[1] After dropping out of high school, Kobayashi joined the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo in 1972 at the young age of 16.
Upon entering North America in 1980, Kobayashi's first stop was in Mexico for Universal Wrestling Association, where he made his mark by trying to unmask the other luchadores, especially Los Villanos.
He also allied with Riki Choshu, Masa Saito, and Killer Khan to form the stable "Ishin Gundan" ("Restruction Force").
While there, Kobayashi feuded with Tiger Mask II, and he held the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating Dynamite Kid on June 13, 1985 and the World Junior Heavyweight Championship after defeating Hiro Saito on November 23, 1986, and also feuded with All Japan's loyalists, such as Norio Honaga, Jumbo Tsuruta, Takashi Ishikawa and Mighty Inoue.
In 1992, he and Shiro Koshinaka formed the Heisei Ishingun, while feuding with two karatekas in Masashi Aoyagi and Akitoshi Saito.
Upon his return in February 1993, Kobayashi reunited with Koshinaka, who had now formed a stable with Aoyagi, Saito and Kengo Kimura.
In April 2000, Kobayashi wrestled his final match as an active wrestler, losing to Jyushin Thunder Liger.
After the bout, he received flowers from Satoru Sayama and a message from Mitsuharu Misawa, as both Tiger Masks sent their farewell sayings to their biggest rival.
He made sporadic appearances, however, one being in May 2003, in a New Japan Alumnus battle royal, won by Kantaro Hoshino and Kotetsu Yamamoto.
Another appearance of his occurred on was on March 6, 2007, when he served as special guest referee for an eight-man tag team match between El Texano Jr., Minoru, Tiger Mask and Wataru Inoue against El Samurai, Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto and Negro Casas, in which after the match, Kobayashi attacked Liger and delivered his signature fisherman suplex.
On January 4, 2017, Kobayashi made a special appearance for NJPW, taking part in the New Japan Rumble on the pre-show of Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome.
Five days before his death, Osamu Nishimura, who is currently battling stage-four esophageal cancer, visited Kobayashi at his home to pay his respects to his old friend.