10 Most Explosive Wrestlers Of All Time
5. Kenta Kobashi
Kenta Kobashi was the Ricky Steamboat of puroresu: a deeply authentic and sympathetic babyface with an awesome, explosive fire that drove the heft and spectacle of his comebacks.
Kobashi was, arguably, a better worker than Steamboat. He sold in such a glass-eyed way, and his bond with his audience was so powerful, that his vulnerability, to them, felt harrowing. And then he'd roar back with the burning fire that defined his entire act, his aura, with a blitz of chops to the corner so fast and so vicious that it lit up the crowd as much as the chests of his opponents. The reckless suplex game that defined All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1990s felt in his hands felt somehow necessary, when in grim reality it was anything but.
His iconic moonsault finish, a real feat, looked impossible when considering the mighty bulk of his frame, and again, much like Steamboat, he made it feel like the support of the crowd fuelled him on his journey through the skies.
The crescendo of a Kobashi match will perhaps forever remain unsurpassed; the sheer need for victory informed it.