The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Joe Vs. Kobashi

Posted by Arnold Furious on 03.16.2008

Did I ever mention that I love this match?

The Furious Flashbacks – ROH Joe Vs. Kobashi

Did I ever mention that I love this match?

This is one of those rare occasions where I bought a DVD just for the purpose of watching it rather than to review it. I bought this at the same time I reviewed Nowhere to Run. I don’t even remember when that was. Only that it was a long fucking time ago. The first thing I did after picking this batch of DVD’s up was to slap on Joe v Kobashi and just watch that match. I’ve never seen the rest of the show. I just bought it to see the spectacle of the main event. But then I am a huge mark for both guys and heard nothing but good things about the match so it was a no brainer in terms of picking it up. The rest of the card is entirely unimportant but I guess I might as well review it while I’m here.

We open with footage of Samoa Joe’s dominance in Ring of Honor. Cool stuff because it really puts him over as THE MAN in ROH.

We’re in Manhattan, New York. Hosts are Dave Prazak & Lenny Leonard.

Claudio Castagnoli v Colt Cabana

Weird how Claudio has been wrestling in England for years and getting no reaction at all and then he makes a few appearances in ROH and everyone on the Indy scene suddenly loves him. Just sayin’. Cabana gets himself a serious pop and is in full on goofball mode. Leonard says that Cabana has been threatened so they’re keeping him and Homicide apart. Cabana is very much a top card guy having feuded with Nigel, the current pure champion, and squaring off with Homicide afterwards. Claudio is newer but has a different style to most ROH competitors. Colt is more familiar with that style than the majority of the ROH locker room though. One of the Rottweiler fans, who are all from New York, is there screaming abuse at Colt. You can see the feud and storyline is over riding the match. Although the match is quite good fun with some European style including mat work, forearm uppercuts and Johnny Saint inspired countering. Claudio is particularly fond of the forearm uppercut and uses it on the back of Cabana’s neck. Claudio shows off his power with a stalling suplex but Colt counters into a cradle for 2. Colt gets distracted by another Rottweiler fan. Colt takes forever to set up an Asai moonsault so it doesn’t happen and he hits a missile dropkick. Prazak talks about the atmosphere in the building getting a touch sour courtesy of the Rottweiler fans in the audience. Quebrada block gets 2. Audible “Homicide” chants. Colt goes all Dusty Rhodes with elbows but you can hear the fans shouting at him again. He allows that to be a distraction and Claudio is so dangerous you just can’t give him openings like that. RICOLABOMB finishes immediately and hopefully shows Cabana you can’t mess with someone who’s good enough to get into the ring in ROH and make a name for himself. **1/4. The storyline detracts somewhat from the wrestling but what wrestling they did was quite nice. It was clear this was part of a bigger picture. Claudio gets the win without hurting Colt’s heat so the booking is actually good stuff. As you’d expect from Gabe Sapolsky.

