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Mitsuharu Misawa Passes Away


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Unbelievable. RIP to one of the greatest ever

 

Rough translation

 

 

Misawa optical clear of professional wrestling, the head to hit hard with the ring, the death

  13th 8:45 PM around, in the Hiroshima city Ku Hiroshima prefectural comprehensive gymnasium green arena, professional wrestling group while the playing of “[puroresuringu] Noah”, professional wrestling Ra Misawa optical clear (46) was thrown by the partner player with the president, hit hard the head.

 

 Misawa was carried to the hospital of the city by the ambulance, but 10:10 PM, you died.

 

  According to the conference authorized personnel, Misawa was opened this day, you say that “southern Nabi 09” you participated in the GHC tag championship of the main event of the Hiroshima conference, could put the backdrop on the partner player, hit hard the head with the ring, lost consciousness.

 

 You gained popularity as for Misawa as a 2nd generation tiger mask, you participated with all the Japanese professional wrestling and [puroresuringu] Noah as a central player.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20090...53.htm?from=top

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MISAWA PASSES AWAY FROM BACK SUPLEX PDF Print E-mail

 

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 after being dropped on his head in a tag team title match.

 

Misawa would have turned 47 on June 18th.

 

Misawa & Go Shiozaki were challening Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito for the GHC tag team championship in Hiroshima and Misawa was dropped on his head 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.

 

The wrestlers were told on the bus that he had passed away.

 

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.

 

http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/9617/

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So which one of you lads are going to lecture us on our collective complicity in his death?

Actually, I don't think any of us are really complicit in this one. I do have some other thoughts on the matter that might not sit well with people, but with less than 24 hours removed from his passing, I'd rather not start in with the lectures just yet. This sucks enough as is. Now isn't the time for me to make people feel worse about it.

 

For now, all I'll say is that Mitsuharu Misawa was one hell of a professional wrestler. He leaves behind an amazing legacy and gave us tons of great memories, and for that, I'm grateful. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go be sad for a little while.

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Actually, one last thing I want to say about all of this....I can't even begin to imagine the hell that Akitoshi Saito must be going through right now. Even if it was just a freak occurrence, you know this will haunt him for the rest of his life. By all means, mourn Misawa, but keep Saito in your prayers while you're at it.

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Actually, one last thing I want to say about all of this....I can't even begin to imagine the hell that Akitoshi Saito must be going through right now. Even if it was just a freak occurrence, you know this will haunt him for the rest of his life. By all means, mourn Misawa, but keep Saito in your prayers while you're at it.

Well said. That's a burden I wouldn't wish on anyone.

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Like everyone else I am completely shocked and saddened about the death of Misawa. Just unbelievable. Actually just read that Chris Hero was there at the show while on tour with NOAH and actually wrote about it on his blog. I only just recently discovered Puro in the last few years but I can appreciate how great Misawa was. Somehow Baba and All Japan knew he was the perfect transition guy from the 80s and Jumbo to the rebirth of All Japan in the 90s. Jumbo will always be my fav Puro wrestler of all time but Misawa is right behind him. Its been awhile since I have watched the Misawa-Jumbo matches, I think I will do that when I get home from work and once again appreciate just how great the two of them were.

 

 

 

RIP Misawa

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Probably the best wrestler in the world for the decade of the 90's. An offhand reference to him in the PWI almanac, coupled with Williams pimpage of him in the Torch turned me into a massive AJPW fan. One of two guys in history that can lay a reasonable claim to having been a part of the best singles and tag match in history.

 

Having said that, I don't find this to be terribly shocking. Misawa wrestled the same sort of hard hitting style that Eddie, Benoit, Pillman and Hash worked. Arguably even more so. He has been in noticeably bad shape the last few years and didn't look well in the Jan. Dome match that has been positively reviewed by many modern Puro fans. Carrying the weight of company with no logical successor on his back had to have been a massive stress to him as well.

 

Of course all of that is speculation and this may have just been a pure freak accident, but the death of Misawa ought to be a lesson about the consequences of working such an unforgiving style.

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I haven't posted here in ages...I lurk, but I don't usually post unless I have a question or something to say.

 

There is so much we still don't know about what happened, which I am sure will come out in due time. In the days and weeks to come, I am sure much will be said and written about the cause of Misawa's death. Like some of you, I have read elsewhere that this may have actually been a heart attack, and that his death may not have been as a direct result of the back suplex.

