Toshiaki Kawada ( 川田 利明 , Kawada Toshiaki ) (born December 8, 1963) is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler . He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In All Japan Pro Wrestling, he was a 5 time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion , a 9 time World Tag Team Champion , three-time winner of the Real World Tag League and a two-time winner of the Champion Carnival . He was also recognised as the ace of the promotion from 2000 to 2005.
163-487: Known by fans and his contemporaries as "Dangerous K" ( デンジャラス K , Denjarasu kei ) , he is widely considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. His matches against Mitsuharu Misawa , Jun Akiyama , and Kenta Kobashi in the 1990s are argued by many fans and experts in the industry as some of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time. He is known for his extremely stiff wrestling style and martial arts strikes, which earned his nickname. He also has
326-470: A "quiet" power struggle between Misawa and Motoko in March 1999, and Tsuruta confirmed this when he left Japan for Portland, Oregon . In fact, the two had had professional tensions long beforehand. Motoko had opposed the decision to push Misawa in the wake of Genichiro Tenryu's departure in 1990. The two began conflicting as early as 1996. In the year before Shohei Baba's death, Misawa even asked him on behalf of
489-494: A Budokan show on April 24 which drew 15,800 people, Misawa and Suzuki lost to Marufuji and Minoru Suzuki . During this event, Kawada made his first appearance for Noah after the third match. He then challenged Misawa to a match on Noah's July 18 Tokyo Dome show. In his final interpromotional appearance of the year, Misawa and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Masahiro Chono and Jushin Liger at NJPW Nexess VI on May 14. At July 18's Destiny ,
652-567: A GHC Heavyweight Championship run (which he won from Akiyama in September ). When Misawa decided to break tradition further, and hold a Budokan show on October 29 wherein Marufuji defended the title against fellow junior Kobayashi, only 5,000 people of the 11,500 reportedly in attendance paid to see the event. Adding to the situation was that Noah depended on events that they sold to local promoters, who most often were older, wealthy men who did not follow
815-574: A July 18 Budokan show, with only 6,000 people attending the event. In September, Nippon TV affiliate Yomiuri TV cancelled their Noah broadcasts. As the Kansai region had historically been a hotbed for Baba, this was seen as indicative of the end of an era. Around this time, Noah announced that they would no longer take their entire roster on tours in order to cut travel costs. On December 17, Nippon TV announced that they would be cutting Noah's television program in March to compensate for advertising losses in
978-600: A Triple Crown match against Misawa on January 22, 1999; in something of a surprise, Kawada took his second straight Triple Crown match against Misawa to win with title for the third time. However, he broke his arm during the match and vacated the title the following day. Kawada returned in May 1999, but would revert to the sidelines due to an eye injury in August. He did not return until January 2000, but suffered high-profile losses to Kobashi, Vader , and Misawa. In June 2000, Kawada and Taue won
1141-503: A brief European tour. On June 21, Misawa and Marufuji defeated Kobashi and Go Shiozaki in Coventry ; after this, NOAH split to work shows in Farringdon and Oberhausen , the latter for Westside Xtreme Wrestling. Misawa worked the former show, where he and Kotaro Suzuki defeated Smith & Mark Haskins . While these events were relatively successful, Noah had their lowest crowd to date for
1304-486: A contract with Dream Stage Entertainment , the parent company of PRIDE Fighting Championships . Kawada made the sports entertainment based HUSTLE promotion his new home, and immediately turned heel in 2005; he turned his back on his young student Taichi Ishikari and friends Shinjiro Ohtani and Naoya Ogawa of the HUSTLE Army to join the dastardly Monster Army, led by Generalissimo Takada and swimsuit model Yinling
1467-694: A draw, and pinned Keiji Muto in what would be his final All Japan match on April 9, 2008. On October 3, 2009, at the Mitsuharu Misawa memorial show, Kawada and Akira Taue reunited the Holy Demon Army for one night and defeated Jun Akiyama and KENTA . Three weeks later, he defeated Masato Tanaka to win the Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship . Kawada returned to NOAH in late February 28, 2010, trading victories with Takeshi Morishima . Two weeks Later, Kawada would be announced as
1630-425: A fan ballot. Motoko's conservatism was partially due to her belief that the company, and Japanese wrestling as a whole, had fallen from its peak. Misawa was also angry with Motoko over fiscal matters, as he had discovered that much of the company's merchandise sales did not produce funds for AJPW, but for a subsidiary that she had set up. At some point, Misawa approached Nippon TV with his plans to leave AJPW to start
1793-400: A long jump competition held by Koshigaya in elementary school, and joined the gymnastics club in junior high. Misawa was a fan of professional wrestling, especially All Japan Pro Wrestling, from an early age, and his first favorite wrestlers were Horst Hoffman and Jumbo Tsuruta . Hoffman's emerald green trunks would later be emulated by Misawa. Misawa had wanted to pursue a vocation as
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#17331065012261956-449: A loss. This excursion was meant to last one year, but Baba called Misawa and asked him if he could "jump from the corner post" , and when Misawa replied that he could, he was called back. For the rest of the decade, and into spring 1990, Misawa wrestled as the second generation Tiger Mask , succeeding Satoru Sayama , as Baba purchased the rights to the character's likeness from Tiger Mask mangaka Ikki Kajiwara . Misawa debuted as
2119-468: A magnificent reign with 10 successful title defenses against the likes of Genichiro Tenryu, Shinya Hashimoto , Jamal , Taiyō Kea , Kensuke Sasaki and Hiroyoshi Tenzan ; as a result, Kawada broke Misawa's record of 8 defenses during Misawa's third reign. In addition, 2004 became only the second year when the Triple Crown did not change hands (the first was 1993, during Misawa's first reign), which included
2282-768: A national champion in his senior year after defeating Keiichi Yamada (who later became Jyushin Thunder Liger in professional wrestling) in the finals. Kawada attended the Ashikaga University High school, which happened to be the same high school as Misawa, who was one year Kawada's senior. Towards the end of Kawada's last year of junior high school, he had made an introductory test at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling dojo, however his mother told him that it would be better for him if he graduated from high school, before beginning his pro wrestling career. Thus when Kawada
2445-588: A near-sellout of 14,200 people in attendance. This show was also significant for Kobashi's return after a September elbow surgery. Noah announced television deals with satellite stations Nittele G+ and Fighting TV Samurai . However, there was a low percentage of Japanese homes with satellite television. This meant that the most television exposure Noah would have going forward was a half-hour timeslot after midnight on TV Osaka (a smaller affiliate of TV Tokyo ). World Tag Team Championship (AJPW) The World Tag Team Championship ( 世界タッグ王座 , sekai taggu ōza )
2608-737: A new promotion, and told them that nearly everyone in the locker room would follow him. NTV officials sided with Misawa in this dispute, but told him that they needed to keep their agreement quiet for one year after the meeting. Due to the proximity of Baba's death, the station wanted to wait until enough time had passed to drop All Japan's television program, which had been associated closely with NTV since its formation. Nevertheless, rumors that NTV had taken Misawa's side in his dispute against Baba saw print in February 2000, and Weekly Fight Magazine reported that AJPW would split itself into two groups in May, though Misawa declined to comment on this. Adding to
2771-567: A part of NOAH's inaugural Global League . On April 11 he lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Kohei Sato . In the Global League, he earned second place in his group and thus did not compete in the final. On August 15 he participated in the last card of New Japan's G1 Climax tournament for the year, teaming with mentor Tenryu and Tiger Mask to defeat Riki Choshu , Junji Hirata and Akira Nogami . This turned out to be
2934-455: A pinfall over Misawa in their rivalry, as well as the first time Misawa himself had lost a pinfall to anyone since Williams had defeated him for the Triple Crown. However, this success would not repeat itself, as on July 24 at the sold-out Budokan, Kawada fell short against Misawa once again, in the first defense of this Triple Crown reign. On September 10, Misawa defended the title against Taue, but on October 15, Misawa and Kobashi failed to win
3097-851: A professional wrestler in Fred Behrend's Texas All-Star Wrestling (San Antonio, Texas), Stu Hart 's Stampede Wrestling (in Calgary) and Frank Valois' International Wrestling (in Montreal); despite having no Korean heritage, Kawada was billed as "Kio Kawata" from Seoul, South Korea in Stampede Wrestling for a very short time around June 1986. Reportedly unhappy with his time overseas, Kawada has rarely spoken about his experiences in America in subsequent years. His first major break came in 1987 when he joined his mentor Genichiro Tenryu 's Revolution group. Kawada
