Wrestle Kingdom usually sets a high point at the start of the year and the recent show featured incredible matches, including a much talked aout Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada match which was the recipient of the covented Dave Meltzer ***** rating (he’s like the Roger Ebert of professional wrestling.

This momentium has me wanting to check out more wrestling from Japan, so today I decided to watch what is considered a classic in Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi, another Meltzer ***** match.

These two are legends who are especially known for having hard-hitting historic encouters against each other. This match took place at All Japan Pro Wrestling on day 18 of the October Giant Series inside the Mippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. 

This is a physically intense match-up, as most Kenta Kobashi matches tend to be. He may of had the stiffest chops in professional wrestling and the footage here captures the exploding sweat upon impact.

 In 2005, he had a pretty intense match against Samoa Joe in Ring of Honor. The company decided to have no announcers for the match, so the audience could appreciate the sounds of the chops.