Matt Sydal v Azrieal v Christopher Daniels w/Alison Danger

Sydal has joined Generation Next to give them greater numbers and give Sydal some actual purpose other than flipping at people. Daniels is clearly a cut above the other participants. Basically he’s fallen on hard times in ROH because the fans love him but he’s seen as a TNA wrestler so can’t get himself a push. Of the three major TNA stars (Joe & AJ being the other two) Daniels is the one who’s really gotten the shaft from ROH in booking terms. The others getting meaningful pushes, entertaining main event feuds and big name opponents. To say I’m not fond of 3-way dances would be an understatement. I think they’ve gotten progressively worse over the years in terms of the lousy selling and contrived spots. The only exception being the Wrestlemania XX main event. There’s a lot of babyface basics in the early going. Dropkicks and armdrags. Daniels immediately stays down for too long off a normal spot showing up the issues with 3-ways. Daniels seems to be having trouble with the sheer speed the other two possess. Of course Daniels has far more talent and high impact stuff so he should win easily. I can’t fault the work ethic of anyone in ROH including Sydal & Az. It really is a company where everyone busts their ass. Do I want to see Azrieal? Not really. Special K taints you for life. I don’t care for anyone who was in that stable. Sydal brings the awesome with a diving DDT on Daniels where he uses Az’s back as a launch pad. The only issue being that Daniels blatantly isn’t going to job to either guy regardless of what they hit him with. Az should turn heel. Get him some personality. The others work on Daniels knowing he’s the more experienced and better of the three. Blue Thunder on Sydal. I heard the argument that Daniels has too many moves that resemble finishers. I think that’s true. All his transitions are borderline finishers. And he hits them all so crisply that they look dangerous too. In kayfabe terms. Sydal gets knocked out of the ring and we get more selling issues because he stays down for too long. Then Daniels does the exact same thing and flat out watches Sydal do a diving rana on him. I hate that shit. Az with a pescado. Sydal at least has the common sense to move out of the way instead of standing there watching him. In that respect he makes himself look like the veteran while Daniels looks like a rookie. Daniels stays down too long again allowing Sydal to hit the immensely convoluted Flux Capacitor for the pin.

I prefer Frankie Kazarian’s version. Sydal tries to square off against Daniels but gets cut down with a clothesline. Sydal looks really scrawny here compared to how he looks now. Daniels with a DVD for 2. See what we mean by the finishers? That’s not even a regular move he uses. Sydal starts sticking and moving with strikes before a standing moonsault gets 2. He gets a lot of height on that sucka. High crossbody gets 2. Sydal with a Rolling Prawn Hold for 2. Nice to see him throwing in some wrestling as well. Daniels picks him off with Angels Wings though and we’re done. **. It was ok but I can live without these spotty 3-ways.

BACKSTAGE James Gibson talks about this being his last weekend in ROH so he gets to pick his opponents so his first choice, coming into this “territory”, is Jimmy Yang. Gibson says it’ll be a pleasure to wrestle Yang tonight because he’s the man around here. Yang retorts calling him Jamie-san saying his time is up. Now it’s Yang Time. Pretty terrible promo. Both of them. How many times can Gibson say there’s no politics in ROH before it’s all he’s saying.

Tag titles – BJ Whitmer/Jimmy Jacobs (c) v Tony Mamaluke/Sal Rinauro

So Tony comes back and picks a partner and gets a title shot? What the fuck is that? Tony reminds us he won the ECW tag titles right around the corner from here. He says they’re here to win tag gold. I hate the smartass fan who tries to start a “shut the fuck up” chant. No, YOU shut the fuck up. Surely you’re not so dumb as to think every promo only has to be one line long. The fans yell “huss” at lot. Must be tough on Jimmy Jacobs working for a company that doesn’t really have promos and that’s all he’s good at. Tony brings an intense handshake for BJ provoking a yell of “I know it was you Fredo, you broke my heart” from a fan. Damn it, you stole my joke brother. Crowd questions the location of their circular baked Italian goods. They should have hired Big Sal as a bodyguard for the Italian team. Then you’ve got Big Sal and Little Sal. Like you used to have Big Guido and Little Guido in ECW. I like tributes and such. Tony slaps BJ, which gets him laid out. Whitmer’s slaps are stronger because he’s a normal sized man while the other three in this match are runts of the litter. Seriously man, Jimmy is all of 5’2”. Rinauro might even be smaller than that. Is it legal to have midgets wrestling in with the normal wrestlers? BJ looks like Godzilla out there. Tony dissects Jacobs but Jimmy, being Jimmy, doesn’t sell anything. BJ gets a tag to stop the suckage. Tony dropkicks his knee. Tony tries for a standing guillotine but BJ just suplexes him off into the buckles. Oh, so NOW Jimmy is selling. He’s just lying around outside the ring. Is that just the combination of selling from the entire of his spell in the ring? The champs show some double teaming ending with BJ powerbombing Jimmy onto Tony for 2. Sal v Jacobs is pretty sloppy. That is until Sal goes to springboard and Jimmy just spears him out of the air. Crowd still seems a bit disinterested in this match. I think the expectations of who the challengers would be effected the reactions. Whitmer kills Rinauro with a lariat but Tony tagged in blind. BJ no sells him, calls him a motherfucker and then they fuck up something into an armbar. That was shit. And lame. The champs look for the Doomsday Sliced Bread but can’t get it so BJ just powerbombs Tony. Doomsday rana should finish but Tony kicks out. Should have been Sal breaking it up. The kick out just devalues a move for no reason and takes the drama out of this match. BJ tries for something sick and pointless off the top so Sal dropkicks him off. They start fucking up on the ropes before Sal springboard Enzuigiri’s Jimmy into a botched Rubix Cube Driver. New champions. *1/2. Bad match. Sloppy and uninspired. Plus who really cares about the tag division now? Tony and a better wrestler I could buy as champions but Tony and Sal? Sal who’s never competed for ROH before? It doesn’t elevate them it devalues the title belts they now hold. Not that they were worth anything in some time anyway.