3260-828: A professional wrestler since he was 12, and planned to do so after completing junior high, but his mother and teacher persuaded him to continue his studies so that he could attend a school with a good amateur wrestling program. Misawa attended the high school at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology in Tochigi on a scholarship, alongside Toshiaki Kawada , who was a year below him. They shared an interest in athletics and professional wrestling before they became professional wrestlers themselves. Misawa wanted to drop out in his second year to begin training, but during an encounter with Jumbo Tsuruta, he convinced Misawa to complete high school education, and to concentrate on amateur wrestling if he
3423-482: A punch to the chin at the 24-minute mark, which forced Kobashi to essentially work a handicap match for 25 minutes. However, Misawa recovered to make a successful comeback. Misawa and Kobashi then defeated Williams and Ace on March 3 at Budokan for their second and final successful defense. The next month, Misawa participated in the penultimate match of the Weekly Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome Show ,
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#17331065012263586-519: A rematch on September 1, which determined the number one contender for the Triple Crown. Misawa teamed with Kawada to place third in the WSTDL , beating Tsuruta and Taue on the final day. In a match against Taue on January 26, 1991, Misawa won by debuting the Tiger Driver '91 , a variation of his Tiger Driver (sitout double underhook powerbomb ) wherein he kept the double underhook applied while Taue
3749-541: A reported crowd of 12,000 people in the Ariake Coliseum, Misawa defeated Yoshihiro Takayama to become the first GHC Heavyweight champion. During this match, Misawa began bleeding from his mouth after a high kick from Takayama legitimately knocked his jaw out of alignment, and also ended the match with a five-centimeter cut which required six stitches. After a successful defense against Taue on May 18 in Sapporo, Misawa lost
3912-424: A result that had been foreshadowed over the past year, through not only Kawada's tainted victory over him in the 1997 Champion Carnival finals, but the draws that they had wrestled to in both of their other meetings during the last two Carnivals, Misawa finally dropped the championship to Kawada. Misawa went into the match with two blown knees and a bad neck and back, and as he suffered a legitimate concussion during
4075-518: A result. They would again drop the belts to Satsujin Gyorai in their first defense on January 30 when Williams pinned Misawa. On February 28, however, Misawa successfully defended his Triple Crown title against Taue. The Misawa-Kawada team would soon end. Jumbo Tsuruta's career, at least as a main-event wrestler, was over; he had abruptly left after completing the October Giant Series tour, and
4238-572: A running kick to the face. At Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku, Vol. 2 (on February 17, 2007), Toshiaki Kawada and Taiyo Kea defeated RO'Z and Suwama for the World Tag Team Championship; this win gives Kawada his ninth reign with the championship, as well as Kea's 5th reign. During March 26–30, 2007, Toshiaki Kawada competed in the year's Champion Carnival tournament, going all the way to the finals where he fell to Keiji Mutoh ; Kawada finished
4401-433: A singles match in what was considered an upset, and when Misawa and Kawada faced Satsujin Gyorai on July 24 for a second tag title match, he pinned Gordy again. The pair made their first defense against Tsuruta and Taue on September 4 at Nippon Budokan, with Misawa historically forcing Jumbo to submit to a standing variation of the crossface to end the match. They vacated the belts for the 1991 WSTDL, which they entered. On
4564-421: A six-man tag in which he, Kobashi, and Triple Crown champion Hansen wrestled to a thirty-minute time-limit draw against Kawada, Taue, and Ace. Misawa entered the 1995 Champion Carnival. Despite reportedly suffering a broken orbital bone after a Kawada kick during a match on April 6 which ended in a time-limit draw, Misawa did not miss any shows. He proceeded to the finals with seven wins and three draws, and won
4727-596: A successful Triple Crown defense against Hansen on May 21 in Sapporo. On May 20, the HDA won the World Tag Team championships from Satsujin Gyorai on May 20, ending their fifth and final reign. Misawa and Kobashi unsuccessfully challenged them for the championships on June 1. Misawa defended the Triple Crown three more times in 1993: against Kawada on July 29, Williams on September 3, and Hansen on October 23, during which Misawa broke his breastbone. Misawa and Kobashi entered
4890-580: A successful defense against Mick Foley in the HUSTLE promotion; in Misawa's era, the title was not defended during the Champion Carnival and World's Strongest Tag Determination League tours, which were dedicated to their namesake tournaments. Kawada's reign restored dignity to the Triple Crown at the expense of the said tournaments. After losing the titles to Satoshi Kojima on February 16, 2005, Kawada signed
5053-462: A successful title defense against Taue. On August 26 in Sapporo, though, he and Akiyama lost a world tag title shot against Albright and Williams when Albright pinned Misawa with a dragon suplex . On September 6, Misawa defeated Akiyama in his first Triple Crown title match. In October, Misawa made two more successful defenses ten days apart. The first was against Williams on October 11 in Fukuoka , and
Toshiaki Kawada - Misplaced Pages Continue
5216-477: A tag match with Mitsuo Momota against Hiromichi Fuyuki and Nobuyoshi Sugawara, and won his first singles match against Sugawara four nights later. In April 1983, Baba held a round-robin tournament for AJPW's lower-ranked wrestlers called the Lou Thesz Cup, and Misawa entered the tournament alongside Koshinaka, Fuyuki, Mitsuo and brother Yoshihiro Momota , Sugawara, Kawada, and Tarzan Goto . Misawa reached
5379-602: A tag match with Kawada against Yoshiaki Yatsu and Samson Fuyuki (both of whom would later join SWS) on May 14, Misawa commanded Kawada to unmask him, and thus abandoned the Tiger Mask gimmick. After winning the match, Misawa challenged his "childhood hero" Tsuruta to a singles match. After a successful defense of the All Asia Tag Team Championship against Davey Boy Smith and Johnny Smith , Misawa and Kobashi vacated
5542-600: A tag match with Taue against Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji , Kobashi severely injured his right knee. Kobashi's knees had been in poor condition as early as 1991, due to his use of the moonsault and general overachieving nature in the ring. While he intended to have double knee surgery performed at the end of his tenure in AJPW, he did not go through with it when Departure was scheduled for August, and he continued to work Noah's events thereafter. Kobashi had surgery on January 25 to transfer cartilage from his elbow to his knee. While it
5705-400: A tag team with his rival Akira Taue. Kawada agreed, signalling the end of his alliance with Misawa. Kawada and Taue went to a draw in the 1993 Champion Carnival and ended their feud with a handshake. In their first title match as a team, Kawada and Taue, named "The Holy Demon Army", defeated World Tag Team Champions Terry Gordy and Steve Williams . Shortly afterward, they successfully defended
5868-520: A tiger driver. In the second, the main-event of the inaugural show of Hashimoto-cofounded promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1 , March 2's Truth Century Creation, Misawa and Akiyama defeated Hashimoto and Yuji Nagata in the sold-out Ryōgoku Kokugikan . From March 18 through April 15, Noah held the Navigation for the Victory GHC tour, which featured a sixteen-man, single-elimination tournament held to determine
6031-406: A tournament match on November 21 against Kobashi and Kikuchi, Misawa's eye was swollen shut after an elbow strike from Kobashi. Misawa and Kawada reached the finals despite this, wherein they lost to Satsujin Gyorai in 25:24. At a Budokan event on March 4, 1992, which drew a record attendance figure of 16,300 people, Misawa unsuccessfully challenged Triple Crown champion Hansen for the belts. In
6194-512: A tournament match. He won via submission, but a Frankensteiner from Furnas was said to have badly injured his neck, and after trying to work a six-man tag two nights later sat out the rest of the tournament. This injury was later reported to have been a work ; Misawa had been written out of the Carnival so that Kawada and Williams could be established as singles stars through the tournament. Upon his return, Misawa and Kobashi successfully defended
6357-485: A visual impairment in his right eye which was discovered in 2007. Misawa had also long been a chain smoker. Misawa mostly worked mid-card tag matches where his partners did much of the work, which was how Giant Baba had remained an active wrestler until the last two months of his life. Misawa and Ogawa entered Noah's first Global Tag League , held from March 29 to April 27, and reached the finals, where they were defeated by Saito and Smith at Budokan. In June, Noah went on
