Pro Wrestling: Death of Misawa and What it Means to MMA
Posted by Dave Walsh on June 15th, 2009
Wrestling is fucked. Excuse the language, but it is true. Also excuse me making a post on this, a blog about MMA and everything legitimate in the fighting world, but this goes unsaid. Mitsuharu Misawa, one of Japan’s living legends in the pro wrestling world is dead and it raises a lot of questions. A lot of legitimate questions. What it also provides for combat sports fans, is a clear line between safety and dangerous when it comes to competing.
What Misawa did for a living was fake fight, essentially. He went out and put on a show that was based loosely on the world of combat. Part showman, part athlete, part fighter and part idiot is how you can explain most people who choose to do what Misawa did for a living. Misawa helped pioneer, along with his peers in All Japan and later Pro Wrestling NOAH a dangerous, high-risk, blurred-reality version of pro wrestling. While still staged, the name of the game was one-up-man-ship and “fighting spirit.” This wasn’t new to Japan, but the way that they went about it was different. Instead of using legitimate strikes and submission holds like wrestlers like Inoki, Maeda and Takada, they opted to toss each other on their head and necks repeatedly to get the crowd excited. Instead of the occasional high risk move where one of the wrestlers lands on their head, matches broke down to what at times felt like an endless cycle of being planted directly on their heads.
It came about during a time when this “real fighting” stuff (the stuff this site is about) was starting to gain steam across the world and leave wrestling behind like the fad that it was. To keep the fans’ fickle interest, wrestlers had to prove how tough they are. What needs to be said and why this is important is that Mitsuharu Misawa was not only the posterboy for this style, but one of the innovators of this style, and this style essentially murdered him while performing. Think about that. Thousands of wrestlers have been inspired by Misawa and his style and adopted it as their own, fighting through the pain and injuries because that was what the fans wanted. The rude awakening is this; it is incredibly dangerous.
So what exactly is the relation to MMA, boxing, kickboxing and other sports? If anything, while they are real and often frowned upon by conservative politicians and members of the media, it cannot be stressed enough how much the State Athletic Commissions involvement in the United States and any other promotion around the world that looks out for their fighters’ safety does. Misawa would work grueling “tours” in Japan, where night after night he would at least suffer trauma to his spine, neck and head, if not worse. In pro wrestling, suffering a concussion and continuing on is all a part of the show. Be it that very show where you suffer it or the next night or the night after, your injury happened and you simply keep going and doing the same thing.
As we’ve seen lately, being a real fighter in the United States means if you suffer a concussion or anything near it, you will not see the inside of a ring until you have received medical clearance or serve a suspension term. Both Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia have had future fights ruined for them after suffering knockout losses in their respective fights. If a fighter is on a medical suspension and decides to compete somewhere that does not honor the suspension, they can face fines and having their license to fight in the United States revoked. Suffering an injury if you are a fighter is very, very serious.
Even in Japan, where things have seemed to be more grey and fuzzy there have been some strides to protect fighters. When DJ Taiki suffered an eye injury, he was replaced and won’t fight until much later when he has healed. Those dangerous soccer kicks and knees that fans loved in PRIDE you won’t see all too often anymore, and if you do, well, you see a fight either end in a no contest or a disqualification.
These protections simply do not exist for pro wrestling, while companies like WWE have some policies in place, suffering a concussion does not mean you won’t perform the next night. In Japan it really seems like there are no real policies towards it, the same can be said for smaller promotions across the United States and other countries. It is just a show, so it must go on, right?
There are a lot of important lessons to be learned from this, but the real question is, will anybody actually pay attention to it, or will they think dropping each other on their heads is a fitting tribute?
I think a lot of MMA fighters should be thankful that there are people looking out for their well-being in an attempt to prevent situations like this from happening.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:36 am
[...] Total MMAPro Wrestling: Death of Misawa and What it Means to MMA [...]
June 16th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
RESPECT DA BIZ~!
June 18th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
He’s not a living legend if he’s dead.
Just saying…
June 18th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
LOL
June 19th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Nah he is like Tinkerbell, if you chant his name enough, he is still alive!
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:21 am
Damn Dave, that post is cold. Good points, if a bit pointed.
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 am
I know, I felt kinda bad writing it. I dug him when I was younger, but honestly he did this to himself and dug his own grave. If anything, it was just to provide a contrast with the people photoshopping wings onto him and talking about having 5* matches in heaven.
July 5th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
god you kids will find anything to bitch about. misawa was a grown man who lived dangerously to be something larger than life and you’re looking for some horse shit commission to be created to stop people like misawa from existing? you have an obama sticker on your volkswagen, dont you?