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The wrestling world is in shock as it has lost yet another legend. Mitsuharu Misawa died, while wrestling for the GHC tag team championship, on Saturday night. Misawa was the Ric Flair of Japan and was the biggest star there in the 90's.
WrestlingClothesline.com sends it thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Misawa.
I was honored to have the privilege of interviewing Mr. Misawa (through an interpreter) in 2004 as he prepared to bring his Pro-Wrestling NOAH organization to the United States. To read my 10 Questions With... Mitsuharu Misawa, click here.
MISAWA PASSES AWAY AFTER BACKDROP IN HIROSHIMA MATCH
Mitsuharu Misawa, one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all-time, was declared dead at 10:10 p.m. Saturday night at a hospital in Hiroshima from an apparent heart attack after being being given a back suplex in a tag team title match.
Misawa would have turned 47 on June 18th.
Misawa, the president of Pro Wrestling NOAH, was teaming with Go Shiozaki in a match challenging Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito for the GHC tag team championship in Hiroshima. Misawa was given the move at about 8:45 p.m. and knocked unconscious.
According to eye witness reports, Saito gave Misawa a "routine" back suplex that was described as a "7" in danger on a scale of one-to-ten. He did not get up. It was chaos in the ring as they attempted to revive him using CPR and the crowd was hushed for a while, and began a "Misawa" chant. He turned purple in the ring and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
His heart stopped beating in the ring.
The wrestlers were told on the bus that he had passed away.
While it is being reported that he passed away at the hospital, he may have actually passed away in the ring.
Misawa was the Japanese high school national wrestling champion at 187 pounds in 1980, and was recruited by Giant Baba into All Japan Pro Wrestling. He gained his first taste of stardom in 1984 when he was chosen to be the second Tiger Mask. After unmasking in 1990, he became an even bigger star after a series of singles matches with Jumbo Tsuruta.
He was Japan's biggest pro wrestling star of the 90s, and one could make a strong case for him as the top wrestler of the decade. He was the Wrestler of the Year in 1995, 1997 and 1999.
After the death of Shohei "Giant" Baba, Misawa wrestled a little
over one more year for All Japan Pro Wrestling, while working as company
president. After consistently butting heads with owner Motoko Baba, the
widow of Shohei Baba, he and 90% of the All Japan roster quit the company
to form Pro Wrestling NOAH.
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Misawa-San
Current mood:disbelief
Words cannot express how deeply shocked I am. We're all just in utter disbelief. Stunned sadness.
The moments at ringside felt an eternity. Never, in my life, have I wanted the fighting spirit to jump into someone's being more than I wanted tonight. The fans chanted Misawa, Misawa, Misawa. They wanted their Hero to get up so fucking bad. Just get up. Come on! You're too tough for this. Too strong. I grabbed his boots and held onto them UNtil they took him away.
My heart goes out to his family. His students. His peers. His friends. His fans. His opponents tonight and his partner. It was a freak accident. No one is at fault.
Rest in Peace Shacho.
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Legend Misawa dies in the ring
By DEAN AYASS
Published: Today
WRESTLING legend Mitsuharu Misawa has died in the ring aged 46.
Misawa, arguably Japan's greatest modern-day grappler, was tagging with highly-regarded youngster Go Shiozaki in the main event of a show in Hiroshima. They were taking on Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith for their GHC World Tag Team titles when he failed to get up from a moderately dangerous looking back suplex move, a staple of NOAH matches.
Misawa would have taken the move thousands of times before but this time he stayed motionless.
A hushed crowd watched efforts to resuscitate him, before he was taken out of the ring, still unconscious, on a stretcher.
Misawa was declared dead in hospital at 10:10pm local time on Saturday.
His career began when, as a national high school wrestling champion, he turned pro in 1981.
His first taste of fame came three years later as the second incarnation of Tiger Mask.
He dropped the gimmick in 1990 to wrestle under his own name and almost immediately became a main eventer in All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Misawa captured the Triple Crown (All Japan's version of the World Heavyweight Championship) five times and had multiple tag title reigns with different partners.
All this led to him being regarded by many as the best wrestlers of the 1990s.
In 2000, he left All Japan, taking the vast majority of the roster with him, to form Pro Wrestling NOAH.
The green canvas used in NOAH is taken from Misawa's familiar green wrestling tights.
NOAH was soon rated the No1 promotion in Japan, although it recently lost its TV coverage.
With Misawa's death, speculation over its future direction will rise.
Misawa made two trips to the UK, most recently for NOAH's first ever full show outside of Japan, European Navigation in June 2008 at the Coventry Skydome.
He teamed up there with Naomichi Marufuji to take on familiar foe Kenta Kobashi and Go Shiozaki.
Misawa's sudden death, perhaps the most shocking since Owen Hart's accident in 1999, leaves a massive void in Japanese wrestling as a whole and for Pro Wrestling NOAH as a company.