Pure title – Nigel McGuinness (c) v Jay Lethal

Nigel missed the boat when he was carrying the iron to the ring. He should have come out to “Ironman” by Black Sabbath. Nigel sucks up, badly, to the fans getting the New York team’s names wrong before saying they only follow baseball because they don’t understand cricket. Nigel steals Bret Hart’s catchphrase again but gets drowned out by a very angry crowd. “We want Bret” chants the crowd. MSG is nearby and that IS Bret’s house. Lethal’s reputation has slowly risen since leaving Special K but that stable did leave everyone marked that was in it. Lethal is the only one who ever really got away from it and to do so he had to steal Randy Savage’s gimmick. Nigel blocks Lethal’s chops, which gets heat but its sound strategy. The crowd call him a pussy. For blocking something? So when you get into a fight you want to take as many punches to the face as possible to prove how manly you are? Lethal doesn’t seem to have any chemistry with Nigel and they’re both wrestling different matches. Nigel’s wins over as he grabs the legs and works the mat. Nigel headstands and Lethal charges into the mule kick. Not quick enough Jay! Nigel keeps using armlocks and takedowns on the arm whenever he has no other focus. Lethal has no reply and is completely out of his league technically. Nigel headstands again but Lethal takes a different angle of approach and gets a chop in. Lethal with a spinebuster and this has been the first time he’s had an opening. Nigel can wrestle his way out of the dragon suplex though so how will Lethal be able to win? Meanwhile the rope breaks haven’t entered into this at all. How about a superkick? Lethal only uses it to set up a submission hold though. Nigel gets the ropes and that’s our first rope break. Crowd gets on the announcers case for announcing the rope break to the wrong person. Nigel grabs the iron in the confusion and bashes Lethal in the face with it for the win with Todd Sinclair missing it. **. That was passable but a clash of styles. I thought Nigel came out looking ok but it exposes Lethal as a guy who can’t work with certain styles.

POST MATCH Nigel gets the mic and lets the crowd know that their support means a lot to him. Heh. He gets broken up saying “God bless America”. Big laugh for that.

