You all know that I am a big Kobashi mark even with the fact I have only seen his match against Samoa Joe and a match against KENTA but I was shocked to see this when I went to pwinsider.com and then wrestlingobserver.com which I got this from it.
Kenta Kobashi, one of pro wrestling's all-time greatest performers, is currently hospitalized due to kidney cancer it was announced earlier today.
The 39-year-old Kobashi was diagnosed with cancer when results of tests came back after a routine medical examination. The company made the announcement on a piece of paper in front of Differ Ariake in Tokyo, its home arena, where they have a show scheduled. Mitsuharu Misawa, the group's president, was interviewed on the NTV Network sports news at midnight earlier today, saying that Kobashi's pain was such that he told Misawa he can't wrestle right now.
He said that after Kobashi complained about severe pain in his waist at his examination, they gave him a CT scan last Thursday and the results showed a tumor on his kidney. Not much else is known but it is believed he will be undergoing surgery to remove the cancer.
One can make a strong argument that Kobashi is the greatest wrestler of this generation. When he was elected into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2002, he received a record 98% of the vote. He is second to only Ric Flair when it comes to the number of times winning the Lou Thesz/Ric Flair award for Wrestler of the Year, winning in 1996, 2003, 2004, and 2005. He has been in six winners of Match of the Year, including his match last year in New York against Samoa Joe, also an all-time record.
Kobashi is known in Japan as pro wrestling's Iron Man, because he had five knee operations in 2001 that were thought to end his career. He was out for 13 months, and returned to become the standout in-ring performer in the world.
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I consider him if not the best then in the top 5 wrestlers of this generation as well. I will pray that he will recover from this and be back in the ring very quickly.
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