5 Best Wrestling Matches of 2003

4. Kenta Kobahi vs. Yuji Nagata – NOAH, September 12, 2003

Imagine if John Cena had Kurt Angle’s wrestling ability and he was taking on a hybrid between Daniel Bryan and Chris Benoit. That’s what you get with this match. The role of Cena/Angle is played by Kobashi, and Bryan/Benoit is played by Nagata, and Nagata is also hated by the NOAH audience here because he’s the invader from New Japan.

Kobashi had his hands full with Nagata, who was a superior mat wrestler. Nagata destroyed Kobashi’s lariat arm with his array of submissions and stiff kicks, and seemed to have a way out of any situation. He even resorted to underhanded tactics like kicking Kobashi’s legs as hard as possible, hoping to damage his surgically-repaired knees.

But Kobashi is very much like John Cena: no matter how much punishment he takes, he digs down deep into his bottomless pit of ‘Burning Spirit’ and overcomes unimaginable pain to win. Nagata tried and tried to come up with a winning strategy, and came incredibly close to winning on many occasions.

With classic technical wrestling, dramatic reversal sequences, a challenger with enough credibility to be believed they can win, and a champion with superman toughness, this is a gorgeous match that helped prove why Pro Wrestling NOAH was the #1 promotion in the world in 2003.