10 5-Star Matches you absolutely need to know about

#7 Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe – ROH Joe vs. Kobashi 2005

Samoa Joe has been in two 5-Star matches during his career, and both of them took place in 2005.

The more recent match was an outstanding Triple Threat match in TNA against A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. The earlier (and better) one was a few months before that, in Ring of Honor, when Joe took on the legendary Kenta Kobashi in singles competition.

The match was twenty minutes of non-stop, hard-hitting action. Both guys absolutely destroyed each other with their stiff offence and powerful moves that kept the audience on their feet throughout the match.

Speaking of audiences, that was the deciding factor in this match being not only a 5-Star contest but also WON’s Match of the Year for 2005. The match took place in front of maybe 1,000 or 2,000 fans in a much smaller venue than what both of them were used to.

That said, these fans were incredibly loud throughout the match, cheering wildly for every single move that was executed. They weren’t those fans that try to get themselves over either; these were entertained wrestling fans roaring in approval for every chop, every throw, every pin and kick-out.

It was one of those rare matches that didn’t even need commentary to be awesome.