A powerbomb is a professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted (usually so that they are sitting on the wrestler's shoulders) and then slammed back-first down to the mat. The standard powerbomb sees an opponent first placed in a standing headscissors position (bent forward with their head placed between the attacking wrestler's thighs). The opponent is then lifted on the wrestler's shoulders and slammed down back-first to the mat. A prawn hold is commonly used for a pinning powerbomb.
230-515: Powerbombs are sometimes used in mixed martial arts competitions, when a fighter attempts to slam another fighter who has him trapped in a triangle choke . In professional wrestling, it is also sometimes used by a bigger wrestler as a counter to an attempted hurricanrana by a smaller wrestler. While it was associated with super-heavyweight wrestlers, the move was invented by Lou Thesz . The wrestler first places their opponent face-up across their shoulders, as in an Argentine backbreaker rack , hooks
460-620: A Yoshi Tonic in Japan or Code Red in America, the latter name coined by Amazing Red , and would since be used as a signature move by Mercedes Moné who refers to the move as the Code Blue , notably from 2019-2021 during her time in WWE as Sasha Banks, and as finishers by Zelina Vega and Roxanne Perez , the latter referring to the move as Pop Rox (formerly known as Pop Rok during her time in
690-409: A combat -based style which blended wrestling , kickboxing and submission grappling . Another promotion formed around the same time by Akira Maeda called Fighting Network RINGS initially started as a shoot-style professional wrestling promotion but it also promoted early mixed martial arts contests. From 1995 onwards it began identifying itself as a mixed martial arts promotion and moved away from
920-401: A fencer , and his fight against Taiwanese kung fu master Wu Ming Jeet. Wong combined boxing and kickboxing into his kung fu, as Bruce Lee did. Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki took place in Japan in 1976. The classic match-up between professional boxer and professional wrestler turned sour as each fighter refused to engage in the other's style, and after a 15-round stalemate it was declared
1150-668: A gyaku-ude-garami armlock, which later became known as the "Kimura" in Brazilian jiu jitsu. In 1963, a catch wrestler and judoka " Judo " Gene Lebell fought professional boxer Milo Savage in a no-holds-barred match. Lebell won by Harai Goshi to rear naked choke, leaving Savage unconscious. This was the first televised bout of mixed-style fighting in North America. The hometown crowd was so enraged that they began to boo and throw chairs at Lebell. On February 12, 1963, three karatekas from Oyama dojo ( kyokushin later) went to
1380-474: A "quiet" power struggle between Misawa and Motoko in March 1999, and Tsuruta confirmed this when he left Japan for Portland, Oregon . In fact, the two had had professional tensions long beforehand. Motoko had opposed the decision to push Misawa in the wake of Genichiro Tenryu's departure in 1990. The two began conflicting as early as 1996. In the year before Shohei Baba's death, Misawa even asked him on behalf of
1610-633: A 1905 fight between French savateur George Dubois and a judo practitioner Re-nierand which resulted in the latter winning by submission, as well as the highly publicized 1957 fight between French savateur and professional boxer Jacques Cayron and a young Japanese karateka named Mochizuki Hiroo which ended when Cayron knocked Hiroo out with a hook . Catch wrestling appeared in the late 19th century, combining several global styles of wrestling , including Indian pehlwani and English wrestling. In turn, catch wrestling went on to greatly influence modern MMA. No-holds-barred fighting reportedly took place in
1840-498: A Budokan show on April 24 which drew 15,800 people, Misawa and Suzuki lost to Marufuji and Minoru Suzuki . During this event, Kawada made his first appearance for Noah after the third match. He then challenged Misawa to a match on Noah's July 18 Tokyo Dome show. In his final interpromotional appearance of the year, Misawa and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Masahiro Chono and Jushin Liger at NJPW Nexess VI on May 14. At July 18's Destiny ,
2070-577: A GHC Heavyweight Championship run (which he won from Akiyama in September ). When Misawa decided to break tradition further, and hold a Budokan show on October 29 wherein Marufuji defended the title against fellow junior Kobayashi, only 5,000 people of the 11,500 reportedly in attendance paid to see the event. Adding to the situation was that Noah depended on events that they sold to local promoters, who most often were older, wealthy men who did not follow
