresh Award (, Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998, 2004, 2005), One Day Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2002) – with. At the biggest Noah show of the year on December 23, 2000, Kobashi defeated Akiyama, avenging his loss earlier that year. The definition of babyface fire, Kenta Kobashi is one of the greatest and most influential wrestlers of all time. On December 3, 1993, Kobashi gained his first pin over Kawada, won his first World's Strongest Tag Determination League, and won his first World Tag Team Championship. Weight Kenta competed for 15 years in Pro-Wrestling NOAH before leaving for WWE in 2014. [21], Following his loss of the tag title, Kenta returned to competing in singles competition by defeating Bryan Danielson for his second GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, which led to a match with Marufuji, who had won the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, to attempt to unify the titles; the match ended in a sixty-minute draw, keeping the titles in the hands of their respective holder, while gaining favorable reviews for their efforts by the media with some claiming it to be a Match of the Year. This was followed by defeats to Yoshinari Ogawa and Jun Akiyama. His retirement ceremony was held after the second match on the show and was attended by former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, legendary NTV announcers Akira Fukuzawa and Kazuo Tokumitsu, former colleagues Akira Taue, Hiroshi Hase, Masahiro Chono, Mitsuo Momota, Toshiaki Kawada, and Stan Hansen via video message, along with many others. ... WWE Raw viewership down slightly, 18-49 demo rating steady 5/11 1:58pm PDT. The bell rings and the crowd is firmly behind Kobashi. [27] On January 29, 2011, Kenta turned heel and join the Disobey stable with members Muhammad Yone, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Genba Hirayanagi. The only exception was a fluke win in the 1994 Champion Carnival tournament. [63] Ring of Honor made its pay per view debut with the show, Respect is Earned, teaming with Nigel McGuinness against Danielson and Takeshi Morishima in a losing effort, after which Kenta spent several months with the company competing against rival, Davey Richards and his contingency, the No Remorse Corps. [8] He was also the winner of the 2012 Global League and the 2013 Global Tag League tournaments. After a stare down between the two, Black hit Itami with Black Mass. In the early part of 1996, the company elevated Jun Akiyama by making him Misawa's main tag partner. [62], Kenta made his return to Ring of Honor on May 11 of the next year against Delirious in a winning effort. On September 23, Kenta confronted GHC Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki after he defeated Takayama to retain the title. [122], At Power Struggle on November 3, Kenta retained his title against Ishii in a rematch. He is currently signed to the WWE where he competes on their developmental territory NXT under the ring name Hideo Itami . [81] He suffered his first defeat in NXT on January 15, 2015, when he was defeated by Bálor in the semi-finals, thus eliminating him from the tournament. [136] He wrestled his debut match for AEW on the February 10 episode of Dynamite, where he teamed with Kenny Omega to defeat Moxley and Lance Archer in a Falls Count Anywhere tag team match. [33][34] On March 10, Kenta defeated Maybach Taniguchi for his first successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship. He did not remain in the company long as Mitsuharu Misawa, acting president of AJPW, decided to leave the comp… [66], On January 27, 2014, Kenta, with Noah's blessing, entered WWE's Performance Center in Orlando, Florida for a tryout. Up to this point, Misawa had beat Kobashi in four of their previous five encounters. Kenta kobashi & homicide defeated low ki & samoa joe. Wrestling Epicenter! Puro classics. On February 14, 2012, Kenta recruited Shuhei Taniguchi as the fifth member of No Mercy and change his name to Maybach, becoming his mouthpiece and talking for him. His next title challenge was against Kawada in January 1995. Itami made his televised return on April 19, 2017, where he confronted NXT Champion Bobby Roode, before slapping him and executing a GTS. Retired On August 27, 2011, he debuted new ring gear, mixing black and orange, at the NJPW/AJPW/Noah All Together show at Budokan Hall, teaming up with AJPW's Keiji Mutoh, defeating NJPW's Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano. Kenta Kobashi (小橋 建太 Kobashi Kenta, born March 27, 1967) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Sugar J. Kobashi defeated Akira Taue on July 24, 1996, to capture his first Triple Crown. [72], Kobayashi debuted on September 11 at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, introduced by William Regal, where he announced his new ring name, "Hideo Itami", meaning "Hero of Pain",[73] and fended off The Ascension when they interrupted the segment to confront Regal. This week’s offerings include the Samoa Joe vs Kenta Kobashi slugfest, Daniel Bryan vs Low Ki vs Christopher Daniels in a barn burner, and more. Before the main event, Hiroshi Hase announced that he would be resigning as Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) chairman to focus on the National Diet and that Kobashi would be replacing him, after his retirement on May 11. [93] This led to a match at NXT TakeOver: Chicago, in which Itami was unsuccessful in winning the title from Roode. That’s what you get with Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kenta Kobashi from Pro Wrestling NOAH Destiny 2020, or more specifically: for five minutes. On August 24, Kenta and Kanemaru successfully defended their tag title against Aoki and Suzuki, who got the shot due to their victory in the Junior Tag League. Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada: AJPW: Champion Carnival: 5: 44 July 2, 1993: Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa and The Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue) Summer Action Series Night 1: 5: 45 July 29, 1993: Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen: Summer Action Series Night 22: 5: 46 July 31, 1993 [75][76] During the following weeks, Itami kept engaging The Ascension in brawls, but continually lost due to the numbers disadvantage;[77][78] the storyline was that as a newcomer in NXT, Itami did not have any friends in the locker room to help him. In the same month he challenged Misawa for the Triple Crown in another memorable match, but again Misawa defeated him. [19] As Kenta and Ishimori progressed as a unit, they entered the first NTV Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament; in the finals they beat Marufuji and Kota Ibushi to win the tournament. On November 21, 2017, it was announced that Itami would be moving to the main roster as part of the cruiserweight division on 205 Live. Kenta Kobashi, Kensuke Sasaki, Keiji Muto & Jun Akiyama defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Go Shiozaki, KENTA & Maybach Taniguchi in Kobashi's retirement match. Despite this change in plans, Noah confirmed on December 19 that Akiyama, Shiozaki, Suzuki, Kanemaru and Aoki all would be leaving the promotion after December 24. Their reign as champions came to an end in June 2005 after almost two years by Kanemaru and Sugiura after the latter pinned Kenta. [6], Prior to wrestling professionally, Kobayashi had a variety of athletic backgrounds, practicing baseball and kickboxing; the latter came to be a strong foundation in his wrestling style often referred to as shoot style. He first gained some prominence as a member of Mitsuharu Misawa's faction during Misawa's feud with Jumbo Tsuruta. KENTA was among the unfortunate souls thrown into WWE's fledgling Cruiserweight division to flounder and die on the lame-duck 205 Live show. Kobashi married his girlfriend of 14 years, singer Mizuki Mai, on October 2, 2010. On October 12 at an NXT live event, Itami suffered a neck injury after a botched powerslam from Riddick Moss and would not be able to team with Kota Ibushi in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic in which he was scheduled to compete in. The inaugural event featured wrestlers from various promotions, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Kaientai Dojo, Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Wrestling New Classic. Prior to returning to the ring, Kobashi stated that he wanted to start in opening matches, and rebuild himself to a main event player. On the December 25 episode of Raw, Itami would defeat The Brian Kendrick, in which Kendrick would suffer an injury following a Go to Sleep by Itami. [91] However, at the event, Itami did not compete but was instead in an in-ring segment alongside William Regal where they talked to the crowd.[92]. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Moonsault vs Moonsault. [103] On February 4, 2019, the WWE Performance Center YouTube channel that documents the Superstars travel and backstage life released a video chronicling Itami's last week in WWE. [134] It was then announced that Kenta would receive his championship shot against Moxley at The New Beginning USA on February 26, where he was defeated. It originally took place on June 12 th, 1998 and was rated **** by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer. Unfortunately for Kobashi the next month his knees finally deteriorated to the point he could no longer work through the pain and he was forced to take 13 months off for healing. During the following month, Itami would have a feud with fellow Japanese wrestler Akira Tozawa, Mustafa Ali and was involved into the orbit for Cedric Alexander's Cruiserweight Championship. Kenta Kobashi formed a team with Patriot & Johnny Ace known as “GET” or Global Energy Team.. Kenta Kobashi was a member of the All Japan stable “Burning”.. June 11, 1998: Kenta Kobashi defeated Toshiaki Kawada for the All-Japan Triple Crown.. KENTA KOBASHI / GO SHIOZAKI vs TENRYU / AKIYAMA - PRO-WRESTLING NOAH 4/24/2005. On December 10, at the Nippon Budokan, Kobashi appeared before the fans and announced that he would return "without fail". He heads to Full Sail University with fans unsure of what to expect. [65] Kobayashi was scheduled to return to ROH in November 2009, but was forced to cancel the appearances after suffering a knee injury. [79] This continued until November, when Finn Bálor debuted as Itami's new partner. Kobashi's singles matches around this time with Kawada, Misawa and Stan Hansen are amongst his most highly regarded. Kobayashi made his professional wrestling debut on May 24, 2000 against future ally and rival, Naomichi Marufuji, in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) to compete in their junior heavyweight division. He lost the championship to Misawa on January 20, 1997, in a very highly regarded match. [8] While defending the tag team title, Kenta continued his venture in hopes of winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight title once again on November 30, 2003, in an unsuccessful bid against Takashi Sugiura. During this period, Kobashi's knee injuries were beginning to worsen to the point that he desperately needed time off to heal. 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