I was there. Had a standing room seat, and I was actually leaning on the left side of the scaffold that the hard cam was on, so the hard cam shots are my exact vantagepoint. It was the most incredible event I've ever been to, wrestling or otherwise. Especially notable, when Kobashi starts the machine gun chops, you hear us all pop insanely and just start screaming. Eventually, we all get blown up from screaming, but Kobashi is still chopping, then just starts chopping HARDER. Of course we all pop again. I got to meet Kobashi briefly after the next night's Philadelphia show. I also saw Misawa wrestle in ROH two years later. What a weird world that let some geek from Boston see two of the Four Pillars wrestle in person.
I was there live. Kobashi was shocked when I said to him "Tonight, maybe you give Joe lariat and then Burning Hammer?". He said "Oh? How did you know about Burning Hammer?". He had no idea how popular he was in the states. He also had one of his teeth get stuck in his mouth piece and had to get emergency dental work before the match with Joe Ki and Cide the next day. I asked how he was doing?. He looked and said "Like Joe gave me Burning Hammer!" lmao
@@thewrestlingroad Homicide and I were talking about how awesome your work is. I was a fan of your video game stuff first then the wrestling stuff is super in depth and amazing. Love it. Ive also been told by a certain Mad King that he loved and watched multiple time the Misawa Vs Kawada series. Keep on killing it
Kobashi being stunned by the crowd's reaction is beautiful. It goes to show just why he was always so popular. There's no ego or pomp, just pure earnest fire.
I was a teenager when this happened and frequently got taken to a lot of ROH shows by my friend and his mom who had a friend who worked for the company. We ended up picking up Kobashi and his translator up in a minivan from the airport as well as drove him to the show the next day. Watched him super glue the tooth back in before getting Wendy's (theres a pic I took out there somewhere if you google Kobashi Wendy's lol). What a wild time. the match vs Joe was so great.
@@JorgeCavos that's seriously so awesome that you got to experience that tho. What a story. Unfortunately where I grew up there was no way to even watch ROH so I missed out on so much great wrestling
Kobashi didn't think anyone would know who he was. You could tell by the expression on his face when he stepped through the curtain the realization of how wrong he was.
Many many moons ago I found a stack of ROH DVDs at a record store. One of them had this match on it. I had never seen Ring Of Honor before but I knew Samoa Joe from TNA and had even seen a few Kenta Kobashi matches on RUclips. Needless to say I watched the match several times and still consider it one of the best I've ever seen. I haven't watched it since and sadly I lost my entire DVD collection in a fire many years ago. My one memory of it is the crowds reaction to Kobashi. I never heard an American audience react that way to a Japanese wrestler before, including Liger and Muta. But this was ROH after all.
My brother bought me the Joe vs. Kobashi ROH DVD for Christmas in 2005, and to this day, it's the best Christmas present he's ever got me! I've watched this magnificent match more times than any other wrestling match in my 30+ years as a wrestling fan.
Watching this match, I realized around halfway through that it shipped without commentary. It's a testament to how captivating both of these men were in the ring. One of my favourite matches of all time.
Kobashi might just be the main character of your channel so far. It's like somehow he appears in every topic you cover. I'd love for you to cover possibly the greatest puroresu retirement, with Kenta Kobashi's Final Burning retirement show.
As someone who began my wrestling fan journey at 2 years old (2000) only knowing WWE, I felt an insecurity about my proclivities with wrestling taste as I began to search the internet around the 2010s finding ROH and other promotions. I began to develop a distain for wrestling snobs who if you didn’t like technical wrestling and know names of all the moves and holds, you were shunned. I began my search into Japanese wrestling earlier this year watching NJPW, AJPW, FMW documentaries and spent weeks rewatching matches and stories about the different eras. I discovered the “Kings Road style” and the 1990s AJPW period is my favorite era of a promotion. So I’d like to thank you for being a historian that details how impactful these people were, and it’s like discovering wrestling again in a new form.
Joe vs Kobashi is a beautiful love letter to decades of wrestling. As always, an incredible breakdown, anytime you talk about Kobashi your passion really comes out.
I was at that show. New Yorker Hotel. I was hanging off one of the light poles. It's hard to explain how intimate a venue the New Yorker was. I was maybe 15 feet from the ring.