Jimmy Rave w/Prince Nana/Jade Chung v Roderick Strong

This is part of the Generation Next v Embassy feud that developed when Shelley joined the Embassy. I see Jade has earned herself a dog leash. Rave brings the stalling to start. When we lock up Strong takes over quickly but Rave is decent on the mat. Underrated in fact. Strong might out wrestle him but not as easily as you’d think. We get a CHOP OFF, on a show involving Kobashi, and Strong hits harder to win. Rave bails to stall some more. Rave tries to control with a headlock but Strong back suplexes him and that starts the back abuse. Strong switches between back abuse and chopping the chest. Strong chops SO fucking hard. It’s almost as if he’s aware Kobashi is on this show and wants him to hear the chops from the back. Rave starts getting aggressive and he rams Strong’s head into the barrier repeatedly before stepping on his neck. Geez, what an asshole. Strong really has improved a great deal since his ROH debut. He’s learned from working with better talents and has stepped his game up to try and be in their league. He’s not yet but he’s far smoother in the ring and his moves look more effective now. Rave has cheating on his side along with Nana’s cheating. “Jimmy must die” chant the crowd. They sure do love him! Rave tries to get a submission with a grounded Shades of Wilbur Snyder. Strong gets out and uses a backbreaker to set up the Stronghold. He couldn’t get that turned over though and Rave gets the ropes. Rave blocks a sunset flip using the ropes and nearly gets a pin but the ref sees it and a running knee adds another near fall. Urinage backbreaker from Strong. He’s done enough to set up the Stronghold by now. Strong has taken to hitting high impact strikes (IE he runs and then hits them), which Rave isn’t prepared for. “Break his back” – crowd. The charging allows Rave to hit a spear though as Strong runs right into it. Northern Lights bomb gets 2. Rave has a chair. BOOO! Ref grabs it and Rave gets the gutbuster into the Stronghold. Rave taps out quickly and Strong gets the duke. **3/4. Decent little match with some nice storytelling.

POST MATCH Nana jumps in there to attack Strong. He’s clearly upset Generation Next got a win over him again. He orders Jade Chung in here to embarrass Strong. Nana uses Jade’s leash to strangle Strong. “DIE, DIE, I WANT HIM TO DIE”. When Jade can’t stand up anymore, because she’s being choked out herself, Nana berates her. Jade decides she’s had enough and rips off her Ghanaian attire. Jimmy gets kicked in the balls and Nana gets low blowed too. Strong is back up and he clears the ring out. Crowd loves Jade’s escape. Strong tells Nana that next time in Manhattan it’ll be Generation Next v the Embassy in a cage. Jade hugs Strong for the big happy ending. Aww.

INTERMISSION. Lacey stormed into the ring during the break and said she’ll name her new Angels the next night AND ROH will name a commissioner on that same show.

Ricky Reyes w/Julius Smokes v Pelle Primeau

You can tell Pelle is a jobber because he gets no entrance. He’s just in the ring when we get back from Intermission. He’s also more of a midget than everyone in the tag title match. He must be all of 4’9”. Reyes has a blast here because he just manhandle Pelle at will. He powerbombs him into a dragon sleeper for the quick tap out win. ¼*. Just rebuilding Reyes a little bit. Sometimes jobber matches are necessary. And on this occasion fun too!

Jimmy (Wangless) Yang v James Gibson

I’m not sure what Yang’s gimmick is supposed to be but he’s sporting a white suit and black shades. Southern Baptist preacher? I’ll miss Gibson’s music. Crowd are nice to him because he’s been entertaining in ROH but now he’s on his way out. You’d question why Gibson went back to the WWE seeing as they were clueless as to how to use him after the Nidia thing the first time and nothing has changed. “Please don’t go” chant the crowd. This would be Yang’s first appearance in ROH but these guys are familiar with each other after teaming in the Yung Dragons in WCW. Another “please don’t go” chant. I don’t think Yang is quite as into this as Gibson is. He mostly controls with a headlock to bring a slower paced match into ROH with him. To show he’d learned from his time in Japan. Gibson tries to wrestle his way out and does so into a roll up for 1. Yang brings the kicks to keep Gibson at a distance. They start with the armdrags and such at freaky speed. It helps that they know each other so well. Yang has been a little bit sloppy but not enough to upset the fans or disrupt the match as yet. The rail on the one side of the ring is way too close to the ring. So when Yang falls out of the ring he ends up hitting the top of the rail. Gibson hits a dive and they end up IN the front row. In their laps. Gibson tries for a diving something in the ring but Yang clocks him with a spin kick and they start the fatigue selling a touch early. At least they are selling right Glenn Gilberti? Yang backflips into a superkick for 2. Just what you’d expect from Smackdown’s resident redneck. We get a nice near falls sequence and they run that at a nice pace too. Then there’s another near falls sequence into an ugly double clothesline spot but the fans are very forgiving because the near falls were all good. Both guys stay down for a while before Gibson connects with a flying knee. Now Yang is leaving a bit more in the ring throwing himself into his bumping. Gibson with a spinebuster for 2. Gibson misses off the top with an elbow drop and Yang hits the moonsault block for 2. As per usual he doesn’t launch himself far enough and Gibson has to catch him in a desperate spot. Yang Time misses. Gibson connects with a DDT. He’s not done though because he figures he can finish from here. He seems to be working a butterfly hold but instead he wants the Tiger Driver. It’s just a distraction though as it sets up the guillotine choke. Yang draws up some energy reserves to drive Gibson into the buckles. Yang with a sloppy backbreaker. He looks pretty tired. YANG TIME…for 2. Yang goes up top again but he’s been slowed up allowing Gibson to cut him off. POWERBOMB INTO THE BUCKLES…TIGER DRIVER…FOR 2! GUILLOTINE CHOKE!!! Yang taps out and Gibson gets the win. ***1/4. Started badly but got progressively better until the HOT finish. Yang showed his usual little shortcomings, which ROH fans won’t be forgiving of in the long run. Gibson on the other hand held it together beautifully.

