Misawa

Mitsuharu Misawa

Last Saturday, just as Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” was released in the land of the rising sun, tragedy struck as Japanese wrestling legend Misawa died in the ring. And though the story of a past-his-prime wrestler (Misawa was 46) pushing himself to the point of breaking may draw comparison to Aronofsky’s film, that’s about all Mitsuharu Misawa had in common with “Randy the Ram.”

A former high school wrestler, Misawa rose to fame in Japan’s puroresu world in the 1980s as the second Tiger Mask. After removing the mask mid-match in 1990, Misawa would rise in popularity, becoming one of, if not the most popular wrestler in Japan for the next decade.

In 2000 Misawa formed Pro Wrestling NOAH, an organization revered around the wrestling world for the quality of it’s in-ring action and talent. Misawa was fighting in a tag-team match in the main event at a NOAH show in Hiroshima when he took a back suplex that rendered him unconscious and which caused the immediate spinal cord damage that killed him.

To call Mitsuharu Misawa a great wrestler is to understate the case. Renowned pro-wrestling critic and reporter Dave Meltzer has been reviewing matches from around the world since the early 1980s. In that time he has awarded 65 matches a 5-star rating. 24 of those matches featured Misawa. A multi-time world champion who developed an international reputation among fans despite rarely wrestling outside of Japan, Misawa built his reputation not with hype, catchphrases or elaborate gimmicks, but with the quality of his work, his connection with the fans and above all, his love and passion for wrestling.

That wrestling somehow isn’t “real” or that it is in some way fraudulent or “fake” is both the most common and the least pertinent criticism of the art. Those who wish to dismiss it out of hand will point to the pre-determined outcomes as reason enough. But wrestling is not sport. It is theatre, a spectacle of athletics that uses sport as it’s canvas upon which to paint stories of pain and hope and victory and loss.

Mitsuharu Misawa was an artist who died in the creation of his art and who will continue to inspire others as the legacy of his work and his contributions to the form continue to influence and inspire the next generation.

Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi - 5 Star Classic