10 Wrestling Matches That Shaped Vince McMahon’s Vision Of Sports Entertainment
5. Steve Williams Vs. Kenta Kobashi - AJPW Summer Action Series II 1993 - Day 10
At the close of this impossibly stiff war - during which his eclectic and brutal repertoire had failed him - Williams rocked his junior opponent by reversing a sleeper attempt and dropping him, neck-first, with a backdrop suplex. The sheer, sickening angle of it had never been attempted, and with good reason. The slightest miscalculation might have resulted in Kobashi being paralysed.
Kobashi, in a heart-stopping moment (for the audience, mercifully) kicked out. Undeterred, Williams picked what was left of him up - and, once more, drilled him right on the top of his head, his neck folding like an accordion. Demonstrating inhuman fighting spirit, Kobashi used the ropes to get back to his feet - only to receive a third, match-ending head drop.
By dropping Kobashi on his head, Williams ushered in a new era of danger - one which the rest of the All Japan headliners readily followed in their successful quest to become the greatest pro wrestlers on the planet.
Their subsequent body of work was as rewarding as it was cerebral as it was intercorrelated - tactics deployed years earlier were never forgiven or forgotten, driving the content of sequels and spiritual successors - but the innovation was a tragic one. After sixteen years spent emulating the thrill, Mitsuharu Misawa, AJPW and offshoot Pro Wrestling NOAH ace, died in the middle of the ring. His neck had disintegrated.
What is held aloft as the King's Road style inspired the four match series the Undertaker wrestled with Shawn Michaels and Triple H at WrestleManias XXV through XXVIII. The endless finisher kick-outs, meanwhile, kickstarted a more pervasive trend.