Toshiaki Kawada reveals the intensity of his life-threatening fights with his ally Mitsuharu Misawa over the course of more than 30 years.

5th February 2026

TOYOKEIZAI ONLINE 

"Pro-wrestling is inherently shrouded in an uneasy atmosphere, and everything is a 'fighting match*.'" So says Toshiaki Kawada, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of All Japan Pro-Wrestling in the '90s and currently the owner of the restaurant "DANGEROUS K." 

Kawada looks back on his fierce rivalry with the late Misawa Mitsuharu, his senior since high school, with whom he engaged in numerous fights. We present an edited excerpt from his co-authored book, "Testimony: The Truth About Fights in the World of Professional Wrestling."

Pro wrestling is inherently shrouded in an "uneasy atmosphere" - all pro wrestling is a "fighting match" - "Dangerous K" Kawada Toshiaki defines pro wrestling as a clash of technique, power, and emotion, and as something that is inherently shrouded in this uneasy atmosphere. 

"A fight match? That's what pro wrestling is all about. I think it's normal to get emotional in a match. You're asking if there were ever a moment that made me feel 'annoyed'? Isn't that the whole point of a match?"

Kawada's lifelong rival was Misawa Mitsuharu, a senior at Ashikaga Institute of Technology High School (now Ashikaga University High School), who was one year older than him. The always-dangerous Kawada vs. Misawa match became All Japan Pro Wrestling's golden card of the 1990s, and even featured in the main event at All Japan's first Tokyo Dome tournament on May 1, 1998.

In a total of eight Triple Crown matches against Misawa, Kawada has won two and lost six. In all eight matches, Kawada was the challenger, and has never faced Misawa as champion.

Since Noah's Tokyo Dome event on July 18, 2005, Misawa has had a total of 20 singles matches, with a record of 3 wins, 12 losses and 5 draws, giving him an overwhelming advantage. However, Misawa, who is not supposed to show his emotions. But, he was different when it came to Kawada.

"I think it's because he only shows some special feelings towards me that it becomes like that (a fighting match). Misawa-san has had many matches with Kobashi (Kenta) that are considered to be the best bouts, but he doesn't show his emotions, does he? Other than Kobashi, I'd never seen him show any emotion in his matches with other wrestlers, and I never felt that way. When I watched the matches later, it was definitely only during my matches that it showed on his face. His expression was different from when he fought with other wrestlers. I could see he was fired up. We're only one year apart in age, but I've been his junior since high school, so I think Misawa had a strong desire not to lose to a junior. From my perspective, I felt more strongly that I had to show more emotion than Misawa in the matches. So I think my emotions were especially evident in my matches with Misawa. I fought so many matches with Misawa that I don't know what I did in each match. I don't even remember which one it was. When I was interviewed by Nippon TV about my best bout with Misawa, all I could say was, 'I'll think about it, but I can't choose.'"

The origin of the "long feud" with Misawa that has lasted for over 30 years

The fuse for this long, drawn-out "fight" that has spanned more than 30 years was lit the moment Kawada moved into the dormitory as a first-year student in high school.

"When I entered high school, the seniors in the year above me were gathered as training athletes for the Tochigi National Athletic Meet, so there were quite a few of us. I think there were about seven of us in Misawa's year. But while there were students in my year who lived at home, I was the only one who lived in the dorms, so I had to do a ton of chores. I'm not sure how to describe the wrestling club in high school now, but it felt like a bunch of crazy people. There was always bullying, and whenever something happened we were made to sit in seiza*. It wasn't just that we sat in seiza, we were made to do so for an hour or two. On top of that, we got beaten up. It was a Buddhist high school, so they had a "Zen stick" that would smack you on the shoulder during zazen*, and they also had a "spirit injection stick" that was as thick as a log, which might be a remnant of military education from the past, and I sometimes got hit with that. Not only did I get beaten up, but I was also extremely busy. After practice, I'd go grocery shopping and cook as soon as I got home. I'd clean up after the seniors had finished eating, do their laundry...it was pure hell. I thought that entering pro wrestling would ease the hellishness a little, but since there was only one wrestler left in my generation at All Japan, it just continued like hell again."

"Have I ever been praised by Misawa? Never"

Kawada joined All Japan in 1982, following Misawa, who had joined the company a year earlier. As a new trainee, he shared a room with Misawa at the All Japan training camp in Kinuta, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. 

"Everyone else had their own room, but Misawa and I were the only ones who shared a room. In High School, Misawa wasn't the type to bully others like the other seniors did. He never did anything unreasonable.