And it also highlights the fact that, while wrestling is pre-determined, wrestlers put their lives and wellbeing at risk every time they step into the ring.
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Japanese legend Mitsuharu Misawa dies in the ring
NOAH owner and wrestler, shockingly fails to get up following back suplex
By CHRIS SCHRAMM - SLAM! Wrestling
Mitsuharu Misawa, who many considered the best wrestler in the world during the 1990s, shockingly died earlier today after taking a back suplex from Akitoshi Saito during a Pro Wrestling NOAH match. He was 46.
Misawa, who was teaming with Go Shiozaki against Saito and Bison Smith, took what seemed to be a routine back suplex from Saito when Misawa failed to move again after taking the bump.
The match was immediately stopped around 8:45 p.m., as doctors and nurses gave CPR to Misawa, in a scene reminiscent of when Owen Hart died in the ring during a WWE pay-per-view in May of 1999. The Japanese media is reporting that Misawa was purple while he was receiving CPR.
All the wrestlers on the show surrounded the ring as the crowded softly chanted "Misawa, Misawa."
Some media outlets in Japan are reporting that he suffered a heart attack,
but this has not been confirmed and may not be known until an autopsy
is performed. The official time of death was 10:10 p.m. local time as
he was en route to a local hospital although he most likely died in the
ring.
The match was part of a NOAH show at the Hiroshima Green Arena in Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan. The show was not continued after the accident.
Chris Hero, who is on tour with Pro Wrestling NOAH, commented hours after the accident on his Myspace blog. "The moments at ringside felt an eternity. Never, in my life, have I wanted the fighting spirit to jump into someone's being more than I wanted tonight."
Hero commented that it was clearly an accident and "no one is at fault."
Born June 18, 1962, Misawa died a few days short of his 47th birthday. He was first discovered by All Japan Pro Wrestling owner Shohei "Giant" Baba while Misawa was a national amateur wrestling champion while in high school. Misawa was trained by The Destroyer (Dick Beyer), Shohei Baba, and Dory Funk Jr. and made his debut for All Japan on August 21, 1981 against Shiro Koshinaka.
Misawa was a skinny, high flying wrestler, whose debut coincided with New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Tiger Mask. Owner Baba was hopeful from early on that Misawa would help carry the company in the future. Misawa was re-introduced as Tiger Mask II in 1984, after All Japan bought the rights to the gimmick from New Japan.
He slowly started to build experience in the ring, having won his first title on August 31, 1985 when he defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi for the NWA International Junior Heavyweight title. The two would feud over the title for the next year until Misawa, as Tiger Mask II, forfeited the title after entering the heavyweight division.
He would work occasionally in the United States, most famously with the NWA and AWA. In April 1986, Tiger Mask II and Giant Baba would form a tag team for the First Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup, taking the pin in a match with Magnum T.A. and Ron Garvin. Also, he worked the same month for AWA's Wrestlerock, defeating Buck Zumhoff.
He found his first success as a heavyweight when he and Jumbo Tsuruta won the PWF World Tag Team titles on July 3, 1987 from Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase. They would drop the belts back to Hansen and DiBiase on July 11.
Kenta Kobashi, who would go on to be one of Misawa’s top rivals during his career, would team team with Tiger Mark II to win the All Asia Tag Team titles on April 9, 1990 defeating Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat.
In 1990s, New Japan and All Japan would open relations for the first time, as Tiger Mask II was part of a New Japan Pro Wrestling show in February 1990, the first time All Japan wrestlers appeared on a New Japan show. This led up to a joint Tokyo Dome show on April 13 which featured the WWE. The main events saw Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen plus Andre the Giant and Giant Baba teaming for the first time against Demolition. Lower on the card was a match that many had their eye on when Tiger Mask II faced Bret Hart. The two wrestled to a 20-minute match that most considered a disappointment. The show drew weakly, and the idea was never replicated.
A month later, on May 17, during a tag match with Toshiaki Kawada, Tiger Mask II unmasked to reveal what everyone already knew, that Mitsuharu Misawa was under the mask. Misawa and Kobashi would vacant the All Asia Tag Team titles when Misawa wanted to concentrate on single matches.
Unlike the first Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama, who struggled sans mask, Misawa became an instant main event star. He would make his first mark as a heavyweight single when he defeated the man who was All Japan’s top star for the 1980s, Jumbo Tsuruta, on June 8. Many looked at the match as a changing of the guards, with Baba officially placing Misawa in as All Japan’s top star.
He would then challenge Stan Hansen for the newly formed All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship shortly after but fell short of winning the belts. He would get another shot at the titles in April 1991 against Tsuruta, but would fail again. Meanwhile, he and Toshiaki Kawada would capture the All Japan World Tag Team titles from Terry Gordy and Steve Williams in July 1991.
