Al snow from a shoot interview in 98. The bolded part I think was a mistake by the people who wrote it down.Will UFC be as popular as it is now next year? No. It’s not a typical sport, so there’s no way that people would have a connection to it because they’d played it before, as people do with basketball, baseball, football, or other spectator sports. In addition to that, if shoot fighting was more impressive than booked fighting, wrestling would still be a shoot. He also says that people signing away all the big UFC stars they can aren’t helping things.
I am extremely saddened to report that one of the greatest in-ring workers of the modern age and the founder of Pro Wrestling NOAH, Mitsuhau Misawa died earlier this morning (tonight in Japan) following an in-ring accident stemming from a suplex.
Jim Ross on Misawa"On behalf of WWE, we were deeply saddened to hear of the tragic loss of Mitsuharu Misawa. We extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends and fans. Misawa will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in Japan," said John Laurinaitis, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations.
More information on his death.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.
Supposedly Misawa had a wife and two children.HIROSHIMA -- Wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa died on Saturday night after suffering spinal damage during a match in Hiroshima. He was 46.
Misawa was fighting in a tag team match at Hiroshima Green Arena in front of around 2,300 spectators. During the match, opponent Akitoshi Saito used a back suplex on him, causing him to strike his head and leaving him unable to move. His heart stopped shortly after.
A doctor in the audience reportedly used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to try and start his heart again, but to no avail. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead at 10:10 p.m. It later turned out that the cause of his death was damage to his cervical spinal cord.
A 20-year-old spectator said: "He hit his head after the back suplex and was knocked unconscious. The EMTs were performing CPR for a long time. But even during the match Misawa kept shaking his head, and he looked to be in a bad way."
Misawa was a member of Ashikodai High School's wrestling club before making his professional debut in 1981 with All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW). In 1984, he gained fame for the first time as Tiger Mask II, before taking off the mask six years later and fighting under his own name, standing alongside fellow legends Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta. He left AJPW in 2000 to form his own promotion unit, Pro Wrestling Noah.
The last death in a Japanese professional wrestling ring occurred in 2000, when New Japan Pro-Wrestling fighter Masakazu Fukuda died after striking his head. He was aged 27.