10 Things WWE Could Learn From Kenta Kobashi's Career

7. Adapting To Serious Injuries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaTXzeBuQSg By late 2000, Kobashi was a 12-year veteran and his knees were barely holding together anymore. So he underwent several major surgeries, which limited the kinds of things he could do in the ring. Now, under normal circumstances, undergoing extensive reparative surgery can end one€™s career (see Bourne, Evan). But not Kobashi. Instead of accepting that his career was over, he simply changed his style to better fit his new limitations. In doing so, he became a more straightforward chopping machine that used power moves and submission holds more often than prior to his surgery. The result? Not only did Kobashi still wrestle very a relatively full schedule for over five years, but he put one some of the best matches in Japanese wrestling history, too. Many WWE superstars would benefit from studying how Kobashi changed his wrestling style without suffering a decrease in his match quality. It€™s entirely possible for an older wrestler devastated by injuries to still come back while adopting a newer fighting style that does less harm to their bodies. Ric Flair did this by slowing down and telling simpler stories, Shawn Michaels began using more mat work and far fewer high-flying moves after 2002, and the Undertaker favoured striking and submissions versus lifting heavier opponents as his career went on. If these wrestlers could follow Kobashi€™s example and adapt when their bodies were sending them warning signals, so too can more of today€™s top stars that keep getting injuries in the same parts of their bodies.