How Kenta Kobashi Became a Pro Wrestling God

The year is 2007. And 19,000 people have packed Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan arena. It’s more than have ever been legally allowed inside the building.

They’re here to see the return of a pro wrestler.

One who’s been gone for 546 days, fighting the battle of his life. Not in the ring, not against another wrestler, but against cancer.

Kenta Kobashi had come back to pro wrestling.

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Kenta Kobshi's Twitter: https://x.com/FortuneKK0327
Kenta Kobashi's official website: https://www.fortune-kk.com/

Navigation

0:00 Intro
1:34 Early life
4:20 Joining All Japan Pro Wrestling
8:38 The Super Generation Army underdog
14:09 The Four Pillars of Heaven era
27:27 Wars against Mitsuharu Misawa and the Burning Hammer
38:02 The death of Giant Baba
41:30 The Pro Wrestling NOAH era
44:25 Injury problems
47:54 Kobashi vs Misawa 2003
49:45 The Absolute Champion era
59:21 Kobashi's battle with cancer
1:02:01 Kenta Kobashi returns to the ring
1:08:29 Legacy

Footage owners and sources:
Nippon TV
NTV G+
All Japan Pro Wrestling
Pro Wrestling NOAH
Sinclair Broadcast Group
Ring of Honor
Tony Khan
CyberFight
DDT Pro-Wrestling

Primary information sources:

Cameron Lee/KinchStalker’s translation of “The Four Heavenly Kings” by Hidetoshi Ichinose 2019
https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/t...
Original book: https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEO...

Tokyo Sports retrospective series with Kobashi
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/ne1...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/n72...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/n52...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/nb9...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/n39...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/nb8...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/n39...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/nd4...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/n1d...
https://note.tokyo-sports.co.jp/n/na8...

NOAH's ARKIVE articles
https://puroprogramtranslations.blogs...
https://puroprogramtranslations.blogs...
https://puroprogramtranslations.blogs...
Original: https://middle-edge.jp/articles/cTq9X
https://puroprogramtranslations.blogs...
https://puroprogramtranslations.blogs...
https://puroprogramtranslations.blogs...

Bleacher Report article on NOAH scandal
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...

Tokyo Sports article on Kobashi’s 2012 release https://web.archive.org/web/201212101...

May 21, 2013 Observer Newsletter: Kenta Kobashi retirement & career history, Budokan Hall history, WWE annual directory
https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestli...

Tokyo Sports interview with Kobashi, 2019
https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articl...

Write That Down Podcast with Fumi Saito, episode on Kobashi    • The Triumph of Kenta Kobashi: From Rookie ...  

Eggshells: Pro Wrestling In The Tokyo Dome by Chris Charlton https://www.amazon.ca/Eggshells-Pro-W...

Match stats and timeline via Cage Match
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=