(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Kenta Kobashi & Homicide vs. Samoa Joe & Low Ki – ROH Unforgettable 2005

Many longtime wrestling fans remember Kenta Kobashi for his legendary work in Japan and his iconic singles match with Samoa Joe from 2005. That singles match was so memorable and overwhelming that Kobashi had another match from ROH.

Kobashi’s second ROH match took place the following night. It was a tag match with two other ROH wrestlers that just so happened to be involved with Samoa Joe in some form of another. But ROH’s booker at the time Gabe Sapolsky was more interested in bringing Kobashi in and using him the right way, even if doing so meant contradicting their existing storylines.

In some ways, this whole Kobashi-in-ROH deal may have been a driving factor in other promotions’ (but especially AEW’s) approach to foreign talent. They think that the audience will react to each and every Japanese signee the same way they did to Kobashi here, not realizing that Kobashi was a special talent that entered ROH as a God among men.

Both Kobashi’s singles match with Joe and the tag match with them on opposing sides had little to no build besides a press/news release. Both were treated as ‘cold matches’ but took place in front of nuclear hardcore crowds. Both were exciting and adored by the fans, especially those that took the time to write into the WON about how much they enjoyed the matches live. But was the tag match on the same level? Read on to find out.

The match

This match took place on October 3, 2005. It was rated ****1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

They do ring intros and once again Kobashi gets a hero’s welcome complete with streamers and everything. And this is a guy who once admitted he didn’t think the Americans would know who he was.

Kobashi and Joe start the match, much to the crowd’s overwhelming delight. Joe lands some kicks, they lock-up against the ropes, and this time Joe opts for a clean break instead of a bitchslap. Clearly he has learned his lesson. They lock-up again, Kobashi gets Joe in a corner, and this time he gets a clean break instead of hitting a chop. They do a standard headlock escape/shoulderblock spot. Joe absorbs a chop and tackles Kobashi down. He follows that with a running kick and a Misawa elbow suicida to get the crowd going even more.

Joe hits some stiff shots and covers Kobashi for a two-count. A mini chops battle ensues with Joe mixing in some jabs in there as well. Kobashi tanks them like a boss and chops back until Joe elbows him into a corner and tags Ki, who hits a chop of his own. Despite being much smaller, Low Ki models himself after Kawada so we’re in for another stiff slugfest. Kobashi powers Ki into a corner and goes for a chop but Ki counters with a hanging armbar.

After a short standoff Kobashi powers Ki into an arm wringer but Ki escapes thanks to some stiff kicks. Homicide tags in and has a fun little technical exchange with Ki that ends in a stalemate. They do a Greco-Roman knuckle lock with Ki showing off his balance and athleticism and then Ki goes after Homicide’s taped-up, badly-injured shoulder. Joe tags in and hits a chop/kick/senton combo followed by some corner kicks. Those kicks anger Homicide so he pokes Joe’s eye, hits a kneedrop, and tags Kobashi.

Kobashi, now more accustomed to his warm American reception, obliterates Joe’s chest with chops. He hits a double kneelift/Burning Sword downward chop combo followed by another falling chop for a two-count. Joe gets a ropebreak to escape a facelock and tags in Homicide, but not before hitting Joe with another parting chop.

Homicide lands a jawbreaker and a back elbow but then Joe fires up and hits elbows and a dropkick to the head. Low Ki tags in and gets into a standing strike exchange that ends with an enzuigiri from Homicide. Homicide dumps Ki ringside where Kobashi chops him so brutally that even Homicide can feel them from the ring. Kobashi follows with a DDT at the top of the entrance ramp and then another chop that sends Ki over the barricade. He tosses Ki back into the ring and Homicide covers but only gets a two-count.

Joe tries to save Ki from a camel clutch but the ref cuts him off while behind the referee’s back Kobashi comes in and chops Ki’s chest in. it might be a heel move but the crowd adores Kobashi here and he can do no wrong in their eyes. Ki kicks out of a cover and reverses an Irish whip but can’t do a follow-up move because of the pain in his chest. Ki lands on the apron but Homicide hotshots him and goes for a dive but Ki hits first with a kick and then covers for a tow-count of his own.

Back in the ring, Homicide goes for a sunset flip but Ki counters with a double stomp. Kobashi tries going after Ki but Joe drives him into a corner and lands a barrage of kicks. Joe tags in and lands more kicks on Homicide followed by a kneedrop on what looks like his bad shoulder for a two-count. Homicide fights out of a chinlock and charges. Joe hits first with a Manhattan drop and charges. Homicide blocks and lands an Ace Crusher. He charges and runs into a Death Valley Bomb that gets two as Kobashi saves his partner.