2300-578: A July 18 Budokan show, with only 6,000 people attending the event. In September, Nippon TV affiliate Yomiuri TV cancelled their Noah broadcasts. As the Kansai region had historically been a hotbed for Baba, this was seen as indicative of the end of an era. Around this time, Noah announced that they would no longer take their entire roster on tours in order to cut travel costs. On December 17, Nippon TV announced that they would be cutting Noah's television program in March to compensate for advertising losses in
2530-411: A base in striking arts became more competitive as they cross-trained in styles based around takedowns and submission holds. Likewise, those from the varying grappling styles added striking techniques to their arsenal. This increase of cross-training resulted in fighters becoming increasingly multidimensional and well-rounded in their skill-sets. The new hybridization of fighting styles can be seen in
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#17327911148232760-514: A brief European tour. On June 21, Misawa and Marufuji defeated Kobashi and Go Shiozaki in Coventry ; after this, NOAH split to work shows in Farringdon and Oberhausen , the latter for Westside Xtreme Wrestling. Misawa worked the former show, where he and Kotaro Suzuki defeated Smith & Mark Haskins . While these events were relatively successful, Noah had their lowest crowd to date for
2990-515: A contest was held in France between French savateurs and English bare-knuckle boxers in which French fighter Rambaud alias la Resistance fought English fighter Dickinson and won using his kicks. However, the English team still won the four other match-ups during the contest. Contests occurred in the late 19th to mid-20th century between French savateurs and other combat styles. Examples include
3220-453: A corner of the ring and throws the opponent into the corner, driving the back and neck of the opponent to the turnbuckle. The move was famously used by Kenta Kobashi and Seth Rollins . The move is considered to be dangerous if done wrong, which led to Sting temporarily retiring from wrestling (he has since returned to the ring since 2020 with AEW ) and Finn Bálor injuring his shoulder in 2016. WWE banned it in 2020 after Nia Jax botched
3450-522: A draw. Muhammad Ali sustained a substantial amount of damage to his legs, as Antonio Inoki slide-kicked him continuously for the duration of the bout, causing him to be hospitalized for the next three days. The fight played an important role in the history of mixed martial arts. The basis of modern mixed martial arts in Japan can be found across several shoot-style professional wrestling promotions such as UWF International and Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi , both founded in 1991, that attempted to create
3680-425: A fan ballot. Motoko's conservatism was partially due to her belief that the company, and Japanese wrestling as a whole, had fallen from its peak. Misawa was also angry with Motoko over fiscal matters, as he had discovered that much of the company's merchandise sales did not produce funds for AJPW, but for a subsidiary that she had set up. At some point, Misawa approached Nippon TV with his plans to leave AJPW to start
3910-400: A long jump competition held by Koshigaya in elementary school, and joined the gymnastics club in junior high. Misawa was a fan of professional wrestling, especially All Japan Pro Wrestling, from an early age, and his first favorite wrestlers were Horst Hoffman and Jumbo Tsuruta . Hoffman's emerald green trunks would later be emulated by Misawa. Misawa had wanted to pursue a vocation as
4140-449: A loss. This excursion was meant to last one year, but Baba called Misawa and asked him if he could "jump from the corner post" , and when Misawa replied that he could, he was called back. For the rest of the decade, and into spring 1990, Misawa wrestled as the second generation Tiger Mask , succeeding Satoru Sayama , as Baba purchased the rights to the character's likeness from Tiger Mask mangaka Ikki Kajiwara . Misawa debuted as
4370-403: A maneuver either performed by two persons on one , or one person on two; generally both opponents will be far smaller than the wrestler attempting the move. One opponent is placed on the attackers shoulders as per a standard powerbomb, then the other will be placed on the first opponents shoulders, facing in the same direction. This is normally performed by putting the first opponent's head between