Man, bringing up The Wrestling Channel in the UK just makes me wish how much that we had something similar, now. Really great video, and, while Kobashi is one of the greatest of all time, this era of Joe could've been considered the best in the world.
Randomly came across Joe at a local show in a bar. Joe was hanging out at the bar, & did a shot of Jameson with me. Total sweetheart outside of the ring.
Believe it or not as a kid in 2005 my first exposure to pro wrestling wasn't WWE but Pro Wrestling Noah when it was airing on Eurosport. I loved the Real Madrid channel as just surfed through and was hooked. I then started watching WWE Experience on Sky 1 and the rest was history. Seeing this period is weird yet nostalgic.
This match (alongside your Misawa video and the classic Kobashi vs Misawa match in 2003) was my first introduction to Puroresu and it introduced me to just how damn good Kobashi really was Somehow I never really knew about Puro stars Appearing in ROH before Kobashi (or even Misawa's "foreign excursion" in Europe, I felt like a kid again just learning about cool things and matches in wrestling that I never knew about)
First time I saw this match was in the dvd Best in the World which was 1 of 4 nationally released DVDs from KOCH (the others being Bloodstained Honor, Greatest Rivalries, and Stars of Honor). This dvd showcased matches featuring international stars like Kenta Kobashi, KENTA, Shingo Takagi, Naruki Doi, and many others through ROH’s relationship with Dragon Gate and NOAH
My memory of this match was that this was my original White Whale when first exposed to pro wrestling outside of what I could see on TV. Certain online spaces spoke of this mystical RING OF HONOR where you had cool names that you may have seen on TV like Joe/Low Ki and such, and surprises like Jamie Gibson being a seriously good wrestler, or Matt Hardy having a bit of a resurgence. Anyway, a lot of the online folk spoke of "yo dudes you gotta see Joe vs Kobashi". By the time I heard of this match, Joe was a favorite in TNA and I've at least seen glimpses of Kobashi vs Sasaki, which fucking ruled (and was eventually my gateway to appreciating Japanese wrestling). So it took a long time, but I was always hyped up to see this match. Lucking out on certain streaming spaces, I finally saw it. And it was all I had expected it to be, but so much more. Gritty because it was the indies, but it was just as much a hard-hitting affair that I enjoyed a lot, even in re-watches. Learning some stories behind it (especially Kobashi going "man I thought the fans here would hate me", then being surprised to all the cheers he got) was equally amusing and heartwarming.
I might be in the minority by saying I prefer the tag match the following night. No, it didn't have all the hype and stiffness of the singles match; but Homicide and Low Ki were bringing a different dynamic that made things more interesting than just the two did the previous night.
I was a broke af high school student when this went down and all I had to go off of was live reporting in forum by post updates lol Wasn't until later that the entire show got uploaded onto one of those private wrestling forums with download links and boy oh boy did that match deliver all the hype that I only saw in words on a wrestling forum by post updates.
15:15 It is weird to see big stars in such small shows, was funny to see Ospreay in Sheffield with about 100 - 300 people, and that same year see him in the biggest wrestling show as well.
I'm not sure Kojima did his bread gimmick back in 2003. It would've been cool, though lol. EDIT: Kobashi at a Wendy's got a chuckle out of me. Never thought I'd see that.
As someone from central Scotland it has to be said that the quietness of Misawa and Ogawa's match in Carluke doesn't do it justice. I was 10/11 in '05 watching the wrestling channel so to discover Noah had a UK tour that took them to Carluke of all places is insane. It's such a small out the way town that it doesn't feel real. I can't think of an equivalent town, Carluke is tiny, they get one train an hour.
I was already well into ROH at this point, but this was the match that led me to discover NOAH for myself, right at a time where it seemed like they were reaching their peak. Peak NOAH was something else. This is where the current style was born.
I remember watching this match for the first time and being stunned at what I just saw. Joe was, and still is, my favorite wrestler and to see him against someone who also utilized such a hard hitting (now I know King's Road style) was awesome. It was my first exposure to Kenta Kobashi and I instantly became a fan. Such great memories and yes, that crowd was electric.