6520-700: Is a professional wrestling World tag team championship in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling . It was created on June 10, 1988 as a unification of two previous tag team titles in All Japan; the PWF Tag Team Championship , and the NWA International Tag Team Championship ; when the PWF champions Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu defeated NWA champions The Road Warriors . As with
6683-565: Is regarded by some as the greatest professional wrestler of all time. The physical demands and consequences of the style in which he worked and the circumstances of his death, however, have made his legacy, or at least that of ōdō , somewhat problematic. Misawa was an eight-time world champion , having won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship five times and the GHC Heavyweight Championship (which he
Toshiaki Kawada - Misplaced Pages Continue
6846-608: The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship in a match rated the best of the year by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Misawa blew out his knee before the match, and still delivered a "great performance" in what wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer called "the best match of the Tiger Mask era", but he would require surgery afterward. The aerial style which Misawa had been made to adopt under
7009-560: The Northern Lights Bomb as a finisher, suggesting that he should instead use a powerbomb . Eddie agreed, and used the move to defeat Claudio Castagnoli for the Ring of Honor championship a few weeks later at AEW Grand Slam . Mitsuharu Misawa Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Mitsuharu Misawa ( 三沢 光晴 , Misawa Mitsuharu , June 18, 1962 – June 13, 2009)
7172-520: The PWF World Tag Team Championship from Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen by count-out, which they held for eight days before dropping them back to the previous champions. In what was then "the biggest singles win of his career", according to Meltzer, Misawa pinned DiBiase on July 19. For the 1987 WSTDL, Misawa entered alongside Shinichi Nakano, and the two tied for eighth place, with three wins, seven losses, and one double count-out. On
7335-555: The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship , it is symbolized by four belts, two for each wrestler, representing the former PWF and NWA titles. It is currently the top of two tag team titles in AJPW, along with the secondary All Asia Tag Team Championship . There have been a total of 99 reigns shared between 65 different teams consisting of 70 distinctive champions. The current champions are Saito Brothers ( Jun Saito and Rei Saito ) who are in their second reign as
7498-465: The Voodoo Murders group; this angered Kawada, who had left Kojima to lead All-Japan when he lost the Triple Crown in 2005. On August 26, 2007, at Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku, Vol. 3, Kawada and Kea lost the World Tag Team Championship to Satoshi Kojima and TARU . On September 16, following the conclusion of the opening show for the 2007 Flashing Tour, Kawada issued a challenge to Kensuke Sasaki for
7661-637: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year award. However, Kobashi suffered a broken nose, and Misawa was so fatigued that, for the first time, reporters were not allowed to see him. Misawa successfully defended against Kawada on July 23, defeating him with the Tiger Driver '91. Misawa and Ogawa won both the All Asia and World Tag Team Championships from No Fear on August 25. They vacated
7824-404: The longest reign in the title's history. Misawa remained atop the company throughout the 1990s, and following the death of president Giant Baba in 1999, Misawa inherited his position, but conflicts with widow and majority shareholder Motoko Baba led to his removal in May 2000. After this, Misawa led a mass exodus of the promotion's talent to form Noah. Noah was successful in the first half of
7987-520: The undercard of the WSTDL final, Misawa faced Kawada for the first time inside the Budokan, in the context of a tag match pitting himself and Takashi Ishikawa against Kawada and Fuyuki , and he pinned Kawada with a Tiger suplex. On AJPW's first event of 1988, Misawa wrestled an AWA World Heavyweight Championship match against Curt Hennig . Misawa won by countout , but the title did not change hands. This
8150-445: The 1991 Champion Carnival, held for the first time since 1982, and placed second in his block, with only one loss on April 6 to eventual second-place winner Stan Hansen. Misawa challenged Tsuruta for the Triple Crown on April 18, in the main event of a Budokan show that set an attendance record, but lost to him for the second consecutive time in singles competition. On June 9, Misawa pinned former Triple Crown champion Terry Gordy during
8313-491: The 1992 Champion Carnival, which took place from March 20 to April 17, Misawa reached the finals for the first time. On the twelfth date of the tournament, April 2, he wrestled Tsuruta in what would be their final singles match, and the two went to a 30-minute time-limit draw. Reigning Triple Crown champion Stan Hansen, who had lost to Tsuruta in the previous Champion Carnival final, defeated Misawa for his first CC win. On June 5, Misawa and Kobashi challenged Tsuruta and Taue for
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#17331065012268476-526: The 1993 WSTDL, and defeated the Holy Demon Army in the finals. This marked Misawa's second victory at the annual tournament, and his first tag championship reign with Kobashi. On February 15, 1994, Misawa was issued an invitation to participate in UWF International's (UWFi) summer tournament through a press conference, but this was ignored by the isolationist AJPW. On March 21, the third date of that year's Champion Carnival, Misawa faced Doug Furnas in
8639-484: The 1996 WSTDL, and were defeated in the final match by the Holy Demon Army when Kawada pinned Misawa in 31:37. On January 20, 1997, Misawa defeated Kobashi in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium to win his third Triple Crown championship. He defeated Steve Williams in his first defense on March 1, which was the retirement match of referee Joe Higuchi . Misawa then entered the 1997 Champion Carnival. Unlike
8802-439: The 1998 Champion Carnival, and proceeded to the finals with eight wins, three draws against Akiyama, Hansen, and Kawada, and one loss to Taue. This was despite various neck and back injuries, a broken finger, and a broken left kneecap, the latter of which was suffered during a match on April 6 against Ace. Despite this, and against a doctor's recommendation to perform surgery and take six weeks off, Misawa continued to work, and won
8965-418: The 1998 WSTDL and placed fifth with a 3-3-1 record. On January 22, 1999, Misawa lost the Triple Crown to Kawada in his first defense, but Kawada vacated it the next day. Seven minutes into the match, he had delivered a spinning backfist to the back of Misawa's head with such force that he broke his right forearm and wrist. This is the reason for the "ganso bomb" spot in which Kawada, unable to lift Misawa all
9128-450: The AJPW product, and to modernize its presentation, to address their box office troubles ran in direct opposition to Baba's intent to maintain her late husband's booking philosophy. Misawa was particularly intent on pushing the company's younger talent. In September 1999 he and Baba had a major fight over his decision to have Akiyama and Takao Omori headline a Budokan show (which sold out), although this match's placement had been decided by
9291-529: The All Asia belts soon afterward, as the match was done to break up the monopoly No Fear had achieved in the company's tag division. Misawa arranged a tournament for the All Asia titles from October 9–25, in which he and Ogawa did not participate. Misawa and Ogawa lost the World Tag Team titles to Akiyama and Kobashi on October 23 in Nagoya when Kobashi pinned Misawa after a Burning Hammer . Then, Misawa's fifth Triple Crown reign ended at Budokan on October 30, when he
9454-596: The All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) training camp in March 1981, and was trained mainly by Kazuharu Sonoda and Akihisa Takachihō , though he also received training from Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer , Shohei Baba , Dory Funk Jr. , and eventually Lou Thesz . He made his professional debut on August 21, 1981, where he lost against Shiro Koshinaka in an outdoor show in Urawa . After losing his first seventeen consecutive matches, Misawa had his first win on October 9 in
9617-550: The Budokan's maximum capacity. For his first defense of 1998, at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on January 26, Misawa defeated Akiyama by debuting the Emerald Flowsion . One month later, he had his final successful defense of the reign against Johnny Ace at the sold-out Budokan. This February 28 event was the first in a Budokan sellout streak that would last until Misawa's departure from AJPW. Misawa entered
9780-726: The Can-Am Express , and four days later, Misawa wrestled Bret Hart to a time-limit draw at the WWF/NJPW/AJPW Supershow in the Dome. Later that month, top star Genichiro Tenryu abruptly departed AJPW. He disagreed with Baba's creative direction, especially the booker's resistance to shootfighting influence on the All Japan product. Tenryu received a lucrative offer from Hachiro Tanaka, executive of eyewear company Megane Super, who had been interested in building his own wrestling promotion (and had almost signed Keiji Mutoh instead, but