4600-561: A mixed match, which catch wrestler Steele won in 35 seconds. 27 years later, Ray Steele's protégé Lou Thesz fought boxer Jersey Joe Walcott twice in mixed style bouts. The first match was a real contest which Thesz won while the second match was a work, which Thesz also won. In the 1940s in the Palama Settlement in Hawaii, five martial arts masters, under the leadership of Adriano Emperado, curious to determine which martial art
4830-692: A new peak of popularity in North America in December 2006: a rematch between then UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and former champion Tito Ortiz , rivaled the PPV sales of some of the biggest boxing events of all time, and helped the UFC's 2006 PPV gross surpass that of any promotion in PPV history. In 2007, Zuffa LLC , the owners of the UFC MMA promotion, bought Japanese rival MMA brand Pride FC , merging
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#17327911148235060-791: A new promotion, and told them that nearly everyone in the locker room would follow him. NTV officials sided with Misawa in this dispute, but told him that they needed to keep their agreement quiet for one year after the meeting. Due to the proximity of Baba's death, the station wanted to wait until enough time had passed to drop All Japan's television program, which had been associated closely with NTV since its formation. Nevertheless, rumors that NTV had taken Misawa's side in his dispute against Baba saw print in February 2000, and Weekly Fight Magazine reported that AJPW would split itself into two groups in May, though Misawa declined to comment on this. Adding to
5290-473: A normal powerbomb, but when the opponent is on the wrestler's shoulders the wrestler falls forward, slamming the opponent onto the ground. This move was popularized by Kane . The wrestler lifts the opponent onto their shoulders, into the fireman's carry position. The wrestler grabs hold of the opponent's near leg with one hand, and their head with the other, then pushes the opponent's upper body up and simultaneously spins them, causing them to end up in front of
5520-499: A number of submission holds. Translated literally from Japanese as Originator Bomb (元祖 ganso ), but in English more commonly referred to as the original powerbomb, this move sees the attacking wrestler make an opponent bend over and grab them in a belly to back waistlock before then lifting the opponent until they are vertical. The attacking wrestler then drives the opponent down on their neck and shoulder while either remaining in
5750-483: A one-arm version of the move itself, calling it the Chingona/Texana Bomb . The opponent begins sitting in the corner of the ring and facing outwards, while holding on to the ring ropes. The wrestler takes hold of the opponent by the legs and pulls them upwards and backwards with a twist, falling into a sitting position as they do so. The move ends with the opponent's back on the ground and their legs over
5980-516: A pinfall over Misawa in their rivalry, as well as the first time Misawa himself had lost a pinfall to anyone since Williams had defeated him for the Triple Crown. However, this success would not repeat itself, as on July 24 at the sold-out Budokan, Kawada fell short against Misawa once again, in the first defense of this Triple Crown reign. On September 10, Misawa defended the title against Taue, but on October 15, Misawa and Kobashi failed to win
6210-408: A powerbomb is similar to an ordinary powerbomb, however, instead of the wrestler remaining standing, the wrestler falls into a kneeling position while driving the opponent back-first into the mat. As the name implies, the wrestler performing the move will do so multiple times. To start, they will lift the opponent into powerbomb position and perform the move. Without letting go of the opponent's waist,
6440-841: A professional wrestler since he was 12, and planned to do so after completing junior high, but his mother and teacher persuaded him to continue his studies so that he could attend a school with a good amateur wrestling program. Misawa attended the high school at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology in Tochigi on a scholarship, alongside Toshiaki Kawada , who was a year below him. They shared an interest in athletics and professional wrestling before they became professional wrestlers themselves. Misawa wanted to drop out in his second year to begin training, but during an encounter with Jumbo Tsuruta, he convinced Misawa to complete high school education, and to concentrate on amateur wrestling if he
6670-496: A punch to the chin at the 24-minute mark, which forced Kobashi to essentially work a handicap match for 25 minutes. However, Misawa recovered to make a successful comeback. Misawa and Kobashi then defeated Williams and Ace on March 3 at Budokan for their second and final successful defense. The next month, Misawa participated in the penultimate match of the Weekly Pro Wrestling Tokyo Dome Show ,