POST MATCH the crowd once again chant “please don’t go”. Yang gives him a hug. “Please come back” is the next chant. We get clips from Gibson’s matches in ROH and he has the mic. Gibson says he’ll come back anytime the company asks him to. He says the last year in his life has been the most fun he’s had in his career. Crowd thanks him. Gibson says for his final ROH match he’ll be challenging Roderick Strong. He’ll be aiming to give his best performance in his final match. Crowd chant “MVP” at him.

Homicide w/Julius Smokes v Jack Evans

This is the second part of the Homicide-Cabana slow burner. I don’t mind the booking splitting them up in a volatile atmosphere in New York but it is just prolonging the feud instead of progressing it. Homicide has a lot of Thugz in attendance to back him up. Crowd is very pro-Homicide despite him being heel because he represents New York where ever he goes and the fans like that. That’s a New York crowd for ya though. They’ll pop whatever the fuck they want. Homicide is surprisingly goofy in the opening exchanges making fun of Jack’s wigga antics. He even does a little dance and the crowd chants “you got served”. Jack with the breakdancing for a little service of his own. They fuck up a flying headscissors. Homicide bails and Evans hits a TOPE CON HILO!!! FLYING THEFT! Evans lands back first across the rail, which looks really painful. Evans has always been a little bit sloppy but when you’re dealing with high flying moves it is really tough to get consistency. Homicide tries to make it interesting beating Jack up but he doesn’t do as good a job as Danielson although he does manage to bend Evans in half so that his foot is touching the back of his head. That is just sick. Evans in the tree of woe for a dropkick. He’s slowly getting dissected here. Jack manages to get a desperation armdrag but Homicide promptly DDT’s him. This really should be over by now. Evans has been outclassed. I felt the same with the Danielson match where Bryan just destroyed him for 15 minutes and wouldn’t bother pinning. Evans pulls out a SICK multiple flip double stomp to the back of Homicide’s head. What the hell was that? Homicide gets dropkicked out of the ring and Jack wants some “springboard goodness”. 450 SPLASH INTO THE CROWD. One of the Thugz attacks Jack so he sentons onto them. Isn’t that a DQ? Evans with a springboard dropkick for 2. They counter up top and Homicide hits a DDT off the top for 2. That should have been it. That was overkill for a nothing match. Speaking of overkill Homicide wants the Cop Killer. Evans gets out and gets hit with the ACE CRUSHAAAAAA. Perfect sell from Evans. Homicide wants the lariat and showboats extensively. LARIATOOOOOOO! It would be over but Cabana gets on the mic on the balcony. “Yo, yo, yo gangsta”. He does a load of John Cena battle rappin’ accusing Homicide of being “Konnan’s bitch”. “Hey, Nelson, you ain’t doing nothing…you’re a fucking joke”. Cabana lays it on thick. Jack surprises Homicide with a reverse rana and gets a big upset win with a roll up. **1/4. A bit too one sided for the length of it but it was worth it for the disrespectful Cabana promo and Homicide’s reactions. We’re going somewhere with this feud.