I saw this on the Fight Network (Canada) in either 2006 or 2007 and I was floored. I knew nothing about him but I knew about the match due to the IWC. I also remember tearing up seeing the crowd reaction to Kobashi. Thank you for doing a retrospective on this match. 🙏
I actually got to meet Kobashi at a meet and greet last October at West Coast Pro’s 10th anniversary show. Maybe what I’m about to say sounds like a fanboy, but the way he carried himself and signing autographs, he still has the aura of a made man/top guy.
This match was the greatest thing I pulled from Limewire as a 6th grader. Still one of my favorite matches of all time and kickstarted my love of Kobashi
DUDE! I grew up in Eldon where WLW had their headquarters at one time and I never knew they would get talent from NOAH. Hearing "Eldon community center" just brings back memories of watching cool matches and meeting former wrestlers. Man I really wish i had known that when i was younger.
This is a great history lesson in NOAH's overseas activities during that mid 2000s boom period. I had no idea Misawa wrestled in some random Scottish hall in front of a handful of people, that's mind blowing.
After the disappearance of WCW and ECW as alternatives to WWF, TWC was a breath of fresh air, it was the first place that I saw NOAH, ROH and CZW and started following the american indy promotions and have had the privilege of watching todays current headliners work their way up the card over the last 20 years.
I was at the universal uproar show and I even turn up very briefly on this video during Doug's entrance. Another thing that worked against the show was that WWE booked the same building for a week later, and it was not a building they'd used that much before or since.
Love the video. Also a nice little story: The NOAH trip to Germany (wXw) was a flash to Misawa. He was so in awe of the darkish venue, the purple-ish lights, the rabid crowd around the ring standing and chanting that he used the idea of creating the NOAH subsidiary Pro Wrestling SEM and adapting all the things so SEM was held in front of a limited Differ Ariake crowd, the lights were dark and the fans were sitting next to the ring.
Hey Kim amazing work as always brother. I just wanted to add something you didn't put in the video. June 22 2008 Kobashi went to wXw and competed in a Tag match with his partner Go Shiozaki against Bad Bones & Big Van WALTER. Keep up the great work!!
TWC (The Wrestling Channel) in 🇬🇧 is how I discovered everything outside of the WWE from NOAH, NJPW, ROH, NWA-TNA, CZW and UK fed FWA it’s why the Ruthless Aggression Era is my favourite cuz everywhere from US, Japan, UK etc. was putting on stella work
Man, i love that he didnt think he was goign to get a pop and then got a HUGE one. The look on his face is literaly suprise and happiness. The look on Joes face after the Kawada kicks was great too. Kenta looked at him like "You aint Kawada"
Can't watch tonight, but you better believe I slapped Watch Later on this bad boy! I adore this match. First saw it on the Wrestling Channel about a year after the fact and was just blown away. Its even more incredible now knowing that Kobashi basically had no knees left.
I regularly watch this match every couple months, it’s the greatest match of all time. It took me a couple watches to realize there wasn’t any commentary and that in itself I felt was amazing. I don’t particularly care for Joe he’s alright but what a perfect foil to showcase Kenta Kobashi. Truly a spectacle.
03-06 Ring Of Honor was one of those magical periods you just had to be there to experience. Those old Chicago Ridge shows were some of the best wrestling and times I ever had in my college years.
I'm so thankful that I stumbled upon Joe vs kobashi, it led me to watch some of the ajpw classics and brilliant documentaries from this channel as well
I was actually watched Joe VS Kobashi for the first time this morning quite the coincidence 😅 btw this is already by far my 3rd favorite video you've done ❤ keep it up
I was second or third row. This is the best pro wrestling match I have ever seen live. An absolutely incredible piece of wrestling history and worthy of every star it got thrown at it.
I squee every time you post! You provide the best long form puro/joshi/good wrestling content on RUclips IMO, and your main channel is equally great. Cheers from the Canadian Maritimes!
It was one of the greatest matches i ever saw live. Kòbashi was/is one of my faves. I loved joe too at the time. It was a dream come true. I was going to shows everyweek at that time. What an era for indy rasslin
I always say this era was such a special time to be a wrestling fan, hearing about the shows and then having to wait however long it took before you could get a copy (still VHS in my case) and sit down and watch the show and see how it lived up to the hype and this match did so much. For me, the last strike exchange, Joe refusing to go down and screaming at Kobashi and then just getting destroyed with the Burning Lariat is my all time fave ROH moment. Even now not far off two decades later, I remember watching the tape and it just feeling as special as wrestling would ever make me feel.