6900-529: A rematch on September 1, which determined the number one contender for the Triple Crown. Misawa teamed with Kawada to place third in the WSTDL , beating Tsuruta and Taue on the final day. In a match against Taue on January 26, 1991, Misawa won by debuting the Tiger Driver '91 , a variation of his Tiger Driver (sitout double underhook powerbomb ) wherein he kept the double underhook applied while Taue
7130-553: A reported crowd of 12,000 people in the Ariake Coliseum, Misawa defeated Yoshihiro Takayama to become the first GHC Heavyweight champion. During this match, Misawa began bleeding from his mouth after a high kick from Takayama legitimately knocked his jaw out of alignment, and also ended the match with a five-centimeter cut which required six stitches. After a successful defense against Taue on May 18 in Sapporo, Misawa lost
Powerbomb - Misplaced Pages Continue
7360-399: A result of an increased number of competitors, organized training camps, information sharing, and modern kinesiology , the understanding of the effectiveness of various strategies has been greatly improved. UFC commentator Joe Rogan claimed that martial arts evolved more in the ten years following 1993 (the first UFC event ) than in the preceding 700 years combined. "During his reign atop
7590-424: A result that had been foreshadowed over the past year, through not only Kawada's tainted victory over him in the 1997 Champion Carnival finals, but the draws that they had wrestled to in both of their other meetings during the last two Carnivals, Misawa finally dropped the championship to Kawada. Misawa went into the match with two blown knees and a bad neck and back, and as he suffered a legitimate concussion during
7820-531: A result. They would again drop the belts to Satsujin Gyorai in their first defense on January 30 when Williams pinned Misawa. On February 28, however, Misawa successfully defended his Triple Crown title against Taue. The Misawa-Kawada team would soon end. Jumbo Tsuruta's career, at least as a main-event wrestler, was over; he had abruptly left after completing the October Giant Series tour, and
8050-482: A rooftop fight scene in the 1950s and 1960s, where gangs from rival martial arts schools challenged each other to bare-knuckle fights on Hong Kong's rooftops, in order to avoid crackdowns by colonial British Hong Kong authorities. The most famous fighter to emerge from Hong Kong's rooftop fight scene was Bruce Lee , who combined different techniques from different martial arts schools into his own hybrid martial arts system called Jeet Kune Do . Lee went on to popularize
8280-433: A singles match in what was considered an upset, and when Misawa and Kawada faced Satsujin Gyorai on July 24 for a second tag title match, he pinned Gordy again. The pair made their first defense against Tsuruta and Taue on September 4 at Nippon Budokan, with Misawa historically forcing Jumbo to submit to a standing variation of the crossface to end the match. They vacated the belts for the 1991 WSTDL, which they entered. On
8510-465: A sitout position while flipping the opponent forward, driving the opponent horizontally belly-down into the ground. A double underhook version of this move also exists. Ron Simmons made the standing variation famous, calling it the Dominator , Bobby Lashley utilized a kneeling version as a finisher, while Yujiro Takahashi popularized the sitout version, calling it Tokyo Pimps . This variation of
8740-421: A six-man tag in which he, Kobashi, and Triple Crown champion Hansen wrestled to a thirty-minute time-limit draw against Kawada, Taue, and Ace. Misawa entered the 1995 Champion Carnival. Despite reportedly suffering a broken orbital bone after a Kawada kick during a match on April 6 which ended in a time-limit draw, Misawa did not miss any shows. He proceeded to the finals with seven wins and three draws, and won
8970-472: A standing position, sitting position or dropping down to their knees. The move is considered one of the most dangerous moves in professional wrestling as the person taking the move is in freefall, dropped onto their own head or neck without protection. It was invented by Lou Thesz and popularized by Toshiaki Kawada as the Kawada Driver. AJ Styles used during his tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling as
9200-606: A successful Triple Crown defense against Hansen on May 21 in Sapporo. On May 20, the HDA won the World Tag Team championships from Satsujin Gyorai on May 20, ending their fifth and final reign. Misawa and Kobashi unsuccessfully challenged them for the championships on June 1. Misawa defended the Triple Crown three more times in 1993: against Kawada on July 29, Williams on September 3, and Hansen on October 23, during which Misawa broke his breastbone. Misawa and Kobashi entered
