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Mitsuhiro Matsunaga

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Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
Birth nameMitsuhiro Matsunaga
Born (1966-03-24) March 24, 1966 (age 58)[1]
Chita, Aichi, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
Billed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Billed weight231 lb (105 kg)[2]
Billed fromChita, Aichi, Japan
Trained byMasashi Aoyagi
DebutOctober 6, 1989
RetiredDecember 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]

Wrestling International New Generations (1991–1993)

Matsunaga joined the newly upstart deathmatch wrestling promotion Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) later that year, making his debut on September 20 by defeating Nobuhiro Tsurumaki.[13] He was soon placed in a rivalry against the company's top villain Mr. Pogo and was pushed as the promotion's top fan favorite and the company's ace.[3] After having faced off against each other in many tag team matches throughout the late 1991, Matsunaga and Pogo competed in their first singles match against one another in a Scramble Bunkhouse Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Deathmatch on March 8, 1992 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which Matsunaga lost.[14] Matsunaga rebounded by defeating Pogo in a Fire Deathmatch at One Night One Soul.[15] Matsunaga competed in many memorable deathmatches throughout 1992 and his rivalry with Mr. Pogo was considered a classic.[3] He was then involved in a feud with Leatherface, to whom he lost in a Barbed Wire Deathmatch on October 28.[16] He then suffered another loss against Leatherface in a Spike Nail Deathmatch at We Love W*ING.[17]

On April 3, 1993, Matsunaga won his first title, the promotion's World Tag Team Championship with Yukihiro Kanemura by defeating Freddie Krueger and Leatherface.[18] He vacated the title only six days later to concentrate on his ongoing feud with Leatherface. On May 5, Matsunaga defeated Leatherface in a Spike Nail Deathmatch to gain his first singles win over his nemesis.[19] Matsunaga then defeated Mr. Pogo in a Scramble Bunkhouse Deathmatch in their last meeting against each other in W*ING as Pogo would leave the company afterwards due to a contract dispute and return to FMW.[20] Following Pogo's departure, Matsunaga continued to feud with Freddie Krueger, Leatherface and The Headhunters throughout the summer of 1993. He also made an appearance for Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) in the United States on the August 31 episode of Hardcore TV by teaming with Miguelito Perez to wrestle The Headhunters to a double disqualification.[21] He then toured Mexico to wrestle on two shows for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA).[22][23] Matsunaga's final match in W*ING was a WarGames match, in which Matsunaga, Crash the Terminator and W*ING Kanemura lost to Freddie Krueger, Jado and Gedo at Best Champ on August 25.[24]

Return to FMW (1993–1996)

Main article: W*ING Alliance

Matsunaga followed his rival Mr. Pogo and left W*ING to return to FMW on September 15, 1993 as a villain. He teamed with Pogo to defeat Atsushi Onita and Mr. Gannosuke in a No Ropes Barbed Wire Street Fight Deathmatch.[25] Matsunaga feuded with Onita throughout the fall of 1993 and he challenged Onita for the Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in a highly-anticipated No Ropes Barbed Wire Deathmatch between the two at Year End Spectacular, which was promoted as the first-ever meeting between FMW's ace and W*ING's ace. Onita retained the title.[26] After the match, Matsunaga made friends with Onita and turned fan favorite as he joined the FMW side to feud with Pogo and his entourage. At FMW 5th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1994, Matsunaga and Tarzan Goto unsuccessfully challenged Pogo and Hisakatsu Oya for the Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship.[27] On July 31, Matsunaga teamed with Atsushi Onita to defeat Pogo and Oya for the tag team championship.[28] As a result, Matsunaga renewed his W*ING-era rivalry with Mr. Pogo as the two clashed in a Street Fight Deathmatch at Summer Spectacular, which Matsunaga lost.[29]

Matsunaga had gained fame for his deathmatch wrestling style and was considered by Onita to succeed him as FMW's ace after Onita's retirement at FMW 6th Anniversary Show but Matsunaga's box office drawing power was considered weak by management and the management had to change their mind. On September 7, former W*ING wrestler Yukihiro Kanemura debuted in FMW and quickly joined Mr. Pogo and convinced Matsunaga to join them but a reluctant Matsunaga did not agree to the offer. Matsunaga met Kanemura at a hospital where Kanemura was being treated for some burns suffered in a match and Onita got the pictures of the meeting and accused Matsunaga of having turned on FMW and joined Kanemura which upset Matsunaga and he broke up with Onita and turned on FMW to form W*ING Alliance with Kanemura and Pogo to become a villain and feud with FMW.[3] At 6th Anniversary Show, the W*ING team of Matsunaga, Hido and Hideki Hosaka lost to Takashi Ishikawa, Apollo Sagawa and Kishin Kawabata.[30]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b "Mitsuhiro Matsunaga". Puroresu Central. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  2. ^ "Mitsuhiro Matsunaga Profile". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  3. ^ a b c d e "FMW History". Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  4. ^ Daniel Massey. "CvC 2.0: What is the Greatest Death-Match of All Time?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  5. ^ Jerry Palleschi (May 31, 2017). "WEDNESDAY WRESTLING REVIEW: THE PIRANHA DEATH MATCH". Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  6. ^ "Grudge in Nagoya results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  7. ^ "FMW Battle Creation 12/10/89". YouTube. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  8. ^ "FMW Battle Creation results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  9. ^ "FMW Battle Creation (December 10, 1989)". Atomic Drop. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  10. ^ "FMW Battle Resistance - 1st Open Tounament results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  11. ^ "NJPW Summer Struggle 1991 - Tag 12 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  12. ^ "NJPW Summer Night Fever In Nagoya results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  13. ^ "WING TAKE-OFF 2nd - Tag 7 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  14. ^ "WING WHO'S THE DANGER - Tag 2 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  15. ^ "WING One Night One Soul results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  16. ^ "WING results - October 28, 1992". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  17. ^ "WING We Love Wing results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  18. ^ "WING One Night One Soul results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  19. ^ "WING Danger Road - Tag 2 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  20. ^ "WING Danger Road - Tag 5 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  21. ^ "ECW Hardcore TV #20 results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  22. ^ "UWA results - August 13, 1993". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  23. ^ "CMLL/UWA results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  24. ^ "WING Best Champ (Afternoon Show) results". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  25. ^ "FMW results - September 15, 1993". Cagematch. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  26. ^ "Year End Spectacular 1993 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  27. ^ "FMW 5th Anniversary Show results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  28. ^ "FMW results - July 31, 1994". Cagematch.net. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  29. ^ "Summer Spectacular 1994 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  30. ^ "FMW 6th Anniversary Show results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
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