I bought that DVD as soon as it came out ! Really wish I could have been there live . Great match and memory from ROH . I also bought the two Weekend of Thunder shows featuring Liger , and also a few Dragon Gate/ROH shows . I loved what KENTA and Marafuji did there too ! ROH was so fire for a good while .
Great video Kim. The Low Ki appearance reminded me I've always wanted to see a video on how Low Ki got his reputation for taking himself too seriously.
Funnily enough this is the second video about Samoa Joe I've seen this week, I saw another review of that infamously bloody bout he had with Necro Butcher, and between that video and this one I'm beginning to think Joe might be a pretty good wrestler ;p 25:18 Awww! :D He looked genuinely startled by that positive reception. Honestly that's enough to get me shedding a small tear or two.
Love your channel, I can honestly say it's the best thing RUclips has EVER recommended. Never even knew about this match. Kinda bums me out that I grew up in the Midwest and ROH wasn't carried anywhere. I missed so much GREAT wrestling
I really miss this era of wrestling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy wrestling is getting an another big push right now but it just doesn’t feel the same. Finding ring of honor was like a a breath of fresh air after years of wwe content.
God, Joe vs. Kobashi was the *one* ROH show at the Manhattan Ballroom that I didn't get to go to back then, and it still eats at me a bit. I at least got to see Misawa vs. KENTA at the Manhattan Center, but still, I'd pop in the Joe vs. Kobashi DVD and just listen to that crowd reaction.
How can something so disgusting as Misawa urinating into a bin in Scotland sounds so legendary? All that's missing from that urban legend is a can of Irn Bru.
a 2000s tna noah partnership sounds awesome when of think of things like mcmg vs kenta and marufuji and shit but knowing how they treated new japan yall fucking know that a noah tna partnership would have ended up with go shiozaki jobbing to bashir in 4 minutes on sacrifice
What are your memories of this match, if you've seen it? Have a shout about it in the comments, and thanks for watching!
Kobashi: For you, my match with Samoa Joe was the greatest wrestling match you ever watched live as a paying spectator, but for me, it was Friday.
The crowd. I remember a few spots from the match but mainly the crowd and Kobashi's reaction to them afterwards.
I was there. Had a standing room seat, and I was actually leaning on the left side of the scaffold that the hard cam was on, so the hard cam shots are my exact vantagepoint. It was the most incredible event I've ever been to, wrestling or otherwise.
Especially notable, when Kobashi starts the machine gun chops, you hear us all pop insanely and just start screaming. Eventually, we all get blown up from screaming, but Kobashi is still chopping, then just starts chopping HARDER. Of course we all pop again.
I got to meet Kobashi briefly after the next night's Philadelphia show. I also saw Misawa wrestle in ROH two years later. What a weird world that let some geek from Boston see two of the Four Pillars wrestle in person.
I was there live. Kobashi was shocked when I said to him "Tonight, maybe you give Joe lariat and then Burning Hammer?". He said "Oh? How did you know about Burning Hammer?". He had no idea how popular he was in the states. He also had one of his teeth get stuck in his mouth piece and had to get emergency dental work before the match with Joe Ki and Cide the next day. I asked how he was doing?. He looked and said "Like Joe gave me Burning Hammer!" lmao
MONSTA MACK! that's it. that's all I wanted to say. You were the shit in JAPW.
Hell yeah, Monsta Mack! Thanks man, appreciate it. :)
@@eliyale99 thank you
@@thewrestlingroad Homicide and I were talking about how awesome your work is. I was a fan of your video game stuff first then the wrestling stuff is super in depth and amazing. Love it.
Ive also been told by a certain Mad King that he loved and watched multiple time the Misawa Vs Kawada series.
Keep on killing it
THE BIG MACK!!! We need a ROH Review by Kim of their run
Kobashi being stunned by the crowd's reaction is beautiful. It goes to show just why he was always so popular. There's no ego or pomp, just pure earnest fire.
I was a teenager when this happened and frequently got taken to a lot of ROH shows by my friend and his mom who had a friend who worked for the company. We ended up picking up Kobashi and his translator up in a minivan from the airport as well as drove him to the show the next day. Watched him super glue the tooth back in before getting Wendy's (theres a pic I took out there somewhere if you google Kobashi Wendy's lol). What a wild time. the match vs Joe was so great.
