June 13th 2009 is a date that will unfortunately always be remembered in pro wrestling history as the date that one of the legendary wrestlers of any era - Mitsuharu Misawa - passed away in tragic fashion at the age of 46.

For those that missed the news today, Misawa took a routine suplex today from Akitoshi Saito in a match where Misawa was teaming with Go Shiosaki against Saito and Bison Smith. During the landing, Misawa hit his head and was immediately knocked out cold and officials began to attempt to revive Misawa with the crowd completely hushed and the entire locker room coming out from the back area. Misawa was turning purple in the ring and there are varying reports of whether Misawa died in the ring or at the local hospital. In Japan it is being reported that he died at the hospital at 10:10pm in Japan but that may be inaccurate.

For those unfamiliar with the legacy of Misawa and had only heard his name as a talent out of Japan than no amount of words typed here could possibly do justice to what he meant for Japanese puroresu style professional wrestling.

Misawa debuted on August 21st 1981 after transitioning from amateur wrestling and was trained by Dick ‘The Destroyer' Beyer (one of the most popular foreign stars in Japanese history) and Dory Funk Jr. He was positioned strongly right from the start as All Japan Pro Wrestling gave him the ‘Tiger Mask' gimmick, succeeding Satoru Sayama with the gimmick becoming ‘Tiger Mask II' and would compete under the hood until 1990. It was at this time that the company decided to make a huge change with the declining health of Tomomi ‘Jumbo' Tsuruta and had Misawa defeat Tsuruta in a passing of the torch style of match. This coincided with a major philosophical change for All Japan Pro Wrestling promoter Shohei ‘Giant' Baba who focused on all clean finishes from this point onwards and credible main events with Misawa being one of, if not the, focal point of the heavyweight division. For any wrestling fan the golden period of AJPW was during this 90's period where Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Genichiro Tenryu and Jun Akiyama took what professional wrestling was known in Japan to another level with some of the most fantastic matches in the history of the industry, albeit with a very taxing style.

After the death of Baba on January 31st 1999, Misawa became the president of AJPW and ran the company with Baba's widow, Motoko. Out of respect to the death of Baba and how it would look to the Japanese public, Misawa worked with Motoko despite major differences in philosophy when it came to running the business. In August 2000 Misawa left AJPW and took 23 other performers from the promotion along with the promotion's NTV deal and formed Pro Wrestling NOAH in a landscape changing deal in Japan. The closest comparison to this deal would be when Konnan and Antonio Pena left CMLL to form AAA in the early 90's in Mexico.

Pro Wrestling NOAH prospered in the climate and really stood on it own feet after the March 2003 match between Misawa and longtime rival Kenta Kobashi, which won that year's ‘Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year' (1 of 24 of Misawa's five star matches in the newsletter).

Misawa held NOAH's GHC championship three times with his latest reign lasting 16-months and ending in March 2008 where he lost to Takeshi Morishima and goes along with five reigns as Triple Crown champion in AJPW, 2 Champion Carnival tournament wins and numerous other championships.

Misawa shall be remembered as a performer that revolutionized the style of professional wrestling in Japan, whose ripple effects carried over to North America and the world over as evidenced by myriad workers today in promotions across the world. He created a third major league promotion in Japan that created tons of jobs and was able to sustain the promotion in a crowded market place through booking that he learned directly from Giant Baba and held onto a disenchanted wrestling audience that other promotions were having a difficult time appealing to. His keen sense of moving the business forward always meant a focus on younger talent and there was a strong push to elevate talent such as Morishima, KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji to a main event level.  

The future of Pro Wrestling NOAH is very much in question following this tragedy and months after the loss of their NTV television deal and remaining on satellite television in Japan.

The future of NOAH can be discussed on another day because today is simply about remembering a legend in every sense of the word and someone who advanced pro wrestling far beyond the means most average men could possibly envision and the industry is a stronger one because of the contributions of Mitsuharu Misawa.