#13: Mitsuharu Misawa

by Eric

Man this was a tough one, huh? It's easy to say someone isn't as good as they once were, and talk about how fat they've gotten, how much slower they are now, etc. It's harder to appreciate someone for who they have become. Many people have watched Misawa matches the last few years longing for a run like his full 90s run. The problem is, they couldn't accept that he was a different man than his 90s self. He was now the owner of a semi-successful cottage industry promotion, boss of 40+ people, figurehead of the company, and into his 40s. The bumps had caught up, the injuries mounted, injuries hampered training, job stress lead to weight gain, and on and on and on.

This was a different Misawa than any previous year. Sometimes it can be hard to push the young, vibrant, risk-taking Misawa out of our heads and accept him for who he became. It's hard, but is necessary, out of enjoyment of wrestling and respect for the wrestlers, to appreciate what this legend became. Misawa became one of the best characters in wrestling the last couple years before his untimely passing. He was Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven". He wanted to retire. He knew his job was killing him. But people relied on him. People needed him. He couldn't help but keep going. Misawa's face the last couple years was among the most expressive in all of wrestling. With every bump, every shot taken, his face would read "Why can't KENTA or Marufuji get over? Why didn't Morishima work? Why did MMA have to blow apart pro wrestling?" Misawa was Bill Munny reluctantly working one last match, wanting to honor Baba's memory and keep his workers fed, all while doing what was killing him, what he knew was his true nature.

To expect a lightning fast Misawa was just unfair. I saw Link Wray 4 months before he died. He was 76 years old, was wearing a fannypack onstage, and had a back-up guitarist doing most of the licks that his hands couldn't handle any longer. But he played "Rumble" alone, and it sounded as amazing as it must've sounded to the hordes of sexed-up teenagers in 1958. I saw Ron Asheton playing with the Stooges 8 months before his death. He was older, slower, fatter, but that feedback was pure Ron Asheton. That nastiness of "No Fun", oozing out of his amp sounded as great as it must've sounded to greasy Detroit sleeze bags in 1969.

And I saw Misawa live a few years ago. He was older, slower, fatter, and I couldn't help but jump up and down when the lights went out and his music played.

It's easy to write someone off as being past their prime. But we owe it to him to appreciate all the things he still did well - and the things he did even better - than that younger, fresher, faster wrestler.

R.I.P. Misawa, you were the man that got me interested in puro.

Recommended 2008 Matches:

~w/ Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama/Atsushi Aoki (NOAH, 2/21/08)
~vs. Takeshi Morishima (NOAH, 3/2/08)
~w/ Yoshinari Ogawa/Ricky MArvin vs. Akira Taue/Masao Inoue/Kishin Kawabata (NOAH, 5/15/09)
~w/ Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue/Kishin Kawabata (NOAH, 6/29/08)
~w/ Ricky Marvin/Taiji Ishimori vs. Kensuke Sasaki/Katsuhiko Nakajima/Kota Ibushi (NOAH, 10/25/08)
~vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH, 12/7/08)

Recommended Career Matches:

~Close your eyes and point

2009 Outlook:

OK. It doesn't look great. He had a few fun to very good matches in the first 6 months, so I expect he'd be on the list. My only real hope for an '09 Outlook is that Kobashi doesn't try and pick up the slack and overwork himself to the same finish.