Ah, lovely stuff :) funny little picture too!
He seems like a very humble and understated dude. And your story definitely seems to corroborate that.
Looks like he used your picture in the video. Don't know if it was added in after you said this, but there's a pic of him at Wendy's in this video
@@AjFrancisshomeboySteve ya I commented because I saw the pic in there! It always makes me smile haha
@@JorgeCavos that's seriously so awesome that you got to experience that tho. What a story. Unfortunately where I grew up there was no way to even watch ROH so I missed out on so much great wrestling
Kenta Kobashi never had an American excursion, America had a Kenta Kobashi excursion.
Kobashi didn't think anyone would know who he was.
You could tell by the expression on his face when he stepped through the curtain the realization of how wrong he was.
Many many moons ago I found a stack of ROH DVDs at a record store. One of them had this match on it. I had never seen Ring Of Honor before but I knew Samoa Joe from TNA and had even seen a few Kenta Kobashi matches on RUclips. Needless to say I watched the match several times and still consider it one of the best I've ever seen. I haven't watched it since and sadly I lost my entire DVD collection in a fire many years ago. My one memory of it is the crowds reaction to Kobashi. I never heard an American audience react that way to a Japanese wrestler before, including Liger and Muta. But this was ROH after all.
My brother bought me the Joe vs. Kobashi ROH DVD for Christmas in 2005, and to this day, it's the best Christmas present he's ever got me! I've watched this magnificent match more times than any other wrestling match in my 30+ years as a wrestling fan.
Joe v Kobashi was so amazing. I love how there was no commentary in the ROH dvd. It felt like I was there watching live.
Joe vs Kobashi is an amazing example of how a match doesn't always need an angle. Probably one of my top 10 favorite matches of all time
Watching this match, I realized around halfway through that it shipped without commentary. It's a testament to how captivating both of these men were in the ring. One of my favourite matches of all time.
Kobashi might just be the main character of your channel so far. It's like somehow he appears in every topic you cover. I'd love for you to cover possibly the greatest puroresu retirement, with Kenta Kobashi's Final Burning retirement show.
As someone who began my wrestling fan journey at 2 years old (2000) only knowing WWE, I felt an insecurity about my proclivities with wrestling taste as I began to search the internet around the 2010s finding ROH and other promotions. I began to develop a distain for wrestling snobs who if you didn’t like technical wrestling and know names of all the moves and holds, you were shunned. I began my search into Japanese wrestling earlier this year watching NJPW, AJPW, FMW documentaries and spent weeks rewatching matches and stories about the different eras. I discovered the “Kings Road style” and the 1990s AJPW period is my favorite era of a promotion. So I’d like to thank you for being a historian that details how impactful these people were, and it’s like discovering wrestling again in a new form.
Joe vs Kobashi is a beautiful love letter to decades of wrestling.
As always, an incredible breakdown, anytime you talk about Kobashi your passion really comes out.
It really does, doesn't it?? You can tell he has alot of love for Kobashi
I was at that show. New Yorker Hotel. I was hanging off one of the light poles. It's hard to explain how intimate a venue the New Yorker was. I was maybe 15 feet from the ring.
Man, bringing up The Wrestling Channel in the UK just makes me wish how much that we had something similar, now. Really great video, and, while Kobashi is one of the greatest of all time, this era of Joe could've been considered the best in the world.
Man I remember seeing guys like jody fleisch and johnny storm from the wrestling channel
Randomly came across Joe at a local show in a bar. Joe was hanging out at the bar, & did a shot of Jameson with me. Total sweetheart outside of the ring.
Believe it or not as a kid in 2005 my first exposure to pro wrestling wasn't WWE but Pro Wrestling Noah when it was airing on Eurosport. I loved the Real Madrid channel as just surfed through and was hooked. I then started watching WWE Experience on Sky 1 and the rest was history. Seeing this period is weird yet nostalgic.
This match (alongside your Misawa video and the classic Kobashi vs Misawa match in 2003) was my first introduction to Puroresu and it introduced me to just how damn good Kobashi really was
Somehow I never really knew about Puro stars Appearing in ROH before Kobashi (or even Misawa's "foreign excursion" in Europe, I felt like a kid again just learning about cool things and matches in wrestling that I never knew about)
The four pillars are something special! Never will we see 4 of the greatest Japanese pro wrestlers of all time!