9943-475: The Carnival against Taue on April 15. On May 26, he won his second Triple Crown championship against Stan Hansen in Sapporo, ending his then-record fourth (and final) Triple Crown reign. Misawa and Kobashi lost the tag titles in the Tokyo Sports match of the year on June 9, when the Holy Demon Army defeated them at Budokan. What made this match particularly significant is that it was the first time Kawada got
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#173310650122610106-465: The Champion Carnival for the second and final time in another match against Akiyama. In an effort to increase All Japan Pro Wrestling's visibility amidst unsatisfactory sales and television viewership numbers, Baba decided after years of refusal to book the Tokyo Dome for a belated AJPW 25th Anniversary show on May 1, despite the reservations of Misawa and Kobashi. Plans to use this as a "soft reset" for
10269-652: The Erotic Terrorist . Due to the way Kawada's contract with DSE was structured, he was free to work where he pleased (including New Japan Pro-Wrestling , Pro Wrestling Noah , and other various independent groups). However, when All Japan reopened relations with FEG to begin running WRESTLE-1 shows again in 2005 with the parent company of PRIDE's biggest competitor in Japan (that being the K-1 fighting group, run by FEG), DSE requested that Kawada not work for All Japan any longer because of
10432-497: The GHC Heavyweight Championship for 448 days, his longest championship reign since his fourth Triple Crown reign, and made seven successful defenses throughout 2007. The first of these was on January 12, when he defeated Takeshi Morishima . On April 28, he defended against Takuma Sano . Bison Smith challenged Misawa on June 3, and Taue challenged on July 15. In late August, it was announced that Misawa would be on
10595-525: The Holy Demon Army. On March 2, Misawa defended the Triple Crown against Gary Albright , who had signed with AJPW in late 1995 after departing the UWFi. This was the main event that broke AJPW's Tokyo sellout streak, drawing only 14,000 people to Budokan. In April, Misawa participated in the Champion Carnival, and tied for third place. On May 24, at the Nakajima Sports Center in Sapporo, Misawa dropped
10758-667: The June 3, 1994. Their 36-minute bout was highly acclaimed by journalists and magazines, being called the greatest match of the decade in later years. After Williams lifted the Triple Crown from Misawa, Kawada defeated Williams on October 22, 1994; his title reign lasted one successful defense, as he went to a one-hour draw with Kenta Kobashi in Osaka on January 19; it has been called the greatest one hour match in pro wrestling history by Wrestling Observer 's Dave Meltzer . Stan Hansen ended Kawada's Triple Crown reign on March 4, 1995. Kawada pinned Misawa for
10921-653: The November 2 and 3 Ring of Honor (ROH) Glory By Honor cards in Philadelphia and New York City respectively. On September 29, Misawa defeated Marufuji in a rematch for the GHC title, and on October 27, Misawa successfully defended against Samoa Joe in a Budokan show with 14,000 people in attendance. The following week, Misawa traveled to the United States for the ROH appearances. On
11084-515: The Tiger Mask II gimmick strained his knees. According to Masanobu Fuchi , Misawa was actually more interested in working a ground-based style, and years later, he would comment that it was more difficult to elicit crowd reaction when working under the hood. Nonetheless, since the audience expected the superhuman from the Tiger Mask character, crowds were more difficult to impress during this period than they were after his unmasking. Upon his return,
11247-587: The Tiger Mask-Kobayashi program culminated on August 31 when Misawa won the title from Kobayashi in a rematch, with a variation of the tiger suplex wherein one of Misawa's hands was used to put Kobayashi in a half nelson before lifting him; this would become known as the Tiger Suplex '85 . After a successful defense in Aizuwakamatsu against Chavo Guerrero Sr. on October 28, Baba graduated Misawa to
11410-495: The Tokyo Dome with 53,000 people in attendance (the day after Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas drew 30,000 people). Despite the event's success, Misawa's match was never broadcast on television, since performers' contracts included exclusivity clauses to the television networks which broadcast their respective promotions' programming. On April 9, Misawa and Kenta Kobashi won the All Asia Tag Team Championship from
11573-470: The Toukon Memorial Day event in the Tokyo Dome. The two wrestled to a thirty-minute time-limit draw, as has been Noah's insistence, particularly from Ryu Nakata, in order to bolster the nascent company's credibility. On September 23, 2002, Misawa defeated GHC Heavyweight champion Takayama to begin his second reign. Takayama was at the peak of his stardom, due to his fight against Don Frye at Pride 21 , and according to Meltzer in his 2009 Misawa obituary, this
11736-709: The Triple Crown Championship; Sasaki accepted, and Kawada challenged for the title at All-Japan's 35th Anniversary Pro Wrestling Love in Yoyogi show on October 18, 2007. Kawada also teamed with Ryuji Hijikata to challenge Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima on September 29, 2007, at the final show of the Flashing Tour. Kawada competed in Block A of the 2008 Champion Carnival in April, where he most notably wrestled Hiroshi Tanahashi to
11899-484: The Triple Crown championship on May 2, in the main event of the Giant Baba Retirement Show (so named because AJPW did not want to consider it a memorial event ) at the Tokyo Dome. On May 7, a press conference was held to announce that Misawa was the new AJPW president. One month later, on June 11, Misawa successfully defended against Kobashi at Budokan. For the second consecutive year, Misawa and Kobashi won
12062-452: The Triple Crown in the place of what looked to be the time for "his push". Kawada worked one interpromotional match on a major UWFi show, but All Japan chose not to follow up on either a promotional feud with UWFi nor on the sudden attention Kawada drew. He was allowed out of the doghouse in time for Kawada & Taue to break through in 1996 to win the World's Strongest Tag Determination League for
12225-516: The Triple Crown on 3 July 2006, Taiyo Kea named Kawada as the first challenger for the title, and the match was held at the inaugural Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku event on 27 August. However, Kawada was unsuccessful, falling to his own finishing maneuver (the powerbomb). Kawada continued to compete in both All-Japan and HUSTLE, as well as defeating Shinsuke Nakamura at the All-Japan/New Japan "Wrestle Kingdom" supershow on January 4, 2007, with
12388-502: The Triple Crown programs and finishes through the end of 1998. In October, he started wrestling tag matches with Yoshinari Ogawa . At the Budokan on October 31, Misawa faced Triple Crown champion Kobashi for the title, and won to start his fourth Triple Crown reign in 43:29. This match was rated Match of the Year by Tokyo Sports , Nippon Sports , and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Misawa and Ogawa participated in
12551-575: The United States during the 1990s, Misawa had a significant stylistic influence upon independent wrestling , through the popularity of his work among tape-traders worldwide including the United States , the United Kingdom , Canada , and Australia . Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the second incarnation of the Tiger Mask gimmick in 1984, which he wrestled as, through to the decade's end. After
12714-464: The World Tag Team Championship for the sixth time, breaking a record they shared with not only Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu , but Terry Gordy and Steve Williams as well. Following the June 2000 series, Misawa and all but two native talent in All Japan resigned from their positions and defected to the newly formed Pro Wrestling Noah promotion; Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi were the only two native talent to stay with All Japan Pro Wrestling. With
12877-442: The World Tag Team belts for the 1994 WSTDL, which they won for the second consecutive year on December 10 against Williams and Ace in 25:05. Although they only defended the belts once, Misawa and Kobashi's first reign was the longest in the title's history for over a decade. On January 24, 1995, they successfully defended against the Holy Demon Army, working to a time limit draw. The story of this match had Kawada knock out Misawa with
13040-458: The World Tag Team titles back from the Holy Demon Army, in another sixty-minute time limit draw in Nagoya . Misawa won his first Triple Crown defense against Kobashi ten days later, but the two again entered the 1995 WSTDL as a team, defeating the Holy Demon Army for Misawa's fourth consecutive win of the tournament. In a story similar to previous matches between the teams, Misawa sold a Kawada kick to
13203-507: The World tag titles, but Taue pinned Kobashi for a successful defense. Misawa injured his shoulder in July and missed a few small dates. However, Tsuruta was also absent from the tour, for what was initially reported as a knee injury, and then as a case of gout upon his return, but was actually more serious, and AJPW did not want to lose both of their biggest draws for a whole tour. As a result, Misawa