But honestly, after I started wrestling, Misawa would get angry with me almost every day for every little thing. He would always hit me with the spiked end of the hard hairbrush he used to comb his hair. Misawa never acted like that in high school, but that suddenly changed after he joined pro wrestling. Even if we were only a year apart, a junior is still a junior, so if he was even slightly displeased, he would hit me. I had just joined All Japan, and I had a shaved head, so it hurt quite a bit. Have I ever been praised by Misawa? No, I haven't. He's not the type of person who praises people very often."

It's unclear why Misawa hit Kawada. Was it to protect Kawada from being hit by the other senior wrestlers by being the first to do so, or was it out of innocent rudeness, as is the case with many young people just starting out in the world? Either way, Kawada continued to follow his senior's lead, even as he was being hit by him. "But that doesn't mean I ever hated Misawa or anything like that. It's not a matter of liking or disliking him. It might be the case in professional baseball, where you start off in little league, but in professional wrestling you never see wrestlers like us who stay together for decades, from high school through adulthood. We've been together since I entered high school in 1979, right?

They often say that comedy duos who stay together for too long end up falling out. It's true, we were together for way too long. But Misawa and I are senior and junior, so saying we "got on bad terms" is a bit of a stretch. If we were classmates, we might have spent too much time together and had a falling out, but Misawa will always be my senior, so it's not a matter of whether we're on good terms or not, but the fact that he's my senior will never change."

The fight with Misawa, where he could have died at any time

His relationship with Misawa reached a turning point in 1991.

Perhaps due to the tense atmosphere in the promotion following Genichiro Tenryu's sudden transfer to SWS, Misawa and Kawada got into a huge fight at a drinking party, resulting in a fistfight*. 

"Although Misawa and I continued to hang out together after that, I think our relationship changed somewhat after that fight. I think it was probably because Misawa felt he couldn't forgive me. After I left the Super Generation Army and formed the Holy Demon Army with Akira Taue, we stopped going out to eat together." 

After that, the two no longer shared the same corner, but instead faced off opposite each other.

The Nippon Budokan event on October 21, 1992, Kawada challenged reigning champion Misawa, setting the stage for a Triple Crown match between the two. 

At the June 3, 1994, Nippon Budokan event, Misawa unleashed the Tiger Driver '91, a move he'd previously reserved as too dangerous, on Kawada, finishing him off with a near-vertical descent into the ring, sending shockwaves through the arena. 

"Not only were the types of moves different, but the way he applied them was different from the ones he used on other wrestlers. I'm sure the spectators could have noticed. Looking back, I could have died at any time. I can't say which match was the most dangerous. In fact, it was "all of them." In other matches, if I had the momentary leeway to take a defensive stance when hit, I could. However, in my matches with Misawa, I often wasn't able to take a defensive stance. Even in my final match with Misawa, at the Tokyo Dome on July 18, 2005, in Noah, I collapsed to my knees after the final elbow." 

"If I kept getting in the ring, I would have..."

Misawa must have had confidence that Kawada's ability would allow him to take a defensive stance even when a dangerous move was used on him.

"No, no, I don't think we could have thought that far ahead. It's not so much 'I can do it if it's you,' but rather 'I'll do it because it's you,' right? Misawa's death (at the Hiroshima tournament on June 13, 2009) is the result of continuing to fight in dangerous matches for many years. I retired from the ring about a year after Misawa passed away, but my body was already in a terrible state at the time, and if I had continued, I probably would have...Kobashi used to say things like, 'I could die in the ring today at any time, and so on and so forth.' But when you're really living side by side with death, you don't say things out loud."

Translated from TOKYOKEIZAI ONLINE

Picture credits: TOKYOKEIZAI ONLINE

NOTES

Fighting match: In professional wrestling, a match in which the script and conventions (angles) are ignored and the emotions and feelings of both parties become real or a match that has a dangerous atmosphere from the start. One such match made Kenta Kobashi tell his mother to not blame Misawa if he didn't come back...in English this can be called a "shoot match" or else "working stiff".

Sitting Seiza: Sitting in a squatting position with the tops of the feet flat on the floor, and sitting on the soles. 

Zazen: Cross legged meditation 

Kawawa/Misawa fight: Both emerged with black eyes, and Misawa had to have surgery. Baba took no action, seeing it as a fight between brothers, but forbade anyone from discussing it, leading to fan speculation for years. Kenta Kobashi broke his silence a few years ago and revealed the fight was over karaoke, both were drunk and it got heated. Kobashi and Taue tried to hold them back.