Although his singles win over Tsuruta in the summer of 1990 was considered a major mark, Misawa one-upped it when during a tag team with Kawada against Akira Taeue and Tsuruta, he forced Tsuruta to cleanly submit. The rest was history.
He would finally meet his goal of winning the Triple Crown Heavyweight title on August 22, 1992, defeating Stan Hansen. He would hold the title for almost two years, dropping it to Steve Williams on July 28, 1994. He would win the titles a total of five times during his career, later defeating Kenta Kobashi twice, Vader and Hansen again.
He would win the All Japan World's Strongest Team Team League on three occasions teaming with Kawada in 1992, Kobashi in 1993 and 1994.
His single and tag matches with Kenta Kobashi and Toshiaki Kawada during
the mid-1990s were brutal and classic. The stiffer style would change
the way wrestling was done in Japan, as well as shared with promotions
like Ring of Honor. The original ECW would often use wrestlers who knew
and used the stiffer Japanese style during their start-up including Steve
Williams, Terry Gordy and Johnny Smith.
All Japan Pro Wrestling was experiencing the most success a single promotion
had seen in the history of Japan wrestling. Before the Internet, the matches
involving, Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi were a hot commodity in the underground
tape trading world.
The brutality of the matches would really show their results years later when all three men suffered from pain and injury resulting from those matches.
Success would take an interesting twist following the death of All Japan owner Giant Baba on January 31, 1999. Baba's widow, Motoko Baba, would take ownership of the company and name Misawa new president on May 7. Conflict would soon follow with Misawa being removed from his position on May 28, 2000.
The developments that followed would change the scope of Japanese professional wrestling till this day. On June 17, Misawa and 24 current All Japan wrestlers appear at a news conference to announce their departure and formation of a new promotion. Kenta Kobashi, who was the current Triple Crown champion would be among those who followed. Toshiaki Kawada was the only major name to stay with All Japan.
In a 2000 piece for SLAM! Wrestling, reporter John F. Molinaro compared Misawa and Kobashi leaving All Japan to Ric Flair leaving WCW in 1991. "Misawa is All Japan," Molinaro wrote.
Pro Wrestling NOAH would hold their first show on August 5 at the Differ Ariake in Japan. Misawa would become Noah's first Global Honored Champion (GHC) on April 15, 2001, when he defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a tournament final. He would win the title two more times, last winning it on December 10, 2006 over Naomichi Marufuji. He would drop it on March 2, 2008 to Takeshi Morishima.
He would defend the title in the United States on Pro Wrestling Iron and Ring of Honor shows in August 2007. It was a joy for those in attendance but it was obvious this was not the Misawa of old. He was slower, weaker and starting to grow a gut. But the fans still wanted to see him, the equivalent to Ric Flair never wanting to retire.
Misawa's career saw numerous five star matches, as well as winning Japan Wrestling MVP on numerous occasions as well as Wrestling Observer's Wrestler of the Year award in 1995, 1997 and 1999.
NOAH recently lost their weekly television deal and the company was looking for a new outlet. The death brings the future of the company in limbo.
SLAM! Wrestling will have more on this story, as well as an interview with trainer and friend Dory Funk Jr. in the coming days.
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Reports: Misawa dies after move
ESPN.com news services
Updated: June 14, 2009, 10:12 PM ET
Japanese professional wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa died Saturday from an apparent heart attack after receiving a back suplex move in a match in Hiroshima, according to multiple media reports.
Misawa, 46, was taking part in a tag team match when his opponent grabbed him and took him to the mat in the common suplex move. Reports say, however, that Misawa was rendered unconscious. The match was stopped and Misawa was administered to before being taken from the arena. He was declared dead at the hospital.
Misawa was a former high school and national wrestler who gained fame in the 1980s in professional wrestling as a character called the Tiger Mask. He unmasked in 1990 and became even more popular. Misawa was named professional wrestler of the year three times.
At the time of his death, he was the founder and owner of Pro Wrestling
NOAH. Many publications characterize Misawa's popularity in Japan as comparable
to Hulk Hogan or The Rock in the United States.
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Pro wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa dies in ring after blow
to head
Wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa died on Saturday night after suffering
spinal damage during a match in Hiroshima. He was 46.
Misawa was fighting in a tag team match at Hiroshima Green Arena in front of around 2,300 spectators. During the match, opponent Akitoshi Saito used a back suplex on him, causing him to strike his head and leaving him unable to move. His heart stopped shortly after.
A doctor in the audience reportedly used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to try and start his heart again, but to no avail. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead at 10:10 p.m. It later turned out that the cause of his death was damage to his cervical spinal cord.
A 20-year-old spectator said: "He hit his head after the back suplex and was knocked unconscious. The EMTs were performing CPR for a long time. But even during the match Misawa kept shaking his head, and he looked to be in a bad way."