13366-460: The Year awards from Tokyo Sports and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Meltzer wrote in 2015 that the Misawa/Kobashi rivalry "peaked" with this match. Misawa said afterwards that this would be their final singles match, and with the exception of the opening match of Noah's 2004 Christmas Eve show (a ten-minute time-limit draw), this would be honored. At Great Voyage 2004 on January 10, in
13529-502: The apron unprovoked. However, when he tapped the active Misawa's shoulder minutes later, Misawa retaliated with an elbow strike that downed Tsuruta for several minutes. On June 8, Misawa would face Tsuruta for the main event at Budokan. Baba was convinced in consultation with wrestling journalist Tarzan Yamamoto that Misawa had to defeat Tsuruta by pinfall. According to a now-famous backstage story which has been recounted several times by Meltzer, Baba's decision to put Misawa over came during
13692-520: The attende. Misawa and Koshinaka arrived in Mexico on March 16, 1984, where they wrestled for EMLL as a tag team under the names Samurai Shiro and the Kamikaze (or Kamikaze Misawa). Misawa improved his aerial skills under the guidance of La Fiera , and on April 5, Misawa had his first major singles championship match, headlining Arena México and wrestling NWA World Middleweight champion El Satánico to
13855-542: The beginning of a feud between the Super Generation Army, with Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi , and the Tsuruta-gun stable, a mix of veterans and younger talent. Akira Taue was initially among Misawa's allies, but he soon defected to Tsuruta-gun. On July 27, Misawa made his first challenge for the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship in July, losing to Stan Hansen. Misawa lost to Tsuruta in
14018-471: The belts to No Fear in the sold-out Ariake Coliseum. On February 17, 2002, at Nippon Budokan, Misawa teamed with the returning Kobashi for a match against Akiyama and Yuji Nagata which Akiyama pinned Kobashi to win. It appeared that Kobashi was going to resume full-time work for Noah in their next tour, and this was greatly anticipated, as the return show had sold out over a month in advance. However, Kobashi further damaged ligaments in his left knee during
14181-460: The ceremony and greeted Taue. Outside of professional wrestling, he has owned and managed a ramen shop in Tokyo entitled "Men-gerous K". During his visit to Japan for the 2023 G1 Climax, Eddie Kingston visited the shop and spoke to Kawada, paying his respects. The two reconnected at Starrcast that year, with Sonny Oono providing translation. At both meetings, Kawada teased Kingston about his use of
14344-542: The championship to Akiyama on July 28, in a sold-out Budokan event for the promotion's one-year anniversary. In October, Misawa and Ogawa participated in the Navigation Tug of War tournament to determine the first GHC Tag Team champions , but were eliminated in the semi-finals by Akiyama and Saito. Misawa and Ogawa became the second team to hold the belts when they defeated Scorpio and Vader on November 30 in Sapporo, but this reign only lasted nine days before they dropped
14507-462: The championship to Taue, who had won that year's Carnival. The next week, Misawa and new partner Jun Akiyama won the World Tag Team titles from the Holy Demon Army. They made two successful defenses—the first on June 8 against Williams and Ace (voted match of the year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter ), and the second on July 9 against the Holy Demon Army —before dropping the titles to Williams and Ace on September 5. Misawa and Akiyama entered
14670-535: The character at a July 31 show in the Kuramae Kokugikan , and in his first match he defeated La Fiera at the sold-out Denen Coliseum on August 26. Misawa would notably work with Jerry Estrada and Pirata Morgan over the rest of the year. In 1985, Baba would bring in top junior-heavyweight talents and high flyers to further establish the new Tiger Mask, including the Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi ,
14833-490: The company product, including an FMW -style exploding ring deathmatch with Atsushi Onita and a potential partnership with the WWF , were vetoed by Baba, who believed that "if [they] were to do this, it would have to be as service to [their] fans". For the main event of this show, Kawada received his second title shot against Misawa during this reign, which All Japan announced in a March 16 press conference would have no time limit. In
14996-578: The conference would depart with Misawa to form a new promotion in August. The next day, Misawa announced the name of the new promotion: Pro Wrestling Noah . On June 20, Misawa met with Nippon TV officials, who had cancelled All Japan's television program, and secured a time slot for Noah programming. On July 20, he wrestled his last AJPW match for several years, in which he and Ogawa won against Taue and Masao Inoue . Pro Wrestling Noah debuted with two events, collectively called Departure, on August 5 and 6 at Differ Ariake . While they sold out in minutes,
15159-402: The conflict of interest. On July 18, 2005, at the Tokyo Dome, Kawada wrestled one final 27-minute classic against his old rival Mitsuharu Misawa. In July 2006, All Japan officially ended their relationship with FEG. Kawada immediately expressed interest to work in his home promotion once again, and finally made his long-awaited return on July 30, 2006, defeating D'Lo Brown . Following his win of
15322-547: The decade, but as business declined and top star Kobashi left in 2006 for cancer treatment, Misawa continued to work a full-time schedule, despite mounting injuries, for the company's survival. On June 13, 2009, during a tag match in Hiroshima with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith , Misawa accidentally died after a botched belly-to-back suplex from Saito; his death was attributed to his numerous injuries that he had received for years before his death. Misawa
15485-447: The departure of Genichiro Tenryu , Misawa unmasked mid-match in May 1990 and began a rivalry with company ace Jumbo Tsuruta . Misawa's victory over Tsuruta on June 8, 1990, led AJPW to sell out every Tokyo event they held into early 1996, and as Tsuruta receded from the main event due to hepatitis , Misawa was cemented as AJPW's ace when he won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship from Stan Hansen in August 1992 and held it for
15648-415: The distinction of having competed in 21 matches that were given a perfect 5-star rating by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter , and three Tokyo Sports Match of the Year awards, which too brought him the distinction of being nicknamed the "Best Match Machine" ( 名勝負製造機 , Mei shōbu seizō-ki ) . Kawada was very active during his high school years in amateur wrestling , becoming
15811-534: The event itself as, in the culmination of a trend that had been observed at house shows leading to this, Baba arrived at the venue to fans chanting "Misawa" outside, and noticed a significant boost in Misawa merchandise sales. Misawa defeated Tsuruta in a 24-minute match. This show had drawn about 500 people shy of a sellout, which was a rare attendance figure for All Japan. However, the momentum of Misawa's push led All Japan to sell out every event they held in Tokyo after this until early 1996. This victory also marked
15974-671: The events themselves were not profitable. The low ticket prices attracted scalpers, who resold $ 60 ringside seats for $ 2700. Noah also spent more than the live gate of the first show to place a screen in the parking lot for the 1,300 people watching outside the venue. In the first show's main event, Misawa and Taue lost to Kobashi and Akiyama in a two-out-of-three-falls tag match, and in the second, Misawa and Ogawa defeated Kentaro Shiga and Daisuke Ikeda . The company would struggle to grow from here, because legal threats against NTV from Motoko Baba kept Noah off television until April 2001. Misawa had not expected as much of AJPW's talent to join him in
16137-432: The exodus as they had, and financial difficulties caused Misawa to cancel his insurance and borrow money from his home to fund their salaries. However, Noah sold out their biggest show to date, December 23's Great Voyage at Ariake Coliseum , well in advance. In his first major singles match for his own promotion, Misawa defeated Vader in the semi-main event. Another problem for Noah arose on January 18, 2001, when, during
16300-402: The eye by lying outside the ring for ten minutes. Kobashi managed to get the pinfall himself, though, with a moonsault to Taue. This would be Misawa's final WSTDL win, and through this win he and Kobashi became the first tag team since Terry and Dory Funk Jr. to win the tournament three times. The tag titles, however, did not change hands, as they had not been vacated before the tournament by
16463-490: The feud, Kawada began a heated rivalry with Tsuruta's main partner Akira Taue , stemming over Taue defecting to Tsuruta's side. Misawa and Kawada would win the World Tag Team Championship twice, as well as the 1992 World's Strongest Tag Determination League . He earned his first Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship opportunity on October 24, 1991, unsuccessfully challenging Tsuruta, and was also turned back in
16626-560: The finals, and on April 22 in the Nakajima Sports Center , Misawa made his televised debut in the final match for the Lou Thesz Cup (which Thesz himself refereed), again wrestling Koshinaka to a loss. Baba had intended to send the tournament winner on a foreign excursion, but while Misawa lost the match, he was perceived as the superior talent, despite Koshinaka being three years his senior, so Baba decided to send them both. Misawa had his first title match on May 20, when he and Koshinaka unsuccessfully challenged Mighty Inoue and Ashura Hara for