First time I saw this match was in the dvd Best in the World which was 1 of 4 nationally released DVDs from KOCH (the others being Bloodstained Honor, Greatest Rivalries, and Stars of Honor). This dvd showcased matches featuring international stars like Kenta Kobashi, KENTA, Shingo Takagi, Naruki Doi, and many others through ROH’s relationship with Dragon Gate and NOAH
Misawa going native by urinating into a bin north of the border is the most Scottish thing ever. Frankie Boyle would be so proud.
My memory of this match was that this was my original White Whale when first exposed to pro wrestling outside of what I could see on TV. Certain online spaces spoke of this mystical RING OF HONOR where you had cool names that you may have seen on TV like Joe/Low Ki and such, and surprises like Jamie Gibson being a seriously good wrestler, or Matt Hardy having a bit of a resurgence.
Anyway, a lot of the online folk spoke of "yo dudes you gotta see Joe vs Kobashi". By the time I heard of this match, Joe was a favorite in TNA and I've at least seen glimpses of Kobashi vs Sasaki, which fucking ruled (and was eventually my gateway to appreciating Japanese wrestling). So it took a long time, but I was always hyped up to see this match.
Lucking out on certain streaming spaces, I finally saw it. And it was all I had expected it to be, but so much more. Gritty because it was the indies, but it was just as much a hard-hitting affair that I enjoyed a lot, even in re-watches. Learning some stories behind it (especially Kobashi going "man I thought the fans here would hate me", then being surprised to all the cheers he got) was equally amusing and heartwarming.
I might be in the minority by saying I prefer the tag match the following night.
No, it didn't have all the hype and stiffness of the singles match; but Homicide and Low Ki were bringing a different dynamic that made things more interesting than just the two did the previous night.
I was a broke af high school student when this went down and all I had to go off of was live reporting in forum by post updates lol Wasn't until later that the entire show got uploaded onto one of those private wrestling forums with download links and boy oh boy did that match deliver all the hype that I only saw in words on a wrestling forum by post updates.
Great match turned absolutely epic by an incredible crowd.
Great memories of watching this with my dad ❤
15:15 It is weird to see big stars in such small shows, was funny to see Ospreay in Sheffield with about 100 - 300 people, and that same year see him in the biggest wrestling show as well.
This..... this is an actual 5🌟 match
I'm not sure Kojima did his bread gimmick back in 2003. It would've been cool, though lol.
EDIT: Kobashi at a Wendy's got a chuckle out of me. Never thought I'd see that.
This was less a match and more of 2 people beating the absolute piss out of each other.
As someone from central Scotland it has to be said that the quietness of Misawa and Ogawa's match in Carluke doesn't do it justice. I was 10/11 in '05 watching the wrestling channel so to discover Noah had a UK tour that took them to Carluke of all places is insane. It's such a small out the way town that it doesn't feel real. I can't think of an equivalent town, Carluke is tiny, they get one train an hour.
I was already well into ROH at this point, but this was the match that led me to discover NOAH for myself, right at a time where it seemed like they were reaching their peak. Peak NOAH was something else.
This is where the current style was born.
6:15
LARIAT! LARIAT! KOJIMA!
This is the Match that Punk was talking about when he was Prank Calling Gabe.
I watched this match a few hours ago! Very strange coincidence
Minor correction. Danielson held the IWGP Jr Tag titles (with Chris Daniels) not the singles belt
Curry Man forever!
I remember watching this match for the first time and being stunned at what I just saw. Joe was, and still is, my favorite wrestler and to see him against someone who also utilized such a hard hitting (now I know King's Road style) was awesome. It was my first exposure to Kenta Kobashi and I instantly became a fan. Such great memories and yes, that crowd was electric.
I saw this on the Fight Network (Canada) in either 2006 or 2007 and I was floored. I knew nothing about him but I knew about the match due to the IWC. I also remember tearing up seeing the crowd reaction to Kobashi.
Thank you for doing a retrospective on this match. 🙏
I actually got to meet Kobashi at a meet and greet last October at West Coast Pro’s 10th anniversary show.
