Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
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| Mitsuhiro Matsunaga | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mitsuhiro Matsunaga |
| Born | March 24, 1966[1] Chita, Aichi, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Mitsuhiro Matsunaga |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 231 lb (105 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Chita, Aichi, Japan |
| Trained by | Masashi Aoyagi |
| Debut | October 6, 1989 |
| Retired | December 23, 2009 |
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (松永 光広, Matsunaga Mitsuhiro, born March 24, 1966) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and a former mixed martial artist, best known for his deathmatch wrestling style, having competed in memorable deathmatches in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING). He is renowned for participating in the first-ever deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history on December 10, 1989[3] and is also credited for paticipating in a Piranha Deathmatch against Kendo Nagasaki on August 19, 1996, which has been considered to be the most popular and greatest deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history by wrestling journalists and many sports websites and Matsunaga has received critical acclaim for his performance.[4][5]
Professional wrestling career
Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (1989–1990)
Matsunaga was initially trained in martial arts and worked for the World Karate Association (WKA) organization. He received the training of professional wrestling from fellow karateka Masashi Aoyagi and made his wrestling debut for Atsushi Onita's Grudge in Nagoya event promoted under the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) banner on October 6, 1989, by defeating Billy Mack.[6] FMW would bring in martial artists and several fighters to combine matches between professional wrestlers and martial artists and Matsunaga would be roped in to tour with FMW for a few more shows as part of FMW's working partnership with WKA.[3] Matsunaga headlined the Battle Creation event on December 10 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo by teaming with Jerry Blayman against Onita and Tarzan Goto in the company's first-ever barbed wire deathmatch and the first-ever deathmatch in Japan, which Matsunaga and Blayman lost.[7][8][9] This match would set the stage for Matsunaga to establish himself as a deathmatch wrestler. Matsunaga then participated in the Battle Resistance Tournament on January 7, 1990, in which he defeated Katsuji Ueda via disqualification in the first round before losing to eventual winner Masanobu Kurisu in the quarterfinals.[10]
New Japan Pro Wrestling (1991)
Matsunaga left FMW after the partnership of FMW and WKA ended. He worked two shows for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the summer of 1991 in which he traded wins with Masashi Aoyagi.[11][12]
W*ING (1991–1993)
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Danger Bomb (Thunder Fire Powerbomb) – adopted from Atsushi Onita
- Signature moves
- Axe kick
- Fireball
- Roundhouse kick
- W*ING-style Scorpion Hold (Scorpion hold)
- W*ING-style Sleeper (Sleeper hold)
- W*ING-style STF (STF)
- Nicknames
- "Mr. Danger"
References
- ^ a b "Mitsuhiro Matsunaga". Puroresu Central. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Profile". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ a b "FMW History". Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ Daniel Massey. "CvC 2.0: What is the Greatest Death-Match of All Time?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ Jerry Palleschi (May 31, 2017). "WEDNESDAY WRESTLING REVIEW: THE PIRANHA DEATH MATCH". Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "Grudge in Nagoya results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "FMW Battle Creation 12/10/89". YouTube. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "FMW Battle Creation results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "FMW Battle Creation (December 10, 1989)". Atomic Drop. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "FMW Battle Resistance - 1st Open Tounament results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "NJPW Summer Struggle 1991 - Tag 12 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
- ^ "NJPW Summer Night Fever In Nagoya results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.