(NOAH) At the tip of the retirement plan..."Legendary man" Mitsuharu Misawa's thirteenth anniversary
Yahoo.co.jp\Zakzak.co.jp
The thirteen anniversary of the passing of the "Legendary Man", Mitsuharu Misawa is approaching. In 2009 all over Japan there was grief at the sad news coming out of Hiroshima when Misawa collapsed in the ring and died. He was 46 years old.
Misawa entered All Japan in 1981. He was transformed into the second generation Tiger Mask, and when he revealed his true face, he reigned as Ace. He founded Noah in 2000, and worked as hard as literally the active wrestler president, and for a time he managed to surpass New Japan pro wrestling and pushed Noah as industry leader. In addition to his 28 years as a wrestler, the hardships of being president may have eroded his body. I vividly remember that last conversation a month before his death was, "Are you okay?" I vividly remember it was "Yeah yeah". He always delivered the pre-emptive punch by asking, "What brings you here?", but while sitting in the waiting room, no matter what was asked he just repeated vague answers.
About a year before this, he talked with Ryu Nakata, the ring announcer (died 2014), about his fun plans after retirement. These included building a "Noah multi-storey building", and an Izakaya in a gym where he would enjoy talking, drinking and off color humor with retired wrestlers. He was talking about looking for land, and blueprints for buildings. If you think about it now, he may have realized that his body was approaching its limits.
In reality, his fight with fierce without compromise. In the Tiger Mask era, compared to the first generation, he had six years of worrying about his fighting style. When Genichiro Tenryu and others transferred to SWS, he took off the "Golden Tiger" mask for All Japan who had fallen into a crisis. It was a result of preparedness and decision, but some people puzzled over how to handle it. As the standard bearer for the new generation, Mitsuharu Misawa, even though he was facing Jumbo Tsuruta, who had the strongest call, he slammed the "soul" of Tiger Mask, who was the idol of children. He may have been passionate about it, but I wanted him to show a little respect for the mask. When I confronted with Misawa with that opinion, he just groaned. He would become a real face and form The Super Generation Army. He was spot on as he finally surpassed Tsuruta and gained explosive popularity. Incidentally, Toshiaki Kawada recalled later on, "That mask was picked up by me."
As a junior of a year who had entered the industry with Misawa, I exchanged frank opinions both publicly and privately with Misawa. At my reception six months after getting the scoop of his own marriage, I received a congratulatory message saying, "I'm always looking forward to Mikosuri Semi Theater*"
He was a humane man who loved alcohol, women and off color humor.
I will never forget you.
* Magazine specializing in erotic manga and graphic novels.
Article by Shoichi Shibata
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