16789-556: The first night, he teamed with Kenta Kobayashi to face Morishima and Marufuji, wrestling to a thirty-minute time-limit draw. The following night, he defended against Kobayashi. Despite having reportedly contracted flu, this match was considered by some to have been Misawa's best in years, and Meltzer stated in 2009 that it was Misawa's final singles match "in the **** [four-star] range". On December 2, Misawa and Akiyama wrestled Kobashi and Takayama, in Kobashi's return match. This match, which
16952-432: The first time in their rivalry, pinning him in 6:09. On May 31, 1997, Misawa had a six-man tag with Kobashi and Kentaro Shiga against Williams, Richard Slinger and Lacrosse which was billed as Misawa and Kobashi's last match as tag partners. After they won, Kobashi thanked Misawa with a handshake. The next week, Misawa defeated Kawada again in a June 6 Triple Crown match. On a sold-out July 25 Budokan show, Misawa made
17115-489: The first time inside the Tokyo Dome , though not in an AJPW event. NJPW president Seiji Sakaguchi asked Baba to help the company with their second Tokyo Dome show after plans with WCW fell through, and he agreed under the condition that the AJPW wrestlers would not be beaten or made to look weak. Misawa teamed with Genichiro Tenryu in a victory by countout against George Takano and Riki Choshu , in an event that sold out
17278-562: The first time on June 9, 1995, when he teamed with Taue to face Misawa and Kobashi, but Misawa and Kobashi came back to defeat them in the Tag League Final in the last straight tag meeting of the two teams. Kawada spent much of 1996 in Giant Baba's doghouse for publicly questioning All Japan's isolationist promotional policy at a time when rival New Japan drew record business running interpromotional matches; he watched Taue and Kobashi win
17441-421: The first time since 1974. Reigning Triple Crown champion Kobashi defeated him in the semifinal, and went on to win his first Champion Carnival after ten consecutive appearances. While Misawa became company president in 1999, and had been head booker for several months before that, Shohei Baba's widow Motoko held eighty-five percent of AJPW's shares with Nippon TV holding the other fifteen. There were reports of
17604-455: The first time, beating Misawa and Jun Akiyama . Kawada pinned Misawa for the first time in a singles match in the 1997 Carnival Finals mini-round robin, then followed up to pin Kobashi the same night to win the Carnival championship for the second time; neither win had quite the impact one would expect given the results. Kawada and Taue would take their second straight World Tag League championship to close out year that saw both spend much of it in
17767-493: The first two-time GHC Tag Team champions, and this reign would last far longer than their first. After successful defenses on March 6 against Ikeda and Muhammad Yone , and on April 25 against Kobayashi and Marufuji, Misawa and Ogawa appeared for American independent promotion Pro Wrestling IRON, defending the belts against Nigel McGuinness and Bart Blaxson on June 11 in San Leandro, California . Misawa and Ogawa's next defense
17930-501: The following year in Triple Crown challenges to Stan Hansen (June 5, 1992) and Misawa (October 21, 1992); the match with Hansen was named Match of the Year by Tokyo Sports , and finished second behind the Misawa match in Weekly Pro Wrestling's year end fan poll for Match of the Year. In early 1993, after it became apparent that Tsuruta's days as a competitive wrestler were over, All Japan promoter Giant Baba asked Kawada to form
18093-442: The greatest professional wrestling matches of all time, and even the "consensus Greatest Match of All Time" from the tape-trading era of American puroresu fandom. Although he and Kobashi successfully defended against Steve Williams and Johnny Ace on July 22, Misawa dropped the world championship to Williams six days later. At 705 days, Misawa's first reign is the longest in Triple Crown history. Misawa and Kobashi vacated
18256-602: The heavyweight class due to his knee problems, and the championship was vacated in March 1986. While he did not stop performing aerial maneuvers, Misawa would use them more sparingly going forward. On April 19, 1986, Misawa and Baba participated in the Crockett Cup , a single-elimination tag team tournament held at the Louisiana Superdome . They reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to eventual second-place team Ronnie Garvin and Magnum T. A. The next day, Misawa
18419-673: The inaugural GHC Heavyweight champion . At the first stop of the tour in Differ Ariake, Misawa defeated Akitoshi Saito in the first round, and proceeded to the finals after victories over Ogawa in Okayama on April 4, and Akiyama in Hiroshima on April 11. For Noah's first television taping, at the Kokusai International Center on April 1 (aired April 6), Misawa and Ogawa won against Marufuji and Takeshi Rikio . On April 15, before
18582-471: The last match Kawada has wrestled to date. Although at the time, Kawada had not announced a formal retirement, he admitted that the death of his rival Misawa in 2009 diminished his passion for the sport. In 2013, he attended Kenta Kobashi's own retirement ceremony and greeted his also former rival; however, he refused to participate in Akira Taue's retirement match later in the year, although he similarly attended
18745-409: The locker room to have his wife leave the company. He was somewhat successful in that she ceased to have any creative influence when Misawa began booking. Misawa attempted to keep her content by maintaining the same salary that she had been paid when her husband was alive (approximately $ 500,000), but since she was the majority shareholder this did not change the power dynamic. Misawa's wish to change
18908-504: The match he could not remember the finish afterwards; Baba announced that Misawa would take a break to heal. Misawa returned on August 22 to work the first main event of the Summer Action Series II tour, a six-man match with Akiyama and Satoru Asako against Kobashi, Ace, and Johnny Smith . He admitted that his knees were still a problem and that he only felt sixty percent healthy, but he considered his return necessary because
19071-488: The match. Kobashi was advised to take the next six months off, or have major surgery that would prevent him from wrestling for another year. While he initially intended to ignore medical opinion, Misawa cancelled his appearances. This essentially forbade Kobashi from returning before he was ready, despite the increased business that this would have brought Noah. On May 5, Misawa wrestled his first match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling since 1990, in which he faced Masahiro Chono for
19234-467: The news on June 12. At an emergency board meeting held in response on June 13, co-vice president Mitsuo Momota and fellow boardsmen Kobashi, Taue, Kenichi Oyagi, and Yoshihiro Momota collectively resigned from their positions. On June 16, Misawa led a press conference, in which he was accompanied by all of AJPW's native wrestlers except Kawada and Fuchi. He announced that after finishing their last commitments to AJPW in July, all 23 who accompanied him to
19397-515: The penultimate match of a card at the Nippon Budokan, Misawa received an NWA title shot against Ricky Steamboat , which he lost. He ruptured his left Anterior cruciate ligament during the match, and was inactive for the rest of 1989. Misawa returned after his injury by participating in a main-event battle royal at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on January 2, 1990, the first date of AJPW's New Year Giant Series. On February 10, Misawa would wrestle for
19560-447: The position, before Tsuruta himself was forced out of the company with no severance package. Momota, who would function as an intermediary between Misawa and Motoko, ran the office while Misawa was trained for the position. After Misawa and Ogawa unsuccessfully challenged Kobashi and Akiyama for the tag titles in the semi-main event at a March 6 Budokan show, Misawa placed third in the 1999 Champion Carnival. He then defeated Vader for
19723-606: The premier rivals of the original. While he was Sayama's most notable rival during his time as Tiger Mask, the Dynamite Kid had signed with the WWF by this time, so Kobayashi became Misawa's most notable feud in this period. Their first match on February 1 ended in double disqualification, when Kobayashi ripped up Misawa's mask and busted him open by running him into the ring post. A rematch at Sumo Hall on March 9 ended in double count-out. On June 21, in his first match at Nippon Budokan , Misawa unsuccessfully challenged Kobayashi for
19886-405: The previous two years, Misawa reached the finals, with nine wins, two losses to Kobashi and Williams, and one draw against Kawada. However, as he, Kobashi, and Kawada had achieved a three-way tie, a one-night round-robin tournament playoff between the three was held to determine the victor. After Misawa and Kobashi wrestled first to a time-limit draw, Kawada defeated Misawa in singles competition for
20049-448: The product closely and bought a Noah show to see Misawa and Kobashi. Misawa had planned to retire in 2007, but he was the only consistent top draw that Noah had. Misawa decided to put the world title on himself for Noah's survival, because he felt pressured to appear on every show at least until Kobashi returned. He defeated Marufuji at Great Voyage at the Budokan on December 10 to win his third GHC Heavyweight Championship. Misawa held