Maybe what I’m about to say sounds like a fanboy, but the way he carried himself and signing autographs, he still has the aura of a made man/top guy.
2:11
BIG POP 😅
This match was the greatest thing I pulled from Limewire as a 6th grader. Still one of my favorite matches of all time and kickstarted my love of Kobashi
Hearing Joe talk about this match on Austin's podcast was eye opening also you can't go wrong with old school ROH
DUDE!
I grew up in Eldon where WLW had their headquarters at one time and I never knew they would get talent from NOAH. Hearing "Eldon community center" just brings back memories of watching cool matches and meeting former wrestlers. Man I really wish i had known that when i was younger.
Most underrated wrestling channel on the internet.
I think everyone around our age misses the wrestling channel Kim 😢
AWWWWWW SHIEEEEEET THIS MATCH!!!!
Long Live the Great Kim Justice! Thank you so much for all the hard work and effort you put into these excellent videos, good sir. 🤝
This is a great history lesson in NOAH's overseas activities during that mid 2000s boom period. I had no idea Misawa wrestled in some random Scottish hall in front of a handful of people, that's mind blowing.
Thank you so much for uploading this one is my all time favorite match in ring of honor
After the disappearance of WCW and ECW as alternatives to WWF, TWC was a breath of fresh air, it was the first place that I saw NOAH, ROH and CZW and started following the american indy promotions and have had the privilege of watching todays current headliners work their way up the card over the last 20 years.
I was at the universal uproar show and I even turn up very briefly on this video during Doug's entrance. Another thing that worked against the show was that WWE booked the same building for a week later, and it was not a building they'd used that much before or since.
Love the video. Also a nice little story: The NOAH trip to Germany (wXw) was a flash to Misawa. He was so in awe of the darkish venue, the purple-ish lights, the rabid crowd around the ring standing and chanting that he used the idea of creating the NOAH subsidiary Pro Wrestling SEM and adapting all the things so SEM was held in front of a limited Differ Ariake crowd, the lights were dark and the fans were sitting next to the ring.
Hey Kim amazing work as always brother. I just wanted to add something you didn't put in the video. June 22 2008 Kobashi went to wXw and competed in a Tag match with his partner Go Shiozaki against Bad Bones & Big Van WALTER. Keep up the great work!!
TWC (The Wrestling Channel) in 🇬🇧 is how I discovered everything outside of the WWE from NOAH, NJPW, ROH, NWA-TNA, CZW and UK fed FWA it’s why the Ruthless Aggression Era is my favourite cuz everywhere from US, Japan, UK etc. was putting on stella work
Man, i love that he didnt think he was goign to get a pop and then got a HUGE one. The look on his face is literaly suprise and happiness. The look on Joes face after the Kawada kicks was great too. Kenta looked at him like "You aint Kawada"
*Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop.*
"Sir, this is a Wendy's!"
Can't watch tonight, but you better believe I slapped Watch Later on this bad boy!
I adore this match. First saw it on the Wrestling Channel about a year after the fact and was just blown away. Its even more incredible now knowing that Kobashi basically had no knees left.
I regularly watch this match every couple months, it’s the greatest match of all time. It took me a couple watches to realize there wasn’t any commentary and that in itself I felt was amazing. I don’t particularly care for Joe he’s alright but what a perfect foil to showcase Kenta Kobashi. Truly a spectacle.
03-06 Ring Of Honor was one of those magical periods you just had to be there to experience. Those old Chicago Ridge shows were some of the best wrestling and times I ever had in my college years.
I'm so thankful that I stumbled upon Joe vs kobashi, it led me to watch some of the ajpw classics and brilliant documentaries from this channel as well
The GOAT has uploaded!
One of my favorite RUclips wrestling Channels.
The greatest American professional wrestling bout in my humble opinion and my go to when showing people our wonderful sport.
Thanks for this, Kim.
I was actually watched Joe VS Kobashi for the first time this morning quite the coincidence 😅 btw this is already by far my 3rd favorite video you've done ❤ keep it up
I was second or third row. This is the best pro wrestling match I have ever seen live. An absolutely incredible piece of wrestling history and worthy of every star it got thrown at it.
One of the best big man matches I've ever seen. Thank you Kim for being one of the best channels to cover puro! ❤️
I squee every time you post! You provide the best long form puro/joshi/good wrestling content on RUclips IMO, and your main channel is equally great.
