Mitsuharu Misawa: Another Legend Lost Too Soon

*Post-Script: For anyone who reads this & is downloading from the link I provided, please go easy on the volume of downloading.  The site isn't going anywhere, and in the wake of Misawa's passing, the host is having trouble handling the amount of downloading that is happening.  Mega Upload links are fine to download, but please ease up on anything else.  Thank you.*

Six years ago, after I left University, I began downloading Japanese wrestling matches, otherwise known as Puroresu (the Japanese term for Pro Wrestling).

My initial goal was to find as many matches of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s The Great Muta as possible, because of the indelible mark he had left on a nine-year-old with his classic series with Sting in the newly formed WCW in 1989. 

However, during this time I stumbled onto a match from All Japan Pro Wrestling.  The match was from January of 1993, and it was a tag team match: “Dr. Death” Steve Williams & Terry “Bam Bam Gordy” (AKA The Miracle Violence Connection) vs Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa. 

I knew the match itself was great, and yet I didn’t particularly enjoy the Americans in the match.  So I found another match, this time from June of 1993: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa. 

At the end of this 30 minute classic, I sat at my computer, jaw agape, shaking my head at not just the physicality of the battle, but of the storytelling, the layers, the psychology involved in the match. 

And while all four men were responsible to a degree for all of that, one, more than any other was the primary creator.  That man was Mitsuharu Misawa.

Misawa, whose career began in 1981, was fortunate enough to play the second Tiger Mask from 1984-1990.  During this time, he was taken under the wing of Jumbo Tsuruta, one of the all-time greats of Puroresu, and not-so-arguably the best worker of the 1980’s in Japan. 

In May 1990, Misawa, with the help of teammate Toshiaki Kawada, unmasked about five minutes into a tag match, shocking the crowd who had known it was him since 1988, when his wedding got play in the newspapers, and his alter-ego was identified. 

Shortly thereafter on June 6, Misawa fought Jumbo Tsuruta in a match that ended up signifying the passing of the torch in All Japan. 

A still-in-his-prime Jumbo was bested by Misawa, who legitimately looked as good as Jumbo did, in the second of myriad 5-star classics that Misawa would take part in. 

During the 1990’s, the style of All Japan was called King’s Road.  The aforementioned Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, and Taue were deemed “The Four Corners of Heaven,” and from June 1990 to July 2000, arguably the greatest 10 years of in-ring competition that ever took place occurred in All Japan.

Of the Four Corners, Misawa is the one who truly led the way.  He held the Triple Crown Championship (AJPW’s World Heavyweight Title, except it is three World titles in one) on five separate occasions, the first three of which for over a year each.

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