Misawa passes away during a match last night. Not sure where this ranks on the scale of most noteworthy in-ring deaths ever, but it's got to be pretty high since I know Misawa was considered by many to be the best in the biz during his prime. I was mostly into the junior japanese stuff and watching Americans adjust their style to compete over there so I can't say I saw more than a couple of matches, but very tragic and another blow to pro wrestling in the Orient.
http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/9617/
I’m betting it ranks just as high as Owen’s. I can’t think of one guy in the WWE who would say “Fuck you, Vince, who’s coming with me?” and everyone but 4 people go start a new fed with him. Tragic, tragic news and my brain still can’t wrap itself around it as I had been following the Tag League closely (which he won). The coldest shit I’ve seen so far though is the US NOAH site, which simply states that Bison/Saito defended thei title by KO and no mention of Misawa dying at ALL. Go figure that shit.
http://www.noah-usa.cc/
“The coldest shit I’ve seen so far though is the US NOAH site, which simply states that Bison/Saito defended thei title by KO and no mention of Misawa dying at ALL. Go figure that shit.”
He ain’t kidding, folks:
6/13 Hiroshima Green Arena (Attendance: 2300)
GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Bison SMITH & Akitoshi SAITO (Champion Team) (W) vs. Mitsuharu MISAWA & Go SHIOZAKI (Challenger Team) (L)
@27 min 03 sec. SAITO beat MISAWA by TKO.
Team of Bison & SAITO successfully defended their title for the 3rd time.
What…the…FUCK.
I recall one site back in ‘99 (Joe De Leon, if anybody remembers his uh, creatively spelled reporting) that listed that Owen Hart vs. The Godfather “went to a no contest”.
This is either going to be the killing blow for Japanese professional wrestling or the event that brings it all back. Things have been looking pretty grim there and now with the loss of it’s biggest star of the last 20 or so years, it makes you wonder what happens next.
And no offense meant to Owen Hart, but this is easily the most significant in-ring death in wrestling history. Especially if you’re Japanese. Imagine if Hulk Hogan died in the ring. That’s what happened today in Japan. I hear it’s dominating their news programs there.
Hogan dying in a ring now or Hogan dying in the ring in the 80s?
Let’s say… Hogan dying in the ring in 2002.
But come on, are you suggesting that if Hogan came out of retirement for one match and died right there in the middle of the ring it wouldn’t be the biggest news story in the history of the business?
It would, but it’d be a different reaction.
Misawa dies, it’s a horrible tragedy. If Hogan keeled over mid-match on Raw this Monday, the reaction would be “It’s a horrible tragedy, but what was his 60-year-old, bad kneed, bad hipped ass doing in the ring in the first place?”
If I’m Vince, I give him a screen and 3 bells before Raw starts. Most US fans will say “Who?”, but it’d be a very nice gesture.
Wow….just really depressing news. RIP.
Ironically enough, I just simmed this match a few days ago in Fire Pro.
This is just…wow.
RIP in peace
I cant even imagine what the reaction would be if something like this happened in the US. I know there was the Owen situation but that obviously had mitigating circumstances…the notion of a wrestler performing a move and then dying in the ring on US TV or PPV…I don’t think US wrestling would recover for a long, long time.
All that said, just sad, tragic news, couldn’t believe it.
From the Chris Hero blog on myspace – ( he was on the card)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Misawa-San
Current mood:disbelief
Words cannot express how deeply shocked I am. We’re all just in utter disbelief. Stunned sadness.
The moments at ringside felt an eternity. Never, in my life, have I wanted the fighting spirit to jump into someone’s being more than I wanted tonight. The fans chanted Misawa, Misawa, Misawa. They wanted their Hero to get up so fucking bad. Just get up. Come on! You’re too tough for this. Too strong. I grabbed his boots and held onto them til they took him away.
My heart goes out to his family. His students. His peers. His friends. His fans. His opponents tonight and his partner. It was a freak accident. No one is at fault.
Rest in Peace Shacho.
——
utterly depressing
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=6902064&blogId=494598215
This time last year I went searching around YouTube and watched a ton of Japanese wrestling. Of all matches I watched the ones I enjoyed the most were all Misawa matches. He is one of the greatest I have ever seen.
The few years, alot of the wrestlers who are considering the best in pure ringwork are dying. Maybe the whole 2012 is coming true. End times near.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs0aCzO7Cig
Probably a bit tasteless.. but here is the video of them trying to resuscitate him. Will be taken down I reckon. But still…
That video was really tough to watch. Seeing Misawa turn purple…yeesh. What a tragedy.
His match vs Kawada 0n 06/03/94 will always be the greatest match ever!
Truly, truly tragic.