Jun Akiyama is a Younger Brother I Was Destined to Meet [Kenta Kobashi Serial #5]

Master Baba Was Like a Father to Me

When I Only Ate White Rice at a Sushi Restaurant, Mr. Baba Laughed


Original source

If Mr. Misawa was like an older brother, then Mr. Baba was equivalent to a “father.” I really learned a lot of things. Especially the lesson that “a pro wrestler must be a monster”—that’s something I still hold dear in my heart.

When I was still a young wrestler, I wanted to go overseas to train, but Mr. Baba thought, “Even if you go to America, you won’t learn anything.” He probably wanted to train me by his side. So, just over a month after I debuted, he let me challenge for the All Asia Tag Team Championship (March 27, 1989). At that time, I was still a rookie who had never even won a singles match. Of course, there were a lot of opposing voices around me. There were jealous voices from seniors like, “Why him?” and even some unbelievable curses.

But I had the feeling that “I absolutely can’t let this chance slip away.” I didn’t care what others said. I was going to become a top wrestler. I had to change how people saw me. If back then I had thought, “I should just behave myself,” then perhaps the current me wouldn’t exist. In a way, that was a turning point in my life.

Anyway, Mr. Baba kept telling me, “Train, then eat, and keep eating”; “Make your body bigger.” After matches, when we went out to eat, he would say, “Eat this too, and that too.” All I could do was respond, “Okay!” and continue eating. One time, after a meal, he handed me 2,000 yen and said, “Go to the ramen shop and spend all of this.” My stomach was already about to burst, and spending 2,000 yen was really tough. I only ate one bowl of ramen, and I forced the rest with drinks to make it add up to 2,000 yen. Mr. Baba said to me, “Did you really spend it all? What an idiot,” and then laughed.

Even now, I still remember a time during Wajima’s (Daiji, former Yokozuna) intensive training when we went to a sushi restaurant in Noto. I was really looking forward to eating delicious sushi! But he told me, “You don’t need to eat sushi. Just eat rice.” Then he gave me a bowl of white rice with a piece of simmered fish as a side dish, all placed in a large takeout bowl. At that time, I really thought, “This is just too much…” (laughs). I barely managed to finish the full bowl of white rice, and Mr. Baba saw it and laughed.


When Kobashi and Baba Challenged for the All Asia Tag Championship, Kobashi Successfully Used a Combination Move to Defeat Samson Fuyuki (Left) (March 1989, Korakuen Hall).

In 1990, when Mr. Tenryu and others left in large numbers, I remember Mr. Baba’s back looked a bit lonely. Even though I was still just a nobody back then, I also felt worried for Mr. Baba. At the training dormitory, I became the youngest member once again. I couldn’t let Mr. Baba feel sad. So I kept pushing through with matches, and eventually, the Super Generation Army began to make its mark.

Oh, that reminds me—around that time, Mr. Tenryu came to the dormitory in the middle of the night holding a golf club. Apparently, he came to hit me. Luckily, I wasn’t there at the time, so I avoided the whole mess… They say it was because I told Masao Orihara, “You’re definitely going to SWS, right?” which made Mr. Tenryu angry, but as far as I can remember, I didn’t say anything like that. What I remember saying was, “Are you going back to the countryside?” I’d like to take this opportunity to clear up that misunderstanding. Mr. Tenryu, I really don’t remember saying anything like that.

The Reason Behind Akiyama Spreading the Rumor That “Mr. Kobashi Is Gay” Was...

After ending my 25-year pro wrestling career, I deeply felt that “we’ll still have a long connection going forward.” That irreplaceable person was (Jun) Akiyama.



From the time I challenged for the All Asia Tag Team Championship with Mr. Baba, I won my first title beside Mr. Misawa, who was then the second-generation Tiger Mask (April 9, 1990). After Mr. Tenryu and others left, the so-called “Four Pillars of Heaven” era began. I kept striving for higher goals, but after Jun joined (1992), for the first time, I realized I was being chased from behind.


Even though the gay rumor was troubling, Akiyama was my little brother, and also an irreplaceable rival.

He graduated from Senshu University’s wrestling club and was a talented wrestler personally recruited by Mr. Baba. But you couldn’t really tell just by looking at him. He was smart, but had astonishing tenacity. From the start, he was different. No matter how grueling the training was, he always had an expression that showed he didn’t mind at all. His fellow trainees who joined at the same time looked completely exhausted, panting. I asked him, “Don’t you find it hard?” and he calmly replied, “It’s hard,” then went right back to training. “This guy is going to be a threat to me,” I had a premonition.



From that time on, he existed like a little brother to me. After I was his opponent in his debut match in September 1992, when Jun hit a slump and said, “I want to quit,” we had a thorough talk. To him, I think I appeared like an older brother. And now, we’ve become partners who tease each other… maybe we were destined to meet.

In 1998, we formed “BURNING,” deciding that no matter what punishment the company gave us, we wouldn’t care, and started acting on our own. It was really fun. It was made up of me, Jun, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Kentaro Shiga. During tours, we trained together every day, wrestled together, ate together, even played pachinko together. We even went to casinos together on our days off. That was truly our youth.



However, the situation began to reverse. With the formation of NOAH, Jun suddenly rose to prominence. In the opening match of NOAH (August 2000), I lost to Jun in a singles match for the first time. I felt uneasy. So in October of the same year, I gave up orange, the color that symbolized me, and started wearing pants based on black and gray. It wasn’t an easy decision. It was my will to use that moment as a fresh start.



Eventually, in January of the following year, I had to take a long break due to injuries in both knees. During that time, Jun, through his battles with Yuji Nagata, succeeded in opening the door to interaction with New Japan Pro Wrestling.



Jun and I participated in NOAH’s first big event (December 2000, Ariake Coliseum), and had an incredible match. Then, on July 10, 2004, we were the main event for NOAH’s first show at the Tokyo Dome. We bore the main responsibility for this match that held the company’s fate. In the end, we won the 2004 Pro Wrestling Awards’ Best Match, but I still feel that match was truly satisfying. I believe it was a life-or-death match.



Now that I think about it, it was probably around the second year after NOAH was formed. Jun spread the rumor that “Mr. Kobashi is gay.” When I got angry and said, “You should cut that out already,” at that time, I was dating my wife (Mayuko), but he said, “It was tough for me too. (To keep her a secret) I said that.” Isn’t that even worse than being exposed? (laughs)


Akiyama Delivered a Death-Defying German Suplex Off the Apron to Kobashi, Silencing the Crowd (July 2004, Tokyo Dome).

Now Jun is carrying the BURNING banner and fighting. When he made his comeback, I asked him, “Why not use STERNNESS?” and he answered, “I’ll stick with BURNING.” I felt really happy. That banner might face many hardships, but he’s someone who has strong messaging ability. I hope he keeps pushing the pro wrestling world forward. But since I’m already retired, I hope he’ll be a little kinder when he teases me (laughs). (To be continued)