Houston Region, Boston Subregion: First Round: (1) Bret Hart vs. (32) Kenta Kobashi

[D-Man]

Since we can vote for whatever reasons we want, I'm voting for Bret Hart because I'm sick and tired of Xfear having to jump in front of a moving train just to get Japanese wrestlers over in this tournament every year. Ok, maybe that's not the only reason why...

Kobashi was a very good wrestler. And he drew some sick numbers. And he had slanted eyes. And he chopped people hard. But I have never enjoyed any part of the stiff, Japanese, puro style of pro-wrestling. I can appreciate the pain they inflicted on each other and the realism in matches (that is severely lacking in today's product), but I just never enjoyed how dry their style was. Kobashi personified this style. Many believe this to be considered great wrestling. Sorry, but I don't.

Bret Hart will always be the type of performer that American pro-wrestlers strive to be. That's not saying he's "better than" Kobashi. Hell, I think they're both pretty fucking good. But make no mistake about it, if we're talking a bare-bones, selfish argument that I'm going to put up, it's the mere fact that I enjoyed everything about Bret Hart much more than anything I ever enjoyed about Kobashi.

I think that's a fair argument. I'm voting for Bret.

 

[Tech N9ne]

I am voting for Kobashi because I enjoy his in ring style more than Harts. I am not out to bash "The Hitman", I have a lot of respect for his contribution to wrestling history. I will also agree with people that says he was a great technical wrestler, because he was.

I have just never been a big Bret Hart guy. I have seen a lot of Kobashi's matches and I am just more into what he brings to a match. I find him more exciting and think he has a better all around wrestling in ring game, that I enjoy.

I am sure Bret will win. I haven't checked the numbers at all, yet. But, I give my vote to Kobashi, because I think he is better then Bret Hart.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

If this were NAKED Bret Hart... then we'd be talking a different ball game here. No matter the style Hart wrestles... no matter how many moves of doom he has... and no matter how loved he is by fans... Kobashi would thump Bret Hart's head and ass together. Because Kobashi's strong style of wrestling would overwhelm Hart. Hart's been overwhelmed by that style of match quite a bit. Tiger Mask whooped on him for a good while before a no contest came out of it. Kobashi is a man's man and one of the toughest overall wrestlers in history.

I've watched enough of both guys to determine that Kobashi would beat Hart 3 out of 5 times.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

I didn't expect this kind of support for Kobashi, so I took a good look into his matches before casting a vote. I read every pro-Kobashi argument in this thread. Honestly, I'm not impressed.

Hart is the master technical wrestler. Hart sold-out shows. He beat pretty much everyone there was to beat in his generation. His first championship win was over Ric Flair. In-ring psychology counts for a lot and I don't see that with Kobashi.

And about the 5 Moves of Death, I'm sure there will be 19 minutes of back and forth action before that happens. Either way, it'll happen.

Bret. FTW. Sharpshooter.

 

[nightmare]

Just a point to hopefully end all the 'japan vs america' argument.


Bret wouldnt have been such a well known guy if not for the sharpshooter & the fact that his dad ran the dungeon. ****news flash**** a japanese great Riki Choshu invented the move!!! Bret didnt learn it from his dad, rather from Konnan(i believe). as well as the fact that bret harts' record against japanese wrestlers is ABSOLUTE SHIT. he was beaten in japan multiple times, by japanese guys like the great antonio inoki- but some of which were far less talented than kobashi & his few wins in japan were against american WWF talent. Yokozuna dosent count (hes samoan) & remember Hakushi?- bret beat him only once (by roll-up i think).


the hitman is good, but, bret cant beat japan, especially if its against kobashi.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I was glad to see that Bret Hart went over in this round against this guy who I have absolutely no familiarity with whatsoever, who I likely would not have even heard of if it weren't for the comments of several of the guys here at wrestlezone. After starting the campaign thread for the Hitman, I would have been embarrassed and disappointed had he lost and I hadn't voted. I was shocked to see how close the voting actually turned out to be, I would have expected this one to far more decisive a result in favor of the Excellence of Execution.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Absolute bullshit. Kenta Kobashi is one of the biggest draws in professional wrestling history and has twice won the Observer award for Biggest Box Office Draw in the world, an award Bret Hart has never even sniffed at. In the 90s Kobashi alongside Misawa helped draw absolutely staggering television ratings in Japan alongside attendance numbers that put the WWF's to shame at the time. The WWF was struggling to fill up 15,000 seat venues when Bret was on top while Kobashi and Misawa were wrestling in front of sold out crowds of 20,000 on practically a weekly basis. Years later when Misawa and Kobashi put NOAH on the map, they wrestled in front of some of the largest wrestling crowds of the last decade, drawing several Tokyo Dome shows of over 60,000 in attendance. Bret Hart couldn't draw those numbers at any point in his career, ever.

There are many arguments to be made for Bret. Claiming he's a bigger draw is not one of them, because it's absolutely positively 100% false. Kobashi is twice the draw Bret ever was.

Bret Hart, one of the biggest draws in an international globally renowned promotion i.e WWF. You wanna talk about selling out stadiums and arenas outside Canada. He did it all across Europe, he did it in India, he did it in South America and wherenot. So sure Kobashi can be credited as a big fish in a slightly bigger pond. But I don't think we can recognize him as a better worldwide draw.

 

[GrandSword]

If you put both men in a match I don't see how Hart could possibly defeat Kobashi.

I love Hart but nothing in his arsenal could put a dent in Kobashi. Kobashi has never tapped out and his legs are two wide for the Sharpshooter to be effective anyway. Kobashi would deliver half-nelson suplexes on Hart before destroying his chest with Machine Gun Chops and then finish him with a big time lariat. Kobashi wouldn't even need the Burning hammer for Hart.