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. He is best known for his two runs in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling 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 Kings (プロレスの四天王, Puroresu no shiten'nō; also called the Four Pillars of Heaven) 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 Kings, 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 Kings 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.
Kenta Kobashi (小橋 健太, Kobashi Kenta) was born in Fukuchiyama in Kyoto Prefecture on March 27, 1967. He was raised predominantly in a single-parent household with him, his three-years-older brother Eiji, and his mother Miyako, after his parents had separated and later divorced. He competed in baseball in his youth, and was part of the Atsumi Fighters team. It was when he was 10 years old that he saw his first professional wrestling match with his brother Eiji, which was at an All Japan Pro Wrestling show. The match featured the then-rising star Jumbo Tsuruta versus Mexican luchador enmascarado Mil Mascaras at the Denen Coliseum in August 1977, shown on the pro wrestling block on NTV. To practice for pro wrestling, Eiji and Kenta constructed a custom-made can replica of the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship belt to use for their exhibition "title" matches.
Kobashi joined a Judo club in junior high school, and he, in his senior year, placed third in the qualifying round at nationals, having been outweighed by his opponent in the semifinals by 50 kg (110 lbs). He also had practice in rugby union, but did not have any placements in competitions with the sport. He attended a New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) show at this time, of which he was, according to Kobashi himself, hit with Stan Hansen's bull rope. After graduation, in 1986, he took a job as a Kyocera General Affairs worker, working in plants in Kyoto City and Kagoshima. After being inspired by a magazine article featuring a young Mike Tyson, he quit his job the next year, and he sent his resume to the AJPW offices, which was rejected. After being in contact with International Wrestling Enterprise referee Mitsuo Endo, he was set up to do an interview at the Shiga Prefectural Gymnasium in Otsu on May 26, which happened to be with Shohei "Giant" Baba, the founder and then-head booker and chief executive officer of AJPW. After Baba declined to have an interview and instead prompted Kobashi to wait and relocate to Tokyo, Kobashi was accepted to their dojo on June 20, 1987. He was trained there by Baba, as well as Funk brother Dory Funk Jr., "Magic Dragon" Haru Sonoda and Baba-protégé Masanobu Fuchi. Sonoda died on South African Airways Flight 295 on November 28, and after having an argument with Baba, was sworn under pressure to be trained exclusively for a time by Fuchi.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1987–2000, 2009)
Kobashi and fellow trainee Tsuyoshi Kikuchi made their first official appearances as All Japan Pro Wrestling trainees on December 16, 1987, appearing in a battle royal, which they both lost. Kobashi officially debuted as a professional wrestler in Rittō, Shiga on February 26, 1988, against veteran wrestler Motoshi Okuma, donning blue-based, white-stripped trunks and Masanobu Fuchi's old boots. Baba had been impressed with the match, and took Kobashi out to dinner with the rest of the invited wrestlers. He was booked by Baba to lose his first 63 matches, which were all singles bouts. It was all part of a plan set by Baba, that even in defeat, Kobashi shined and his gutsy, never-say-die efforts would garner him more momentum. He was earned numerous Rookie of the Year awards from the Japanese media, especially Tokyo Sports. During this time, Kobashi had officially commissioned, and was granted, his first real wrestling attire, which was adorned with red.
Kobashi had his first championship match in February 1989, teaming with Giant Baba to lose to the incumbent All Asia Tag Team Champions Footloose, the team of Toshiaki Kawada and Samson Fuyuki. Kobashi won his first singles match on May 16, 1989, against Jim Crockett Promotions jobber Mitch Snow, and on June 6, he picked up a win over established Stampede Wrestling rising star Johnny Smith. During 1989, when The Road Warriors were in AJPW, they taught Kobashi the "Road Warrior Workout". Eleven months later he won his first title, the aforementioned All Asia Tag Team Championship with Tiger Mask II (Misawa); however, shortly after removing the mask, Kobashi and Misawa would vacate the title. Later in the year, he won them again, this time with Johnny Ace.
Start of the Super Generation Army (1990–1993)
After Genichiro Tenryu defected himself and several wrestlers from AJPW to form Super World of Sports (SWS), a gap was left in the higher-card roster of AJPW, which had recently integrated Tenryu-protégé Toshiaki Kawada and the former Tiger Mask II, Mitsuharu Misawa. Baba had slowed down his in-ring work to focus more on booking, and focus on the rookies and other young talent that he had that would fill gaps in the aging stars' departures, retirements or decrease in quality. In order to compete with their competitors, especially NJPW and the Akira Maeda-fronted Universal Wrestling Federation (and its later reincarnations), Baba chose to focus on the talents that had been most popular with the fans of AJPW; this included Kobashi, Kawada and Misawa, as well as former Sumo wrestler Tamakirin Yasumasa, who had now gone under his real name Akira Taue, and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Baba gave all of them an official group to assign themselves with, and they'd form the Super Generation Army (超世代軍, Chou Sedai-gun) in August 1990 (the name of which was coined by AJPW commentator Kenji Wakabayashi).