10 Most Intense Performers In Wrestling History
4. Kenta Kobashi
Kenta Kobashi's career was defined by his intense fire. That he named his famed super-finisher the Burning Hammer was no coincidence.
Kobashi was portrayed as a sentimental audience favourite at the dawn of his All Japan Pro Wrestling singles career, during which he lost his first sixty three matches. It was a long-term arc mapped out expertly. In each match, Kobashi demonstrated that bit more fire, came that bit closer to finally emerging victorious. When he eventually did, he was embraced wholeheartedly by the Nippon Budokan faithful who eventually received him as a legend.
It helped that Kobashi was positioned in a headline brigade - AJPW's Four Pillars of Heaven - much more stoic in comparison. Mitusuharu Misawa, his career-long partner and rival, wasn't one to emote. He was the coolest of customers, so perfect at his profession that he never once let the mask slip, even when his expert grasp of strategy seemed to fail him. Kobashi, in contrast, was the raging id to Misawa's ego, baring his howling soul in the ring every time he failed to wrest the AJPW Triple Crown from him.
Kobashi's much copied trademark spot saw him drag a beleaguered opponent into the corner and unleash a flurry of rapid fire chops on their chest. He did so with eyes clenched, lungs roaring. His fire was fuelled by a charisma uniquely intense to the environment in which he forged his legend.