Samoa Joe v Kenta Kobashi

Atmosphere is electric with the crowd chanting “KO-BASH-EE” before the introductions. The pop for Kobashi is ENORMOUS. “KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE”. Joe has his “this is my house” face on. Ring FILLS with streamers on Kobashi’s introduction and he looks totally freaked out. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. The atmosphere is ELECTRIC in that arena. It’s so loud. It sounds like 20,000 people. Joe leads in with a leg kick, which Kobashi shrugs off. They lock up and Kobashi is backed into the ropes AND JOE SLAPS HIM IN THE FACE. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! The reaction on his face is priceless. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. Kobashi backs Joe up and CHOPS HIM IN THE THROAT. Joe gets in his face. Crowd is going INSANE. Another lock up. Kobashi goes to overpower. “This is awesome”. Joe SUPLEXES out of the lock up. Kobashi no sells it so Joe shoulderblocks him out of the ring. ELBOW SUICIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! “JOE, JOE, JOE, JOE”. Kobashi shows the undercard how to sell by staying down until he’s fucking well picked up. Joe then assaults him on the mat and facelocks him. Kobashi is still recovering from the elbow suicida selling the importance of the move. He edges towards the ropes but Joe hooks up a Stretch Plum. OOOOOOOHHHHHHH. Kobashi gets the ropes. Joe starts chopping Kobashi and wouldn’t you know it he’s totally unimpressed. He looks pissed. CHOP, CHOP, CHOP, CHOP. Roderick Strong is in the back saying “damn that’s a hard chop”. Joe retorts with a jumping ENZIIIIIGURIIIIII. “JOE, JOE, JOE, JOE”. KAWADA KICKS MOTHERFUCKER!!!! NO SOLD. CHOPPING TO THE NECK. NO SOLD. KAWADA KICKS. MORE CHOPPING. JOE THROWS KNEES. Kobashi is down! “ROH, ROH, ROH”. CHOP, KICK AND KNEEDROP! Kobashi is selling like a motherfucker. He rolls outside holding his chest. Joe wants the Ole kick. He sets Kobashi up for it. OLE, OLE, OLE, OLE…WHAMMOOOOOOO! Joe just Ole Kicked Kenta Kobashi! And he wants another one! OLE, OLE, OLE, OLE….CHOP TO THE NECK!!! Joe is on the chair AND KOBASHI CHOPS HIM OUT OF IT OVER THE RAIL! Are you fucking kidding me? That was AWESOME. Kobashi with a DDT on the floor. Kobashi looks pissed off again. Back inside Kobashi continues his CHOPPING. If God could chop someone he’d do it through Kenta Kobashi’s body. He starts with the knees and the FINAL CHOP sets up Joe getting CHOPPED on the mat. CHOP MOTHERFUCKER! RUNNING JUMPING…CHOOOOOPPPP! I wonder if that was a rib on Misawa. Kobashi wants a suplex but Joe sandbags him and hits his own. He needs recovery time and that buys him some. Those chops are wearing him down. CHOPS, CHOPS, KICKS FROM JOE, CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOPS, CHOP WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO SOLD BY KOBASHI! CHOOOPPPPPPPPPPP!!!! Joe’s chest is FUCKED UP from this match. Kobashi with the Shades of Wilbur Snyder and he pushes Joe’s head down to make him his personal bitch. Joe falls out of it into the ropes. He’s not competing here, he’s surviving. He may be trading with Kobashi to prove a point but when he does he’s discovering that trading with Kobashi will get you fucked up. God, I love this match. Kobashi with the NECK CHOPPING. He goes for a spinning neck chop BLOCKED INTO THE STJOE! Running senton from Joe. Kobashi is pained. FUCKING VIOLENCE PARTY~~~~!