Misawa was a member of Ashikodai High School's wrestling club before making his professional debut in 1981 with All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW). In 1984, he gained fame for the first time as Tiger Mask II, before taking off the mask six years later and fighting under his own name, standing alongside fellow legends Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta. He left AJPW in 2000 to form his own promotion unit, Pro Wrestling Noah.
The last death in a Japanese professional wrestling ring occurred in
2000, when New Japan Pro-Wrestling fighter Masakazu Fukuda died after
striking his head. He was aged 27.
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Over the last few years I've contemplated putting together my Top 10 Japanese Wrestling Moments. As I get older, and find I'm forgetting more, the recent passing of Japanese Legend Misawa brought back one of those memories.
Please bear with me.....
In the early 90's because of WCW's relationship with New Japan, I fell in Love with Japanese Wrestling. Long story short, attending the 1994 New Japan Dome Show, was the main purpose of my 1st Japan trip. Since I arrived 12/31 and the Dome show wasn't until the 4th, and there were several other promotions running, I decided to attend an All Japan show on 1/2 at Korakuen Hall. "MY GOD" I had never seen anything like this, NO Valets, NO count outs, NO run-in, NO Managers. EVERY match had a winner & a loser. "STIFF" is the only way to describe it. Ring work the likes of which an WRESTLING fan in America rarely got to see. Leading the charge... Misawa.
The good thing about All Japan back in those days were, when you walked into Korakuen Hall, their wrestlers were seated behind the gimmick tables, autographing items for free. The only stipulation was you had to purchase an item at that show. For those that don't know, or have never seen me, I stand out like a sore thumb in a crowd of Japanese Wrestling fans. I naturally got the attention of the Wrestlers. I told Baba, that I remembered seeing him at the very 1st Crockett Cup tournament in New Orleans, in 1986. I asked who the Masked Wrestler was who teamed with him, he told me Misawa. We later met, shook hands and took a photo together. Every year, All Japan runs the 2nd & 3rd of January. And every year I was there. I may have originally gone to Japan to see New Japan, but All Japan kept me coming back.
We fast forward to 2001.....I'm standing in the upper section of Differ Ariake Arena, watching the matches. promoted by NOAH. As I'm watching, I notice someone out of the corner of my eye. "IT'S MISAWA". he's taking notes on the young talents in the ring.
As I watch him, I think back over the MANY GREAT matches
I've seen him involved in personally and on video. Now keep in mind, I
attended my 1st wrestling match in 1964, this was probably my 25th trip
to Japan at this point, I've met so Wrestlers, even I'm amazed. But this
was Misawa, no steroid freak, not the promoter's son, not some pretty
boy who couldn't wrestle his way out of a wet paper bag...this was MISAWA!
He noticed me, walked a few steps, extended his hand and said "Georgie
Saan". I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO NERVOUS, My hand was shaking so badly,
he gripped my hand with both of his, and said "Good to see you"
All I could think about were the 5 star matches against Kobashi &
Kawada, the wars against Vader & Hansen. Here I was on the other side
of the world, shaking the hand of The Greatest Wrestler I've ever seen.
Once I regained my composure, we made small talk. I asked him why he took the mask off. He said Baba figured it was time to go to the next level. He asked if I liked the Tiger Mask gimmick, I said YES. He apologized, said he had to go, but if I would stay here, he'd have the one of the office boys bring me a couple of video cassettes, with his best Tiger Mask matches. Twenty minutes later, one of the office boys brought me the 2 videos. (Fantastic matches vs AWA and NWA Champions Curt Hennig & Ricky Steamboat)
I never got to talk to him again. I did get to see his match this year at the January 4th New Japan Dome Show. Who do you think got the loudest pop at this event?
If you live long enough, you'll experience changes in your world as you know it. I remember 5 & Dime Stores, Malt Shops in Drug Stores, Record Players w/ 78 & 45 sized Records, 8 Track Players, Marbles and many more. As last week began, I thought the only MAJOR change, that would be gone forever was T.V.'s with Rabbit Ears. Little did I know that the WRESTLER I considered the best of my time would leave, taking his vast wisdom and knowledge of the SPORT we call wrestling, with him.
Often at a wrestling show or convention, someone will approach me and ask if I have any DVD's by so and so. I'll say We have WRESTLING here, you'll have to find your Sports Entertainment elsewhere. I then offer to show them the 1991 Real World Tag League match between Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs Kawada & Misawa "AWESOME".
I've been blessed to not only view his matches on video, but to know and watch him perform in person. My friend "I Thank You". Guess I found Japanese Wrestling and did my tours at the ring time. I had hoped to catch a NOAH Show and see him during the 2010 tour, guess I'll see him on the other side.
If you need to contact me you can at ggmayfield07@aol.com.