Cheers from the Canadian Maritimes!
It was one of the greatest matches i ever saw live. Kòbashi was/is one of my faves. I loved joe too at the time. It was a dream come true. I was going to shows everyweek at that time. What an era for indy rasslin
I always say this era was such a special time to be a wrestling fan, hearing about the shows and then having to wait however long it took before you could get a copy (still VHS in my case) and sit down and watch the show and see how it lived up to the hype and this match did so much. For me, the last strike exchange, Joe refusing to go down and screaming at Kobashi and then just getting destroyed with the Burning Lariat is my all time fave ROH moment. Even now not far off two decades later, I remember watching the tape and it just feeling as special as wrestling would ever make me feel.
I bought that DVD as soon as it came out ! Really wish I could have been there live . Great match and memory from ROH . I also bought the two Weekend of Thunder shows featuring Liger , and also a few Dragon Gate/ROH shows . I loved what KENTA and Marafuji did there too ! ROH was so fire for a good while .
Love your vids on AJW, its my blindspot in wrestling along with lucha libre. Hope to see more in the future, keep up the great work frl 🙏🏽.
Another fantastic video from what has become my favorite wresting channel on RUclips.
Great video Kim. The Low Ki appearance reminded me I've always wanted to see a video on how Low Ki got his reputation for taking himself too seriously.
Thanks for the amazing video
My favorite match ever
Absolutely love your approach. Thank you for all you do!
Funnily enough this is the second video about Samoa Joe I've seen this week, I saw another review of that infamously bloody bout he had with Necro Butcher, and between that video and this one I'm beginning to think Joe might be a pretty good wrestler ;p
25:18 Awww! :D He looked genuinely startled by that positive reception. Honestly that's enough to get me shedding a small tear or two.
Love your channel, I can honestly say it's the best thing RUclips has EVER recommended. Never even knew about this match. Kinda bums me out that I grew up in the Midwest and ROH wasn't carried anywhere. I missed so much GREAT wrestling
Another Classic Kim....im so glad your back...might have to got back to your patron again
7:04 he held the Jr. tag titles with Curry Man (Christopher Daniels).
Simply unforgettable match.
One of the best matches ever
Such a great video, one of my favourite matches ever! So mamy goosebump moments in the match, done justice by your commentaty!
Thats like my favorite match of all time
You're the best Kim!!
Your love of wrestling is awesome. Infectious. Appreciated.
I really miss this era of wrestling. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy wrestling is getting an another big push right now but it just doesn’t feel the same. Finding ring of honor was like a a breath of fresh air after years of wwe content.
Absolutely a turning point in the companies history.
Classic match
Kobashi getting compared to Special Delivery SD Jones....what a thought.
A new Kim Justice Kobashi video??!?! Today is a good day indeed!
God, Joe vs. Kobashi was the *one* ROH show at the Manhattan Ballroom that I didn't get to go to back then, and it still eats at me a bit. I at least got to see Misawa vs. KENTA at the Manhattan Center, but still, I'd pop in the Joe vs. Kobashi DVD and just listen to that crowd reaction.
Thank you Kim justice!!! Your always loaded with the 🔥🔥🔥🔥
He really is the most interesting wrestling channel along with wrestling bios 😊
Kim! Love your stuff.
Any chance we can some day get some Milano Collection AT and Hayabusa videos? Not enough people know about Milano in my opinion.
I love this channel
God I miss the good old days with the wrestling channel showing NOAH and GAIA
14:41 wait… the legendary Misawa wrestled in Carluke of all places?
This is a fantastic video!! So many great details and clips! Thank you so much for putting this together!
"Hey look it's Honma!" (I had to do it.)
Love the content, good sir - your channel is a master class in puroresu history.
How can something so disgusting as Misawa urinating into a bin in Scotland sounds so legendary? All that's missing from that urban legend is a can of Irn Bru.
a 2000s tna noah partnership sounds awesome when of think of things like mcmg vs kenta and marufuji and shit but knowing how they treated new japan yall fucking know that a noah tna partnership would have ended up with go shiozaki jobbing to bashir in 4 minutes on sacrifice
You had to think that Punk was laughing during the
Homicide vs Kojima match- staring directly at Gabe