20 AJPW Matches you must see before you die

6. Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen – July 29, 1993

Have you ever wondered how Stan ‘the Lariat’ Hansen became such a legendary wrestler in Japan? By having matches like this.

This match is the classic ‘gutsy babyface vs. grizzled heel veteran’ with an AJPW twist. Kobashi was only five years into his career and he faced the legendary Stan Hansen, the only foreigner to hold pinfall victories over both AJPW owner Giant Baba AND NJPW owner Antonio Inoki. Kobashi knows this and spends most of the match hitting Hansen as hard as possible.

Yet even as a token ‘evil foreign heel’, Stan Hansen was ridiculously popular with the audience, but he had his work cut out for him in the form of Kenta Kobashi, who never gave up no matter how vicious a beating he took. Yet Hansen did indeed go all out, brutalizing Kobashi with painful strikes and offense that included a monster Powerbomb onto the floor.

Ultimately, this doesn’t feel like a grappling-centric wrestling match. Instead, it feels like a true brawl, with Kobashi channeling his ‘burning spirit’ to try and overcome Hansen’s unrelenting offense. Yet no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t survive Hansen’s stiffness, and he was felled by arguably the single-most vicious lariat of all time.

Ultimately, this is a must-see match for those that like their wrestling brutal, realistic and dramatic.