20 AJPW Matches you must see before you die

4. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi – October 31, 1998

This match won the Match of the Year award for 1998 and was one of the most dramatic wrestling matches ever put together. For over 40 minutes, these two goliaths wrestled in a stiff match filled with painful-looking strikes and incredible psychology that made both men look as smart as they were tough, and boy were both known for being inhumanly tough.

Not only were the reversals believable and dramatic, but each submission hold and near-fall felt like it genuinely could end the match. There was such tension in the match that you could feel the energy elicited by the crowd, who roared and applauded for even the simplest of moves.

Props to both Kobashi and Misawa for taking an absurd number of bumps on their respective necks and heads, including one sequence where Misawa took a BuckleBomb, Half-Nelson Suplex and Dragon Suplex in quick succession (keep in mind that each of these moves does horrible damage to the neck).

But Misawa wasn’t the only one to absorb an inhuman amount of punishment. Kobashi was dropped with multiple STIFF elbows and kicks and became the first and only person to ever kick out of Misawa’s original super-finisher, the Tiger Driver ’91. When Kobashi kicked out, the audience started chanting Kobashi’s name with incredible fervor, and the match reached another level of intensity.

Although the actual ending was somewhat underwhelming (probably because Kobashi took two of the sickest and stiffest elbow smashes ever and was probably legit knocked out), it is still a clinic in wrestling psychology and immersive storytelling.