Talk about it here.

In the first few minutes, Kobashi slaps Hansen. Hansen attempts to take him outside to atone. Kobashi immediately rolls back in the ring. This frustrates Hansen so much that he grabs a chair and starts beating the shit out of Kobashi.

 

That really sets the tone for the entire match, not so much from a stylistic standpoint, but more from the point of Kobashi being willing to take some lumps in order to dish out his own punishment, and not backing off at all even when he knows he's pissing Hansen off. Winning wouldn't have been bad, but that wasn't really the point of this. It was more to show that Kobashi could go toe-to-toe without getting flustered.

 

The match eventually settles into something way more mat-based than your typical Stan Hansen match, but the larger point is that Kobashi doesn't back down, regardless of the direction Hansen attempts to take the match. Kobashi works Hansen's arm like a champ, and Hansen ups the aggression even more so than usual to deal with him. They end up getting in quite the fight, with Kobashi punching Hansen in the face repeatedly until Hansen reponds by headbutting him from the male position. I think anyone facing Hansen at this point was in for a war, but Kobashi earned his ire more so than usual and lived to tell about it. I could watch these two wrestle all day, and that this is one of the least memorable matches these two had really speaks volumes for how well they worked together.

I think I got this one right the first time. I edited in a few additional thoughts. I didn't really see the match in a different way, but I did like it even more the second time around.

This was pretty good. Man did Hansen wear out that chair on Kobashi. This was a pretty hard hitting match with some solid mat work, and limb work was done well. The match did a good job of defining Kobashi's never back down attitude that really defined him.

I loved the opening of this with Kobashi trying to play cat-and-mouse and Hansen dealing with it by just crushing him with a chair. After that, it was a good little match, albeit a minor chapter in their rivalry. I always get the sense that Hansen really respected Kobashi's effort and gave him a lot of offense for that reason.

More I watch of this feud the more it may be a top 3 90's All Japan feud for me. This was short and condensed but packed a lot into the time given it. The chair spot was indeed awesome.

This came across as very U.S.-like babyface vs. heel, actually. Kobashi is actively trying to avoid wrestling at Hansen's level (not just because he's a "good guy" but because that's basically suicidal), so we get Hansen swinging chairs like a maniac while Kobashi works the arm. The result is inevitable but Kobashi gets to show off quite a lot here.

Do not slap Stan Hansen in the face! He flips out on Kobashi by throwing one chair at him and then just smacking him multiple times with another. Brief mat work from there where things settle down a bit. But then it seemed like they went right to the finishing stretch with Kobashi going for the moonsault. Kobashi tries his best but Hansen too much in the end.

My thoughts remained the same here. Condensed version but they actually did a decent amount of mat work and limb control given the time allotted and the feud felt like it was progressed.

Started promisingly as Stan brings a chair into the ring and starts unloading. After that it turned into quite a straightforward win.

Jumping innnnnnnn. I loved it when Hansen got pissed and chucked the chair in the ring. Kobashi is so good he can work any kind of match against any opponent. They didn't bother doing any major selling on Hansens' arm considering Kobashi had spent so much time beating on it. Overall though, an enjoyable match with some good heat.

I guess I'm still getting used to chair use not constituting an automatic DQ in All-Japan. Take that sequence away and it was the typica; up-and-comer vs. veteran match. Kobashi does his best here, and he'll definitely be a force to reckon with in the future, but even coming from a damaged arm the lariat's too much for him in the end. I'm sure Kobashi won't be slapping Stan around in any rematches, but he showed that he'll be a tough opponent for him, not shy about working the arm in an attempt to disable the lariat. It didn't work this time, but it's an effective strategy for the future.

 

How refreshing it is to see Stan without that godawful tobacco. I don't doubt that he chewed outside the ring, but seeing it on interviews in WCW, and even as he was coming to the ring, was sickening. Thankfully, he doesn't need that crap to remind the Korakuen Hall audience that he's from Texas.

For better or for worse, I always watch Hansen matches with the mindset of Hansen making his opponents work hard for him to sell, which I've said in here a bunch. Here's another good example, where Kobashi really had to work over the arm and stay on Hansen to get anything done. And it works too, as Kobadhi is able to hang tough until the end.

Yeah, I enjoyed this one a lot. The slap that led to the chair attack - all great stuff. I can watch these two anytime.

Hansen going nuts with the chair really made Kobashi look like a boss. Loved this match, love most of the 91 to 93 Kobashi stuff, especially involving Hansen.

Kobashi running to the ring? We are firmly in the middle ground of being a young boy and Kenta breaking out as a singles star (Although the fans treated like one here). I was mauling but Kobashi got tons of offence on Hansen, working on the arm for considerable portions of the match. Hanse sold for him and won in the end. Nasty stuff with the chair too. ***1/4

Hansen's performance is exactly what you can expect from him by this point. He's full of piss and vinegar, and whilst his offence isn't pretty, it looks stiff and effective. Kobashi is still young, but he's no young lion. He slaps Hansen at the start the crowd go into a frenzy. Hansen is ENRAGED by this and starts wailing a chair at Kobashi. This is all about super rookie Kobashi trying to prove he can hang with the top guys. Kobashi gets a false finish from a moonsault and the commentators lose their shit. Despite not knowing what they were saying, the emotion in their voice really put over how big of a deal Kobashi winning would be. Hansen gets the win, but he puts over Kobashi in the process. Fantastic stuff. 

★★★★

I was impressed by the near-deadly accuracy of Hansen's initial chair toss into the ring.  Sometimes those chairs are wildly off-target, which makes sense as the chucker is flailing around in a rage outside the ring.  In this case, Kobashi really had to leap away to avoid the chair hitting him.  One other nice touch was the very brief reprieve at the end of the match when Kobashi initially countered the lariat, only to eat it big time seconds later.  Definitely a fun match.