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKING AWESOME! Violence Party on Kobashi. He tries for a powerbomb but Kobashi won’t move so Joe kicks him in the face twice and POWERBOMBS HIM INTO THE FUCKING BUCKLES. “HOLY SHIT”. Joe is doing a little more than surviving now. BOOOOOOOT SCRAAAAAAAAAAAAPES. Joe only hits the MUSCLEBUSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….for 2. Yeah, like Kobashi is lying down for Joe! Joe throws the KNEES and wants the CHOKE. No dice. POWERBOMB INTO THE STF!!! Joe is throwing EVERYTHING at Kobashi here. Just everything he has in his entire arsenal. Kobashi keeps breaking the hands to prevent the STF being on properly. So Joe grabs the arm too and hooks the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. Kobashi goes with the other arm so Joe locks THAT one up too and Kobashi has to use his leg. Brilliant. The crowd gets a moment to catch it’s collective breath. Myself included. Joe sets up a charge as Kobashi struggles to his feet. Kobashi meets him with a chop to the throat and KOBASHIPLEX!! FUCK, YES! Joe bumps it All Japan style hoping to earn himself more matches in NOAH. Kobashi is up first and he’s looking angry. SPINNING NECK CHOP! CORNER CHOPS!!!! CROWD GOES TOTALLY INSANE. MORE CORNER CHOPS! Joe is reeling from each one and there are DOZENS. He’s taking them like a man to be fair. KOBASHI SPEEDS UP! FUCKIN’ A! I LOVE THIS MAN! DOUBLE CHOP. Joe’s chest is a MESS. This is beautiful. KOBASHIPLEX #2….JOE HEADDROPS IT…FOR 2. Ropes save Joe. He is FUCKED but he comes back with elbows. Kobashi grabs him in a sleeper. He knows Joe can’t have much left so he can probably put him out…SLEEPERPLEX!!!! FUCK, I LOVE THIS SHIT. Joe KICKS OUT! Kobashi is still walking around though and Joe is lying on the mat. Joe comes back with repeated slaps to the face. KOBASHI CHOPS HIS FUCKING ARM. SPINNING CHOP TO THE NECK. THREE FUCKING TIMES. LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Kobashi gets the pin and wins the match. WOOOOOOOAH. KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE KO-BASH-EE. *****. It has flaws sure but I’ve not been that entertained in years. I loved the shit out of this match. Easily my favourite of the year just for the sheer violence of it. Plus Joe kinda hung with a legend. That has to be good for his stock.

POST MATCH Kobashi hauls his corpse up and offers a handshake to respect the man and the company. “Arrigato”. Heh, that’s awesome. Kobashi bows to the crowd.

God I love that match so much. We get clips of some of the stiffer strikes and Joe getting dumped on his head.

BACKSTAGE an exhausted and beaten Joe gets an interview. Joe says his neck will click for the rest of his life but he gave it his all for the sport he loves. “You’d better believe I’m coming for round two” says Joe before passing out. Kobashi on the other hand is downright CHEERFUL. The motherfucker is SMILING. The interview is in Japanese with a great deal of background noise so I don’t know what he said but I think his smile said more than words ever could. Not only did he win he fucking enjoyed himself.

The 411: There’s only one match worth watching but I’ll be fucking goddamned if it isn’t one of my favourite matches, ever. When you factor in the stuff I really enjoy about wrestling then this match had it in spades. Everything was really entertaining and I constantly, and I mean constantly, marked out throughout the entire 22 minutes. I realise the match has flaws. The stuff on the floor is too early and the entire match is basically the finishing run of a match. There’s no build up. But fuck it. I love it anyway and I have no qualms about throwing the maximum snowflakes at it. Remember snowflakes are only opinions and this one is mine. I LOVE this match.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]