R.I.P. Misawa

Mitsuharu Misawa is one of the true legends of professional wrestling. His death this past weekend is shocking and saddening, even in a wrestling world that has seen far too much tragedy.

If you appreciate the in-ring aspect of professional wrestling, you owe it to yourself to seek out some Misawa matches. His 1990 matches against Jumbo Tsuruta, his series of matches with Toshiaki Kawada (particularly their 6/3/1994 match, often ranked as one the greatest professional wrestling matches of all-time) and Kenta Kobashi, and any of a number of fantastic tag team bouts involving Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Akira Taue, and Jun Akiyama, are, in my opinion, the finest examples of the in-ring art of professional wrestling. There is no need to understand the commentary or know the storylines leading up to the match -- the entire story is told by what the wrestlers do in the ring and how they do it. The magic of professional wrestling is the ability to tell a story almost purely through a performer's physical actions. Misawa was a true master.

Besides his incredible in-ring talents, Misawa was an important figure in the Japanese wrestling business. One of the top draws for All Japan Pro Wrestling throughout the 1990's, Misawa served as the company's president for about a year and a half after founder Shohei (Giant) Baba's death. Amid disputes with Baba's widow, Misawa left All Japan, taking the bulk of its roster with him, and formed a new promotion called Pro Wrestling NOAH. While NOAH could generally be classified as a success, the wrestling business in Japan is faring extremely poorly right now (MMA has long since overtaken pro wrestling in popularity in Japan), and NOAH lost their TV contract shortly before Misawa's death. Nevertheless, Misawa remained one of the top draws in Japanese wrestling. To try to imagine the impact of his death on the Japanese wrestling business, the closest comparisions I could come up with would be if the same happened to Triple H or Vince McMahon. You could imagine the reverberations that would have -- the death of someone of Misawa's stature is comparatively impactful to the Japanese wrestling business.

At the end of the day, what truly makes a wrestler great is their ability to emotionally connect with the audience. Watch one of Misawa's matches to see the resonance of his connection with the fanbase: the thundersous "MISAWA! MISAWA! MISAWA!" chants, the crowd and announcer going absolutely apeshit after Misawa defeated legend Jumbo Tsuruta (announcer, his voice absolutely shredded: "NEW HERO!!! NEW HERO!!!"), or your own cheering for Misawa to keep fighting while watching one of his legendary matches. He will be sadly missed by fans in his home country and around the world.

Thank you, Misawa.