GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa - NOAH Navigate For Evolution Day 9 01/03/2003
Given that this is the last match of this historic rivalry, one filled with classic bouts that are among some of the greatest matches of all time, this just might be the best out of the lot. It has a high barrier to overcome with Misawa who was declining and almost everything they could’ve done with this pairing has been done more than once. Well, except one thing. And that’s to pass the torch. Onto Kobashi to take the mantle as the main. But I thought Misawa was the driving force of the greatness behind this match. He was not going down easily. Despite getting dominated early on and splitting the inside of his mouth open, he fought with everything he could. Misawa would eat Kobashi’s neck chops only to fire back with wicked hard elbows. He matched Kobashi’s suplexes and escalated the danger of them using the ramp. The whole set up of the ramp was fantastic. First a suplex on the ramp, then a tope elbow through the ropes knocking Kobashi for a loop and finishing it off with a tiger driver off the ramp with Kobashi landing right on the neck. Each spot was sold really well by Kobashi and each spot had time to breathe and be soaked in because each one was a killer spot and we got three in a combo. Kobashi channelled the the crowd’s energy to match his great performance, fighting from beneath. The finishing stretch was brilliant. Both men are selling their fatigue, Misawa’s face when Kobashi kicks out of the Emerald Flowsion, realising that it’s not his day, Kobashi making a quick comeback with a brutal brainbuster and then following up with the Burning Hammer. The match really works on every level. The apex of the old classic All Japan style and perhaps the best of their style NOAH would try and emulate for the next decade and a half. *****
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