Kenta Kobashi vs Marafuji from 4/06 is on youtube

[Guest wildpegasus]

Unfortuanately, I feel this match is not getting enough attention in the youtube folder. Since it's one of the better matches I've seen in quite awhile I thought I'd give it its own thread so people don't miss out on it.. It certainly deserves it.

 

 

Kenta Kobashi -- Keep on fighting buddy -- vs Marafuji

 

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dH75oda5uYg&sea...Kenta%20Kobashi

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0tm93vYbAdI&sea...Kenta%20Kobashi

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0tm93vYbAdI&sea...Kenta%20Kobashi

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=470sP0knO7Q&sea...Kenta%20Kobashi

[Just John 0]

Definitely my runner-up for MOTY so far.

 

Angle/UT is still my #1, but still a nice match with a good strategy-based story.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Definitely my runner-up for MOTY so far.

 

Angle/UT is still my #1, but still a nice match with a good strategy-based story.

 

I watched it again for the second time and it just may be my MOTY. Benoit vs Finlay is up there with it as well but the matches are different so it's difficult to compare them.

 

One cool thing I noticed is that Marafuji at the end of it went

for what appeared to be the same awesome move that he got the pin with earlier in the year against Taue

He should keep that as a finisher because it is an awesome looking manuever that is completely credible against the heavies. The Taue match btw is on youtube as well and just happens to be a very good bout. So if you're reading this make sure to check it out!

 

 

Marafuji was awesome in this. The man is terrific at exhibiting passion. He is a natural athlete in the ring (who's going to have no knees pretty soon if he keeps this up) and he just seems to be even getting better. I also liked his body language in this bout which was very good.

[Just John 0]

I agree there's lots to like about this match. My only complaint is that the story doesn't perfectly fit the characters. The whole match Marufuji is looking for ways to keep Kobashi down, and does a good job of it. The only problem is that unlike against Taue, no one wanted to see Marufuji beat Kobashi. It would've been better if Marufuji could've had some crowd support so that maybe we could believe he had a chance to beat Kobashi.

 

And one observation I made, is how Kobashi pulls off the best "don't fuck with me" spots. Like at the beginning of this match when he challenges Marufuji to a chop-off, but Marufuji keeps ducking Kobashi's chops. The fake, then the chop which Marufuji sold like a champ was great. Another example would be from his 3/5 match with KENTA where KENTA tries his striking combo that sets up the busaiku knee kick, but as soon as he turns to hit the ropes, Kobashi grabs him by the hair and half-nelson suplexes the shit out of him.

[Guest wildpegasus]

I agree there's lots to like about this match. My only complaint is that the story doesn't perfectly fit the characters. The whole match Marufuji is looking for ways to keep Kobashi down, and does a good job of it. The only problem is that unlike against Taue, no one wanted to see Marufuji beat Kobashi. It would've been better if Marufuji could've had some crowd support so that maybe we could believe he had a chance to beat Kobashi.

 

And one observation I made, is how Kobashi pulls off the best "don't fuck with me" spots. Like at the beginning of this match when he challenges Marufuji to a chop-off, but Marufuji keeps ducking Kobashi's chops. The fake, then the chop which Marufuji sold like a champ was great. Another example would be from his 3/5 match with KENTA where KENTA tries his striking combo that sets up the busaiku knee kick, but as soon as he turns to hit the ropes, Kobashi grabs him by the hair and half-nelson suplexes the shit out of him.

[/quote

 

Well yeah, it's hard for anyone to cheer against Kobashi. You would have to be some kind of evil, twisted pathetic being to do so. Especially when Marafuji went after Kobashi's legs. Anyone notice how he put the figure four leglock on the "right" way?

On the other side of the coin (I'm going to have to pay more attention to the crowd heat when I watch it again) the Japanese always love to cheer for the underdog and Marafuji's getting established to the point where people are going to get more and more behind him. After the leg portion of the match I find it's harder to cheer for Kobashi after that because for me it's all about seeing if Marafuji can actually do the impossible. After the incredible dropkick to the outside I was really getting behind Marafuji's fighting spirit despite being a big fan of Kobaashi.

 

Yeah, the "don't screw with me" spots were pretty cool in this bout. They worked well against the young upstart Marafuji. Another one of those cool spots was when Kobashi countered Marafuji when Marafuji went for it all up on the top rope.

 

 

WP -- Where is everyone? We got a MOTY candidate here and hardly anyone's talking about it. I better not be hearing anyone complaining about Raw's bad matches on Monday when they got stuff like this they can watch.

[Just John 0]

I'm glad someone else is passionate about this match. If you don't want to do the multi-part youtube thing, here it is in one Windows Media file.

 

http://rapidshare.de/files/19227822/Kobash...rufuji.wmv.html

 

On the figure 4: If you watch closely, when Marufuji goes for it the first time, he sets it up the "wrong" way, but Kobashi breaks it up and when he tries it again, he does it right. If Kobashi improvised that correction, I will completely ignore the fact he did running knee strikes with his injured knee.