(ALL JAPAN) WEEKLY FLASH: This guy, Mitsuharu Misawa, whose whereabouts were unknown, suddenly appeared with his wife...

Weekly Pro

c. This was published after Misawa had unmasked as Tiger Mask II, so about 1990. The wedding itself took place on May 10th 1988. Please note some of the pictures are not high quality due to both age and resolution. 

2nd generation Tiger Mask shows real face at wedding!

An hour after the press conference, Mayumi appeared with Tiger Mask showing his real face. Looking at them like this, they are a wonderful couple.

Tuesday May 10th at 1.30pm, Hie Shrine, photo shoot. At 2:00pm, a press conference was held at "Gin no Ma" on the second floor of the Capitol Tokyu Hotel.

What, who is that wrestler? Eh, I have never seen this person like this before. There is nothing to hide, this is the true identity of of All Japan's Tiger Mask, Mitsuharu Misawa. The predictability is too out of date* (but this guy, this guy). 

May 10th in Tokyo at the Hie Shrine in Nagatachō, the wedding with Mayumi Abe (21 years old) was a memorable day for "Pro Wrestler Tiger Mask II*", as for the first time in public, he removed the Tiger's Mask and revealed his true face. But as always, the parting from the mask was only private. His boss Baba, the matchmaker* and the chairman of All Japan explains, "Until now in public he couldn't show his true face, and so thinking about others and in order not to destroy the dreams of children, in the ring he will continue as before." 

After the ceremony, a press conference was held at "Gin no Ma" on the second floor of the Capitol Tokyu Hotel from 2pm. According to what I heard from my seat, the proposal words where 

Misawa: I am not going to tell you*     

Mayumi: I was told let's be together, so I laughed and responded. 

Also, Mayumi, who had a period as an actress and will now concentrate on being a housewife, said "I know that he will often leave and go on tour, and I want to keep the home". 

Not just from NTV, but also a female reporter from TBA on camera was included at the press conference, but the questions from the entertainment side where unique. 

"What if as a married couple, you could get pro wrestling skills?"

Misawa laughed and said, "Lets not do that", making the reporters laugh. 

In addition, the two have set up in a 3DK condominium Love Nest in Komae, Tokyo. The honeymoon has not been arranged as Misawa has just begun a tour. 

"I told you not to get a wife until you're 28...*" Baba. 

Misawa by the way is 25.   

"A commemorative photo taken with matchmaker Baba and his wife in the precincts of the Hie Shrine"

*By the time the article was published, Tiger Mask II had been unmasked as Mitsuharu Misawa. 

*I have added "II" to prevent confusion with Tiger Mask I. 

*Matchmaker: While Baba did not act as official matchmaker in the way that he was the traditional intermediary who selected an eligible bride for the son of a family, he did get them together as it was in the All Japan ring that they met when Mayumi presented flowers to Misawa, and he gave her his number at a party afterwards. 

*This doesn't translate very well, it's more along the lines of "I'm not going to make you"

*The rest does not translate. But basically he's jokingly saying that you can't bring her along. The rest of the scentence is ironic as Kenta Kobashi did not marry until later in life, and he expected his students to not marry until he did. When KENTA broke this rule and got married he said that it was unheard of in Japan that a student should marry before his teacher. KENTA said that he lived his own life, and he expected Kobashi to do the same. 

*A 3DK apartment basically means a rental of an older property which probably dates from the 1950s or so, it could even be pre-war and survived the Tokyo bombing. The rent is cheaper as a result, but you would have sliding doors instead of modern doors to partition the rooms, which could be removed or put up at will i.e. to partition off sleeping areas. Baba used to keep a portion of wages earned in trust to put down for housing deposits. It can't have been much.  

Note: Mokoto is never named, she is simply "Baba's wife". Baba fulfilled the duties that the father of the groom would traditionally take, Misawa's own father was a very violent man, and Misawa had cut all ties with him when his parents divorced when he was eight years old. 

Many thanks to JenJ for sending me the article.