Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Mitsuharu Misawa
Mitsuharu Misawa was a standout amateur wrestler in high school, whose real dream was to one day become a professional wrestler. Misawa detested amateur wrestling, but was encouraged to stick with it and finish his studies by his mother and after a chance meeting with pro wrestler Jumbo Tsuruta. After graduating high school, Misawa joined All Japan’s wrestling camp in 1981. He was trained by the likes of Dick Beyer, Dory Funk Jr, Shohei Baba and Kazuharu Sonoda. Misawa was trained in the ‘King’s Road’ style of professional wrestling, which was a form of wrestling that told a story through physicality.
Misawa debuted in the late summer of 1981 and wrestled mainly on the lower end of the card of All Japan shows. He was then sent to Mexico and wrestled for EMLL to gain more experience. When he returned to Japan in 1984, he was given the ‘Tiger Mask’ gimmick after Giant Baba bought the rights from the character’s creator Ikki Kajiwara. As Tiger Mask II, Misawa was more of an aerialist and high flyer. After a knee injury, Baba decided to graduate Misawa to the heavyweight ranks fearing that the daredevil maneuvers would shorten his career.
Mitsuharu Misawa would join other All Japan graduates….Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, and Akira Taue in the heavyweight division. All four men were famously known as ‘The Four Pillars of Heaven” as they were vital to All Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest success and helped usher a renaissance in Japanese wrestling in the 1990’s. While all four men were extremely gifted performers…it was Misawa who was considered the best of them. His natural charisma, technical savvy and ability to adapt to any style of wrestling made Misawa a fan favorite.
Misawa was also an innovator who created such wrestling moves as the Emerald Flowsion and Tiger Driver. Misawa went on to become a five time All Japan Triple Crown Champion. By 1998, ‘The Emerald Warrior’ Misawa was named booker of All Japan. He had control of the undercard, while the owner Baba maintained booking power of the main events. During this time, Misawa was being groomed to one day succeed Baba as president of All Japan.
After Giant Baba passed away at the end of January in 1999…..a power struggle developed between Misawa and Baba’s widow Motoko Baba. Misawa wanted to change things up and adapt to how society was changing around them, while Motoko refused and wanted to keep All Japan the same as it always had been under her husband’s leadership. The friction became so much, that Misawa quit the company to form his own promotion. With Misawa’s defection came a mass exodus of most of All Japan’s top talent including Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marufuji, Kentaro Shiga, Takeshi Rikio, Mitsuo Momota, Rusher Kimura, Haruka Eigen, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Kenta Kobayashi, Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama, Jun Izumida, Masao Inoue, Yoshinari Ogawa, Akira Taue and Jun Akiyama.
Mitsuharu Misawa would announce the formation of Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2000. The promotion rose quickly in popularity and had some of its most successfully financial years in the early 2000’s with Misawa himself as the top star. By the mid 2000’s NOAH’s fortunes began to change and business was on the decline. Some stars came and went with others retiring and others broken down due to years of intense physicality in the ring. One of those broken down stars included Misawa.
His wife Mayumi talked about how her husband relied on heavier doses of painkiller medication to get through matches and at home, could no longer get into and out of a bathtub by himself. Misawa continued a grueling schedule due to the fact that his other top star Kenta Kobashi was battling cancer. Without Kobashi, Pro Wrestling NOAH was beginning to falter. Determined to keep NOAH afloat, Misawa knew he needed to create new stars to replace himself and Kobashi. One of those new stars was Go Shiozaki, who Misawa planned to make the new “Ace” or top star of NOAH.
Misawa knew his time as a wrestler was coming to an end. He had made it known to his inner circle that his body couldn’t continue the rigors of the ring. He had dreamed of opening up a restaurant and spend more time with his wife and two children. He just needed to ensure that Shiozaki would solidify his place as the ace. On June 13th, 2009…Misawa teamed with Shiozaki to take on Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith in Hiroshima. Around 10 minutes into the match, Saito back suplexed Misawa and he he laid motionless in the ring. The referee noticing something was seriously wrong, got on the house microphone and called for a doctor.
The doctor in attendance and emergency personnel began CPR on an unresponsive Misawa. He was then sent to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Because Misawa was an extremely private person, his family tried to keep his cause of death secret. It was eventually revealed that Misawa suffered a serious spinal injury that caused cardiac arrest. Misawa shattered his C-1 and C-2 vertebrae, essentially meaning his head and spine were no longer connected, which led to him suffering cardiopulmonary arrest. Mitsuharu Misawa’s death became a major story all over Japan and his funeral was believed to be the second most attended funeral for a sports star in Japanese history…only behind his mentor Baba’s. Mitsuharu Misawa was 46 years old at the time of his death…only 5 days before he was to turn 47.
To read more Grappling with Tragedy stories, click here.
david fullam
One of the best who ever lived. He totally gave it all to the business. It’s hard to go back and watch many of his most famous matches, knowing that he was sacrificing himself with that stiff work and hard bumps. We lost a God when he died.