20212-448: The promotion gutted of top talent, Kawada's old mentor Genichiro Tenryu was brought back and an interpromotional agreement was struck with New Japan; the first key match against New Japan saw Kawada defeat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki on October 9, 2000, in a non-title match. On September 6, 2003, he won the Triple Crown for the fifth time in a tournament final against Shinjiro Ohtani . This time, however, Kawada embarked on
20375-404: The promotion's second Tokyo Dome event, he faced Kawada for the first time since the exodus in the main event, which he won. Noah claimed a sellout crowd of 62,000 people attended the event, but a later earnings report recorded that the company lost 10 million yen on the show. Destiny was Noah's final Tokyo Dome event. Misawa unsuccessfully challenged Rikio for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in
20538-566: The remains of Jumbo's faction, who were being led by Akira Taue. However, Kawada and Taue ended their feud with a handshake after wrestling to a draw in the 1993 Champion Carnival, and shortly thereafter formed the Holy Demon Army ( 聖鬼軍 , Seikigun ). Kenta Kobashi would take Kawada's place as Misawa's tag partner. Misawa entered the 1993 Champion Carnival and reached the finals to face Hansen again, who defeated him for his second Carnival victory on April 21 in Yokohama. Nevertheless, Misawa made
20701-519: The result of these disagreements, the AJPW executive board voted to remove Misawa from the presidential position on May 28. All parties agreed to keep this news private until the end of the current tour, and Misawa attempted to persuade Baba to give him her public blessings to start a new company, so as to smooth the public transition and preserve the legacies of Giant Baba and the recently deceased Tsuruta. Baba refused this proposal or relinquishment of any of her majority share, and so Tokyo Sports broke
20864-449: The second was against Kobashi on October 21 at the Budokan, during AJPW's 25th anniversary event. The latter won the Match of the Year award from Tokyo Sports . Misawa and Akiyama entered the 1997 WSTDL, and reached the finals against the Holy Demon Army again, to lose at Budokan on December 5. AJPW announced the show had sold out, but it was reported as actually having drawn 800 seats below
21027-562: The semi-main event by Kobashi and Taue when Kobashi pinned Misawa. On March 1, 2003, in the sold-out Budokan, Kobashi used the Burning Hammer to defeat Misawa for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, in their first Noah singles meeting. Like Kawada's Tokyo Dome win over Misawa in 1998, this was the culmination of years of failure on Kobashi's end to overcome Misawa in title matches. The resultant match received significant critical acclaim. As they had done in 1999, Misawa and Kobashi won Match of
21190-581: The semi-main event of Battle Banquet. On September 10, Misawa and Ogawa defended against Saito and Inoue, and on October 24, they defended against Taue and Takuma Sano . Misawa returned to AJPW on October 31 for the Keiji Mutoh: Love and Bump pay-per-view , where he and Mutoh defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in what was billed as a "Special Dream Tag Match". After another successful GHC Tag Team defense against Donovan Morgan and Michael Modest on December 4 in Yokohama, Misawa and Ogawa lost
21353-411: The shadows of Misawa and Kobashi. The crowning moment of Kawada's career came on May 1, 1998, as he pinned Misawa for the second time to win the Triple Crown at All Japan's first Tokyo Dome show AJPW 25th Anniversary . However, he was promptly defeated by Kobashi on June 12, 1998, in his first title defense. After receiving little singles push over the last half of 1998, Kawada was given (with no build up)
21516-406: The situation was that, as of the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2000, all the promotion's talent were working as free agents, since Misawa was not authorized to give the raises he intended to award all native workers. Misawa had also wanted to modernize their contracts, providing wrestlers with full medical coverage, full injury pay, and possibly stock options (which NJPW's contracts offered). As
21679-561: The sold-out Budokan on September 18, and on Noah's final Budokan show of the year on November 5, which sold out, he defeated Genichiro Tenryu. On the undercard of Noah's April 23, 2006, Budokan show, Misawa and Ogawa defeated Minoru Suzuki and Takahiro Suwa . Noah announced an attendance of 14,200 people, but the real number was reportedly under 10,000. In July, Misawa announced that Kobashi would be out indefinitely to treat kidney cancer , which had been diagnosed through tests run during his annual physical. Noah's next Budokan show on July 16
21842-542: The sold-out Budokan, Misawa and Ogawa began their second GHC Tag Team Championship reign when they defeated NJPW stars Yuji Nagata and Hiroshi Tanahashi . Alongside Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta Kobayashi winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championships from El Samurai and Wataru Inoue in the semi-main event, this was a victory for Noah as they had lost their last four interpromotional matches with NJPW talent. This also made Misawa and Ogawa
22005-456: The tag titles against the Holy Demon Army on May 21 in Sapporo. Two weeks later, on June 3, Misawa defeated Kawada at Budokan in Kawada's third challenge for the title, and the final successful defense of Misawa's first Triple Crown reign. This match was the second to receive a six-star rating from Dave Meltzer, and would be the last one to do so until 2017. It has been specifically cited as one of
22168-499: The time of his death held the record for most WON five star matches, with 25 , including one as Tiger Mask. His match with Kawada on June 3, 1994, has been cited as one of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time. Misawa was born Mitsuharu Kotake ( 小竹 光晴 , Kotake Mitsuharu ) in Yūbari , Hokkaidō , but the family moved to Koshigaya , Saitama as the coal mine where his father worked declined. Originally, his name
22331-509: The title against Misawa and Kenta Kobashi on June 1, 1993, in a match that Baba (at the time) regarded as the greatest match he'd ever seen; it was the first of nine legendary matches between the sides, and Kawada would hold the World Tag Team Championship with Taue six times . Kawada's greatest achievement to that point came when he won the 1994 Champion Carnival by defeating Steve Williams on April 16. Kawada followed by losing his third straight Triple Crown challenge against Mitsuharu Misawa in
22494-602: The titles to Doug Williams and Scorpio on January 23, 2005, when Scorpio pinned Ogawa. Misawa made several interpromotional appearances in the first half of 2005, including a UK tour. On March 18, he and Ogawa defeated Doug Williams and Stevie Knight in a British Championship Wrestling event. The next day, at The Wrestling Channel's International Showdown supercard, Misawa, Ogawa, and Kotaro Suzuki were defeated by Williams, Scorpio, and James Tighe . On March 20, Misawa and Suzuki appeared for German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling , losing to Ares and Ahmed Chaer. At
22657-505: The titles, foreshadowing Misawa's main-event push . The tour built up to the Misawa-Tsuruta match through a series of six-man tags in which Misawa and fellow young stars, later to be known under the faction name of the Super Generation Army ( 超世代軍 , Chosedaigun ), wrestled Tsuruta's stable . During the third of these matches, at Korakuen Hall on May 26, Tsuruta bullied Misawa's partners, Kobashi and Akira Taue , by knocking them off
22820-640: The tournament with 5 points (2 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw). During the Hold Out Tour on April 22, 2007, Toshiaki Kawada lost to Vampiro, after the Great Muta had interfered and sprayed mist in Kawada's eyes. Muta and Vampiro later challenged Kea and Kawada for the World Tag Team Championship at Pro Wrestling Love in Nagoya (on April 30), but Kawada and Kea were successful in their defense of the belts. On June 24, 2007, Satoshi Kojima turned his back on All-Japan Pro Wrestling and aligned himself with All-Japan's nemesis,
22983-489: The two tours without him had been the worst-performing in company history. Misawa and Akiyama officially disbanded their team on August 30 after defeating Kobashi and Takao Omori in the main event of a show in Hakata. While he had had creative influence before this, it was around September when Misawa took over the booker position almost entirely after he reportedly threatened to start his own promotion. However, Baba still booked
23146-605: The wake of the Great Recession . This marked the end of a 55-year period of wrestling programming on the station, going back to the JWA . The program, which had been airing in a thirty-minute Sunday slot floating between 1:30 and 3 AM, was still Noah's best means of mainstream exposure. Misawa appeared at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom III on January 4, 2009, losing alongside Takashi Sugiura to Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto . On March 1, Noah held their final NTV taping at Budokan, with
