RIP Misawa 1962-2009

One of my favorite wrestlers and one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Mitsuharu Misawa have a cultivated a legacy not only in his homeland Japan, but internationally. Even though he’s not as well known in the US as in Japan, his style remain an influence to American wrestlers. With his elbow strikes, sheer power, amazing agility, in-ring psychology, and intensity, Misawa was a giant in wrestling. He holds the record of most 5 star matches by Dave Meltzer with 24, along with a 6 star match against Toshiaki Kawada in 1994. He is also the innovator of the Tiger Driver, Emerald Flowsion (including the Kai version), and Tiger Suplex 85. He also popularized the Rolling/Discus/Roaring Elbow and Tiger Driver 91. Misawa is a legend in wrestling.

Beginnings

Mitsuharu Misawa was born on June 18, 1962 in Yūbari, Hokkaido. Misawa was a huge wrestling fan during his youth, that he wanted to start his wrestling career early. However, his future rival Jumbo Tsuruta encouraged him to finish high school before he got into wrestling. He was also an accomplished amateur wrestler who won fifth in the freestyle World Championships in 1980.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

A year later, Misawa was trained to be a wrestler by his mentor and founder of AJPW Giant Baba and also Dory Funk Jr. and the Destroyer. He debut in All Japan Pro Wrestling on August 21 against Shiro Koshinaka, who would later be the inaugural IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion at New Japan. Then, he was later sent to EMLL in Mexico (now CMLL) to develop his aerial skills. Then in 1984, a change came. As All Japan bought the rights to the Tiger Mask gimmick from New Japan, he became the second incarnation of Tiger Mask. His style at the time was more agility and high flying based. It wouldn’t be long until he won his first championship, the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship, in 1985. Misawa as Tiger Mask dominated the junior heavyweight division, having bouts with Kuniaki Kobayashi whom he had a 5 star match with on March 9th, 1985, his first out of 24 (and his only one as Tiger Mask). A year later, he graduated to the heavyweight division, and updated his style to more holds and grappling. Even though he wasn’t a top star yet, he was still a popular force. In 1987, he won his first title as a heavyweight, the PWF World Tag Team Championship with Tsuruta, whom he would have a major feud with later. Later on, he would challenge for the NWA and AWA world championships, which gained him experience wrestling on American soil. This also includes a well known match with then NWA World Champion Ricky Steamboat which was the last time the championship was defended on AJPW. In 1990, he wrestled Bret Hart at the WWF/AJPW/NJPW Supershow, his first and only experience with the WWF.

Later on in 1990, another change happened. Giant Baba wanted to push Misawa to be a top star in his company, so it was time to remove the mask. On May 14th, during a tag match with Samson Fuyuki and Yoshiaki Yatsu, Misawa ask his partner (and later rival) Toshiaki Kawada to unmask him, thus ending his time as Tiger Mask. This began the rise of Misawa and there was a huge pop from the audience. Now, his style changed to the King’s Road style that was popular in AJPW with elements of his previous styles that we all know and love. Then, he challenged one of his biggest rivals Jumbo Tsuruta for the Triple Crown Championship on multiple occasions in a feud that spanned around 2 years. This not only brought a change in Misawa’s career, but it brought a change to AJPW, as the company moved away from focusing on aging stars like Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu, and more focus on upcoming wrestlers like Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, and Akira Taue aka the Four Pillars of Heaven. While he was unsuccessful in getting the belt from Jumbo, he did have some victories against him. During his feud with Jumbo, he remained a popular star, becoming the ace of the company.

In 1992, he finally won the Triple Crown from Stan Hansen, his first out of five reigns. He held the belt for about 2 years (the longest in the company) until he dropped to “Dr. Death” Steve Williams. He also was an accomplished tag team wrestler, having held the World Tag Team Champion 6 times with the likes of Kawada, Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, and Yoshinari Ogawa. He also held the All Asia Tag Team Championship with Kobashi and Ogawa. During his heyday, he had a number of critically acclaimed matches and feuds, in both tag team and single matches, with the likes of Kawada, Kobashi, Akiyama, Williams, Vader, Yoshihiro Takayama, and Akira Taue. He and his partners/rivals turned AJPW one of the biggest companies in the 90s. Then in 1999, His mentor and AJPW founder Giant Baba passed away and since Misawa was close to Baba, he was given the role of President of AJPW. However a year later, Misawa was removed from role as president by a board of executives that resulted in Misawa leaving the company he built up.

Pro Wrestling Noah

After Misawa left AJPW in 2000, he formed Pro Wrestling Noah, in which the name referenced the biblical story of Noah. Not only that, the whole roster with the exception of Hansen, Kawada, Taiyo Kea, and Masanobu Fuchi, left AJPW and joined Misawa. In August of the same year, Noah had its first show called Departure (referencing Misawa and the roster departure from AJPW). While it initially struggled without titles and top star Kobashi being out for crippling knee injuries, Noah eventually became one of the biggest puroresu promotion in the 2000s. It put on quality matches and produced stars like KENTA (aka Hideo Itami), Naomichi Marufuji, Go Shiozaki, Takeshi Morishima, Takashi Sugiura, and Taiji Ishimori. It also had a strong junior heavyweight division, something that AJPW lacked. Not only that, it let wrestlers from other companies compete and shine there, whether for titles or not. Misawa was the inaugural GHC Heavyweight Champion, a title he won 3 times. He also held the GHC Tag Team Championship twice with Ogawa. During his time, Misawa still put on great matches with Akiyama, Kobashi (their 2003 bout was his last 5 star match), new guns like KENTA, Marufuji, Morishima, and opponents from other companies like Samoa Joe from ROH and Keiji Mutoh (aka Great Muta) from AJPW. He later focused more in tag team matches. Despite great performances and success, Misawa’s body was taking a toll on him as years of taking punishment and high risk moves affected him badly and didn’t take time to heal.

Final Years and legacy

In 2009, he began teaming with Shiozaki, and they began pursuing the GHC Tag Team Championship. On June 13th, they challenged the then champions, Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith. However, something went wrong in the match. After taking a Backdrop suplex from Saito, Misawa was unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead from a cardiac arrest from a spinal injury. Many believed his death was caused by the wear and tear on his body from years of wrestling a high impact style and taking a lot of punishment in the ring. His death was a tragic shock in the wrestling, especially in his native country, as Misawa was seen as an inspiration to many wrestlers as many took from him. Misawa’s legacy still impacts the wrestling world to this day.

RIP Misawa-san 1962-2009

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