 

Regardless of the cause of death, the bottom line is that for my money (and lord knows I spent thousands of dollars collecting his work, and it was worth every cent) Misawa was the best wrestler of all time. I know that is a heavy tag to lay on somebody, but in his case, I feel a compelling argument can be made. So many classic matches, so many which were considered in contention as "the greatest match of all time." Singles matches, tag matches, six man matches...feuds and rivalries.

 

It is sad when anybody dies, but when somebody who had done so much to entertain others dies, doing what he was best at, it seems especially tragic. Years ago I joked with a friend that Misawa seemed so serious about his work that he'd probably die in the ring. Those words came back to me today and I felt sick. Words and rhetoric about the situation now don't seem to do my feelings or the situation justice.

 

All I can do is echo the feelings of many and say this is one of the saddest days to be a fan of pro wrestling. We may never see his type again...something has really been lost today. That is what keeps coming to my mind...someone has been lost today, a kind of performer who we were lucky to see, and that we will probably never see somebody like him again. That's where my sadness comes from...selfishness, the sense of loss.

 

R.I.P.

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Everyone else has posted about the emotions and the shock and awe of the situation (I'm not even being sarcastic, I think those words fit here). For myself, I find myself wondering about the future. Obviously, NOAH has a pretty difficult road ahead, a thing like this could conceivably destroy the whole company. Japanese wrestling in general and "strong style" could easily be permanently effected as well.

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Zero One was always a small company, it's going to be difficult for a company like NOAH that was once the #1 fed in Japan to not only adjust to life as a smaller group but also life without their founder/top star. They weren't in the best of shape before this happened, and this is obviously not going to help.

 

Everyone's talking about his in ring legacy, and rightly so, but who's going to run the company now? I would hope they'd have had a guy groomed to take over one day considering Misawa's health probably would have had him stepping down sooner than an average 47 year old, but I know Japan tends to run their businesses differently. I can see the political infighting for control more of a devastating blow than the in ring loss.

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I believe we have seen the passing of the gold standard of pro wrestling. Whether as Tiger Mask II, the wars with Jumbo, the off the charts stuff in the 90s with Kobashi and Kawada in the 90s and then reinventing strong style with NOAH. I cannot imagine Puro without him.

 

As for the effect of his death on the business aspect. It may be in everyone's interest if they heal the rift with All-Japan and make a stronger company together. I don't see that as a certainty but it would make for an interesting set of new match ups and be to the benefit of both

 

RIP Misawa San....

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From Jim Ross's blog:

 

Mitsuharu Misawa was never an acquaintance of mine but I felt like I knew him from watching many of his DVD's which were usually with men that I did know. Misawa was arguably the best in ring performer in the world in his prime. First of all, Misawa knew how to wrestle and how to wrestle physically. The fundamentals had been drilled into this legend as a young man who went on to become a Japanese National Amateur Champion. Several things stood out to me about Misawa. In addition to be a physical, fundamentally sound athlete, timing and toughness were two of his greatest attributes. Great timing is a gift that largely can't be taught. It's like ring psychology. Some of it can be taught but mostly it must be a learned trait and some people are in the business for years and never learn great timing or main event level ring psychology. Toughness is another trait that can be nurtured but generally can't be taught. Misawa was naturally tough and it showed. And his fans loved him for it. They also loved his passion and the emotional ride on which he would take them. That's what pro wrestling is, selling emotion.

 

Another significant piece of Japanese, wrestling history died this weekend. Mitsuharu Misawa apparently died in the very spot that he gained his incredible fame and resounding respect from wrestling fans around the Globe....inside a wrestling ring.

 

It's a damn shame that the vast majority of American wrestling fans won't give a second thought about the untimely death of "a Japanese wrestler." I encourage all fans to find DVD's of Misawa and watch him in his prime, in the 90's especially. If one is really serious about about being a highly skilled, pro wrestler, then study the late Mitsuharu Misawa.

 

May he rest in peace.

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Anyone else wonder if before yesterday, that JR only knew of Misawa as "that guy in the green tights in those tapes John's always making me watch"?

 

 

I mean, JR strikes me as a dude who's not aware of Japan as a country let alone their pro wrestling scene.

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