Joe cuts off a tag for Homicide and tags Ki and they take turns trying to kick Homicide’s chest in. Homicide fights back and hits a tornado DDT for another two-count. Homicide tries a superplex but Ki cuts him off and hits a diving double foot stomp. Ki gets up first and tags Joe, who tries maintaining the lead but eats a diving DDT for his efforts. Hot tag to Kobashi, who unleashes machine gun chops on Joe in a corner. He gets to eighteen before Ki comes in. Big mistake. Kobashi puts Ki in front of Joe and fires again. 22 chops for Ki and another 30 for Joe. Kobashi hits a discus chop and tries a half-nelson suplex. Joe blocks that but runs into a sleeper hold. A sleeper suplex leads to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Low Ki charges in but he runs into a half-nelson. Kobashi chops Joe’s neck but Joe fights back. Kobashi chops him again and charges for a lariat. Joe catches him in a powerslam for a two-count. Joe floats over into a cross armbreaker but Homicide breaks it up with a kneedrop. Joe dumps Homicide ringside and powerbombs Kobashi for another two-count. Joe switches to an STF but Kobashi keeps crawling to the ropes so Joe switches to a Fujiwara armbar. Kobashi touches the ropes with his foot so Joe spikes him with a Backdrop Driver!

The crowd chants “this is awesome” as Joe hits a running corner kneelift followed by a Muscle Buster. One, two, Kobashi kicks out. Ki tags in but he misses his diving foot stomp. Kobashi tries another half-nelson but Ki lands on his feet. Kobashi but Ki lands a follow-up hook kick for yet another two-count. Low Ki attempts a Ki Crusher. Kobashi blocks and tries a discus chop. Ki ducks and lands a shotgun dropkick. Kobashi resists an Irish whip so Ki hits him with clotheslines. Kobashi blocks a corner whip so Ki traps him in an octopus hold/armbar. Homicide comes in and he & Kobashi hit a neckbreaker/Air Raid Crash combo. Joe cuts Homicide off and holds him in place for Ki. Ki hits Joe with a springboard enzuigiri and then Homicide dives onto Joe, leaving Low Ki and Kobashi alone in the ring. Ki goes for a handspring corner elbow. Kobashi blocks and hits a jackknife powerbomb for two. Kobashi follows with an Orange Crush Bomb. One, two, Joe saves his partner. Homicide takes Joe out of the ring one more time as Kobashi demolishes Low Ki with a short-range Burning Lariat. One, two, and three! There’s the match!

Winners after 27:36: Kenta Kobashi & Homicide

Review

This match was fun but nowhere near as special or exciting as the prior night’s singles match. Adding more people to the mix made it a bit more complex but adding all those moving parts also made it less special. All four guys played the hits instead of going too deep with any particular story. The match felt more like a playful exhibition but it was still enough to rile the crowd up. They loved everything Kobashi did, even if some of his actions were ‘heelish’. But despite having some strong points on its own, this match had much less going for it than the Kobashi-Joe singles match which overshadowed this match back then and still does to this day.

Because Kobashi had his moment in the sun with Joe the prior night, he became more of a background support character here as the remaining three wrestlers made the most out of this rare circumstance. He was like a parent giving kids different kinds of candy on Halloween: some got to see him throw hands against either Joe or Low Ki and destroy them with chops in a delightful piece of wrestling fanservice. Others saw him try and have his star power rub off on everyone else by taking bumps and selling for the three men who, by comparison, weren’t as big stars. Others still got to see him work more of a tag psychology as a ‘big brother’ helping his smaller opponent get one over on Joe and Ki. And, of course, there was the fun in seeing him throw both of his opponents around with his crazy suplex variations.

But aside from those things there wasn’t much else to this. It lacked the novelty factor, intensity, sense of pure competition. Compared to that contest this one didn’t reach the same heights in any category, not even in crowd noise or crowd heat. Maybe Joe was exhausted from the prior night and decided not to poke the bear by slapping or disrespecting him (a wise decision, as Kobashi’s chops had left Joe’s chest looking like Thanos’ forehead). Whatever the reason, this match was a lot more subdued and simplified with your typical indy tropes and sequences that made it less special. These things don’t make it a bad match per se, but more of a forgettable one.

Final Rating: ***3/4

If this were Kenta Kobashi’s only major North American wrestling match then maybe people would look back at it differently. But it wasn’t; it took place 24 hours after what many fans have described as the ultimate indy wrestling match, one that made a crowd of 800 or so sound like a packed stadium of screaming, roaring fans.

As a result, this match ends up inextricably linked to that first one and still ends up being an afterthought as a result. It’s one of the biggest ‘huh, that happened’ matches from the past decade and makes for a nice piece of wrestling trivia, but if you’re going to go back in time to ROH’s glory years you’re better off watching the singles match that gave this one a raison d’être.

Thanks for reading.