Mitsuharu Misawa (三沢 光晴, Misawa Mitsuharu; born Mitsuharu Kotake (小竹 光晴), June 18, 1962 – June 13, 2009) was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter. Regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, he is primarily known both his 18-year stint with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and his founding of Pro Wrestling Noah during the 2000 AJPW mass exodus. He was one-fourth of the Four Heavenly Kings (プロレスの四天王, Puroresu no shiten'nō; also called the Four Pillars of Heaven) of AJPW, along with Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, and Akira Taue; the quartet's matches and ring-psychology would become the basis of the ōdō (王道), or King's Road style of wrestling.
Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the second wrestler to assume the Tiger Mask persona, which he maintained until the end of the decade. After the departure of Genichiro Tenryu and his exodus, Misawa unmasked in May 1990 and began a rivalry with company ace Jumbo Tsuruta. At the behest of company president Giant Baba, Misawa would lead a team of young talents known as the Super Generation Army (超世代軍, Chō Sedai-gun), which saw many different variants throughout the 1990s, mainly involving Misawa and Kobashi. Following Misawa's victory over Tsuruta on June 8, 1990, AJPW sold out every Tokyo event they held into early 1996, and, as Tsuruta receded from the main event due to hepatitis C, Misawa was cemented as AJPW's new top star and ace. He won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship from Stan Hansen in August 1992 and held it for the longest reign in its history; he later held the title four more times between 1995 and 1999. During this period, he became known as the Standard Bearer of Future Generations (超世代軍の旗手, Chō Sedai-gun no Kishu; literally "the Standard Bearer of the Super Generation Army").
Misawa remained atop AJPW throughout the 1990s. Following the death of Giant Baba in 1999, Misawa inherited his position, but conflicts with Baba's widow and majority shareholder Motoko led to his removal in May 2000. Misawa then led a mass exodus of the promotion's talent to form Pro Wrestling Noah, which was successful in the first half of the decade; as business declined and top star Kobashi temporarily retired in 2006 due to kidney cancer, Misawa continued to work a full-time schedule despite mounting injuries for the company's survival. He sought to mentor Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura, and Go Shiozaki to be flagbearers for the promotion in spite of his age. On June 13, 2009, during a tag team match in Hiroshima with Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith, Misawa died after a backdrop suplex from Saito, and his death was attributed to the numerous injuries he had accrued for years before his death.
Misawa is regarded by some as the greatest professional wrestler of all time, though the physical demands and consequences of the style in which he worked and the circumstances of his death have made his legacy (or at least that of ōdō) somewhat problematic. Misawa was an eight-time world champion and eight-time world tag team champion, having won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship five times and the GHC Heavyweight Championship (which he was the inaugural holder of) three times. Fifty-three of the sixty-nine events at the Nippon Budokan that Misawa headlined were sellouts, a drawing record that has been compared to Bruno Sammartino's run at Madison Square Garden. Despite never working in the United States during the 1990s, Misawa had a significant influence upon independent wrestling through the popularity of his work among tape-traders in predominantly English-speaking countries.
Misawa was named Wrestler of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) on three occasions (1995, 1997 and 1999), and at the time of his death held the record for most WON five star matches, with 25, including one as Tiger Mask. Several of his matches have been dubbed some of the greatest of all time, including his match with Kawada on June 3, 1994, his match with Kenta Kobashi on March 1, 2003, and his and Kobashi's tag team match against Kawada and Taue (the Holy Demon Army) on June 9, 1995.
Misawa was born Mitsuharu Kotake (小竹 光晴, Kotake Mitsuharu) in Yūbari, Hokkaidō, but the family moved to Koshigaya, Saitama, as the coal mine where his father worked declined. Originally, his name was supposed to be Hideki, but was changed to Mitsuharu after his mother was denied honors.
Misawa had an older brother, who was favored by his father. According to Misawa, his father was violent towards his mother Akiko Misawa, and once stabbed her with a kitchen knife; they divorced during his first year of elementary school and, thus, Mitsuharu and his brother took Misawa as their surname. Misawa won a long jump competition held by Koshigaya in elementary school, and joined the gymnastics club in junior high.
Misawa was a fan of professional wrestling, especially All Japan Pro Wrestling, from an early age, and his first favorite wrestlers were Horst Hoffman and Jumbo Tsuruta. Hoffman's emerald green trunks would later be emulated by Misawa. Misawa had wanted to pursue a vocation as a professional wrestler since he was 12, and planned to do so after completing junior high, but his mother and teacher persuaded him to continue his studies so that he could attend a school with a good amateur wrestling program. Misawa attended the high school at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology in Tochigi on a scholarship, alongside Toshiaki Kawada, who was a year below him. They shared an interest in athletics and professional wrestling before they became professional wrestlers themselves. Misawa wanted to drop out in his second year to begin training, but during an encounter with Jumbo Tsuruta, he convinced Misawa to complete high school education, and to concentrate on amateur wrestling if he was serious about professional wrestling. Wrestling at 187 pounds (84.8 kilograms), Misawa won the national high school championship in 1980, and in the same year he placed fifth at the freestyle World Championships, competing in the junior age group. Despite his success, Misawa disliked amateur wrestling, and only saw it as a means to an end for a career in professional wrestling.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1981–2000)
Debut and early years (1981–1984)
Misawa entered the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) training camp in March 1981, and was trained mainly by Kazuharu Sonoda and Akihisa Takachihō, though he also received training from Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer, Shohei Baba, Dory Funk Jr., and eventually Lou Thesz. He made his professional debut on August 21, 1981, where he lost against Shiro Koshinaka in an outdoor show in Urawa. After losing his first seventeen consecutive matches, Misawa had his first win on October 9 in a tag match with Mitsuo Momota against Hiromichi Fuyuki and Nobuyoshi Sugawara, and won his first singles match against Sugawara four nights later. In April 1983, Baba held a round-robin tournament for AJPW's lower-ranked wrestlers called the Lou Thesz Cup, and Misawa entered the tournament alongside Koshinaka, Fuyuki, Mitsuo and brother Yoshihiro Momota, Sugawara, Kawada, and Tarzan Goto. Misawa reached the finals, and on April 22 in the Nakajima Sports Center, Misawa made his televised debut in the final match for the Lou Thesz Cup (which Thesz himself refereed), again wrestling Koshinaka to a loss. Baba had intended to send the tournament winner on a foreign excursion, but while Misawa lost the match, he was perceived as the superior talent, despite Koshinaka being three years his senior, so Baba decided to send them both. Misawa had his first title match on May 20, when he and Koshinaka unsuccessfully challenged Mighty Inoue and Ashura Hara for the attende.
Misawa and Koshinaka arrived in Mexico on March 16, 1984, where they wrestled for EMLL as a tag team under the names Samurai Shiro and the Kamikaze (or Kamikaze Misawa). Misawa improved his aerial skills under the guidance of La Fiera, and on April 5, Misawa had his first major singles championship match, headlining Arena México and wrestling NWA World Middleweight champion El Satánico to a loss. This excursion was meant to last one year, but Baba called Misawa and asked him if he could "jump from the corner post", and when Misawa replied that he could, he was called back.