23309-657: The way for a powerbomb, dropped him onto his neck. The match involving Kawada and Misawa was the last match that Giant Baba would watch, having reportedly called it the best match he had ever seen. Nine days later, he died of liver failure from complications of colon cancer. Misawa had not been aware of the severity of his condition, which was only known by Baba's innermost circle: his wife Motoko, older sister, and daughter, as well as referee Kyohei Wada and secretary Ryu Nakata. Although Motoko Baba had selected Mitsuo Momota to succeed her late husband as president, board member Jumbo Tsuruta used his influence to help Misawa inherit
23472-464: Was Noah's first interpromotional match with AJPW wrestlers since the mass exodus. On July 10, Noah held their first Tokyo Dome show, Departure , and in the penultimate match, they defended against AJPW president Keiji Mutoh and Taiyo Kea , one of the few AJPW wrestlers who had not joined the Noah exodus. Eight days later, Misawa had his first AJPW match since July 2000, where he defeated Satoshi Kojima in
23635-501: Was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his 18-year stint with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and for forming Pro Wrestling Noah in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside Toshiaki Kawada , Kenta Kobashi , and Akira Taue , who came to be nicknamed AJPW's " Four Pillars of Heaven ", and whose matches developed the ōdō ( 王道 , "King's Road") style of puroresu and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in
23798-480: Was about to meet the end of his high school days, his close friend Mitsuharu Misawa who had already been recruited in the All Japan Pro Wrestling dojo, a year prior, advised Kawada to try out for the rival company, AJPW instead. Making his professional debut against Hiromichi Fuyuki on the 4th of October, 1982.Kawada was then sent to North America for a year in November 1985, where he gained experience as
23961-460: Was blocked by Sakaguchi). This was initially under the auspices of becoming an ambassador for the brand, but the actual intentions of this deal were made clear months later by the formation of wrestling promotion Super World of Sports (and a resultant exodus of talent in its wake). Since this departure left Jumbo Tsuruta as the only native main event star that the promotion had, Baba made the decision to turn Misawa into his new rising star. During
24124-424: Was defeated by Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. After this, Misawa still felt obligated to work every Noah event; while Kobashi had returned, by this time the company was struggling too much to handle losing Misawa on their cards. His injuries were accumulating, including osteophytes on his neck which caused pain during simple tasks, such as brushing his teeth and touching the collar of his gown, and
24287-401: Was defeated by Vader. In the 1999 WSTDL, Misawa and Ogawa scored nine points (4-1-2), achieving third place in a three-way tie. In a Budokan show on February 27, 2000, Misawa was pinned by Akiyama for the first time in singles competition during the semi main-event. Misawa then entered the 2000 Champion Carnival, which he changed from round-robin format to a single-elimination tournament for
24450-441: Was diagnosed with hepatitis . Due to the void this left in the All Japan product, and Taue's specific need for a tag partner, Baba split Kawada from Misawa in the spring of 1993 to become his premier native rival in singles competition. In early March 1993, Kawada announced that he would no longer work as Misawa's tag partner after the advertised matches on the tour had been fulfilled. At the time he denied that he would join up with
24613-508: Was forced back into action before he was ready, and worked matches while wearing a sling. On August 22, 1992, Misawa defeated Hansen to win the first of what would eventually be five Triple Crown championships. In his first defense, on the final card of the October Giant Series tour, Misawa defeated Kawada at Budokan. He and Kawada would later win the 1992 WSTDL, defeating Taue and Jun Akiyama (who had only debuted that September) on December 4 and earning their second World Tag Team Championship as
24776-487: Was held before a Budokan sellout crowd of 17,000 people (reportedly the venue's all-time attendance record ), and which Misawa won with an Emerald Flowsion to Kobashi off the middle rope, was awarded Match of the Year by Nikkan Sports and Tokyo Sports . Misawa himself was awarded Wrestler of the Year by Tokyo Sports , and received the Nikkan Sports MVP award as determined by fan voting. On March 2, 2008, Misawa
24939-520: Was in midair to cause him to land on his head and shoulders. On February 26, Misawa and Kawada unsuccessfully challenged the team of Terry Gordy and Steve Williams , known as Satsujin Gyorai , for the World Tag Team championships in Sendai . During the match, Misawa was knocked out in kayfabe by a Gordy powerbomb to the arena floor, which left Kawada to fight the champions alone. Misawa then entered
25102-490: Was initially reported that he would be able to return in July, this was much too optimistic as Kobashi would have several more procedures throughout the year. In early 2001, Misawa had his only two matches against Shinya Hashimoto , who had worked on the Great Voyage card. In the first, on January 13, Misawa and Ogawa defeated Hashimoto and Alexander Otsuka at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium when Misawa pinned Otsuka after
25265-503: Was paired with Hiromichi Fuyuki , forming a tag team known as " Footloose ". The duo held the All Asia Tag Team Championship on three occasions between March 9, 1988, and October 20, 1989; their standout rivalries were against Shunji Takano and Shinichi Nakano, as well as against the Can-Am Express ( Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas ). When Revolution stable mate Ashura Hara was expelled from All Japan in 1988 for gambling debts, Kawada
25428-606: Was promoted to team with Tenryu in that year's World's Strongest Tag Determination League , losing a memorable final match to Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy . In the summer of 1990, after Tenryu and a number of other All Japan wrestlers had left the promotion to join Tenryu's newly formed Super World of Sports , Kawada became Mitsuharu Misawa 's main partner in the Jumbo Tsuruta vs Misawa & Co. feud , pitting Tsuruta's "Tsuruta-Gun" against Misawa's "Super Generation Army". As part of
25591-412: Was serious about professional wrestling. Wrestling at 187 pounds (84.8 kilograms ), Misawa won the national high school championship in 1980, and in the same year he placed fifth at the freestyle World Championships, competing in the junior age group. Despite his success, Misawa disliked amateur wrestling, and only saw it as a means to an end for a career in professional wrestling. Misawa entered
25754-437: Was set to have Kobashi and Takayama face Misawa and Akiyama in the main event. This was Takayama's first match in two years, as he had suffered a stroke after a 2004 NJPW G1 Climax match against Kensuke Sasaki . Misawa arranged Sasaki himself as a replacement for Kobashi, and the resultant event was a sellout. After this, though, Budokan show attendance declined throughout the year, as Misawa gave junior heavyweight Marufuji
25917-412: Was supposed to be Hideki, but was changed to Mitsuharu after his mother was denied honors. Misawa had an older brother, who was favored by his father. According to Misawa, his father was violent towards his mother Akiko Misawa, and once stabbed her with a kitchen knife; they divorced during his first year of elementary school and, thus, Mitsuharu and his brother took Misawa as their surname. Misawa won
26080-682: Was taken to the AWA's WrestleRock 86 event by Stan Hansen , where he defeated Buck Zumhofe . Misawa entered his first World's Strongest Tag Determination League (WSTDL) in 1986 alongside Baba, where his role was to lose pinfalls when they faced that year's star teams. The pair would tie for sixth place with three wins, three losses, and one double count-out. The next March, Misawa was defeated in his only match against then- NWA champion Ric Flair . Misawa transitioned into being Tsuruta's occasional tag partner as Tsuruta's feud with Genichiro Tenryu became AJPW's main program. On July 3, Misawa and Tsuruta won
26243-474: Was the inaugural holder of) three times. He was also an eight-time world tag team champion. Fifty-three of the sixty-nine events at the Nippon Budokan that Misawa headlined were sellouts, a drawing record that has been compared to Bruno Sammartino 's run at Madison Square Garden . Misawa was named Wrestler of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter on three occasions (1995, 1997 and 1999), and at
26406-452: Was very controversial at the time, since titles frequently changed hands via countout in Japan. For that year's WSTDL, Misawa teamed with Jimmy Snuka , where they tied for seventh place with seven points. In a tag match held during the League but not towards it, Misawa had his first match against Kenta Kobashi (teaming with Ishikawa) on November 24, which he and Snuka won. On March 8, 1989, in
26569-496: Was when Noah "really started taking off". The match was noted for its brutality, and it caused Takayama to suffer a dislocated AC joint , torn shoulder ligaments, and a broken eye socket bone (the latter was the same injury he received during the Frye bout). Misawa made his only successful defense on December 7, defeating Ogawa. At Great Voyage 2003, the first event of the year (at the sold-out Budokan), Misawa and Chono were defeated in
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