9430-467: A successful title defense against Taue. On August 26 in Sapporo, though, he and Akiyama lost a world tag title shot against Albright and Williams when Albright pinned Misawa with a dragon suplex . On September 6, Misawa defeated Akiyama in his first Triple Crown title match. In October, Misawa made two more successful defenses ten days apart. The first was against Williams on October 11 in Fukuoka , and
Powerbomb - Misplaced Pages Continue
9660-484: A tag match with Mitsuo Momota against Hiromichi Fuyuki and Nobuyoshi Sugawara, and won his first singles match against Sugawara four nights later. In April 1983, Baba held a round-robin tournament for AJPW's lower-ranked wrestlers called the Lou Thesz Cup, and Misawa entered the tournament alongside Koshinaka, Fuyuki, Mitsuo and brother Yoshihiro Momota , Sugawara, Kawada, and Tarzan Goto . Misawa reached
9890-623: A tag match with Kawada against Yoshiaki Yatsu and Samson Fuyuki (both of whom would later join SWS) on May 14, Misawa commanded Kawada to unmask him, and thus abandoned the Tiger Mask gimmick. After winning the match, Misawa challenged his "childhood hero" Tsuruta to a singles match. After a successful defense of the All Asia Tag Team Championship against Davey Boy Smith and Johnny Smith , Misawa and Kobashi vacated
10120-604: A tag match with Taue against Misawa and Naomichi Marufuji , Kobashi severely injured his right knee. Kobashi's knees had been in poor condition as early as 1991, due to his use of the moonsault and general overachieving nature in the ring. While he intended to have double knee surgery performed at the end of his tenure in AJPW, he did not go through with it when Departure was scheduled for August, and he continued to work Noah's events thereafter. Kobashi had surgery on January 25 to transfer cartilage from his elbow to his knee. While it
10350-532: A tiger driver. In the second, the main-event of the inaugural show of Hashimoto-cofounded promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1 , March 2's Truth Century Creation, Misawa and Akiyama defeated Hashimoto and Yuji Nagata in the sold-out Ryōgoku Kokugikan . From March 18 through April 15, Noah held the Navigation for the Victory GHC tour, which featured a sixteen-man, single-elimination tournament held to determine
10580-551: A total of just five minutes. sparking a revolution in martial arts. The first Vale Tudo Japan tournaments were held in 1994 and 1995 and were both won by Rickson Gracie . Around the same time, International Vale Tudo competition started to develop through (World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC), VTJ , IVC , UVF etc.). Interest in mixed martial arts as a sport resulted in the creation of the Pride Fighting Championships (Pride) in 1997. The sport reached
10810-406: A tournament match on November 21 against Kobashi and Kikuchi, Misawa's eye was swollen shut after an elbow strike from Kobashi. Misawa and Kawada reached the finals despite this, wherein they lost to Satsujin Gyorai in 25:24. At a Budokan event on March 4, 1992, which drew a record attendance figure of 16,300 people, Misawa unsuccessfully challenged Triple Crown champion Hansen for the belts. In
11040-517: A tournament match. He won via submission, but a Frankensteiner from Furnas was said to have badly injured his neck, and after trying to work a six-man tag two nights later sat out the rest of the tournament. This injury was later reported to have been a work ; Misawa had been written out of the Carnival so that Kawada and Williams could be established as singles stars through the tournament. Upon his return, Misawa and Kobashi successfully defended
11270-470: A unique take on this sequence. Instead, he simply powerbombs the opponent, picks them up from the mat, and powerbombs them again for each separate time as needed to defeat them. He refers to this as the Powerbomb Symphony . As the name implies, this move begins with the opponent rushing towards the attacker who then flings the opponent vertically up into the air. The move is finished by catching
11500-485: A visual impairment in his right eye which was discovered in 2007. Misawa had also long been a chain smoker. Misawa mostly worked mid-card tag matches where his partners did much of the work, which was how Giant Baba had remained an active wrestler until the last two months of his life. Misawa and Ogawa entered Noah's first Global Tag League , held from March 29 to April 27, and reached the finals, where they were defeated by Saito and Smith at Budokan. In June, Noah went on
11730-492: A wrestler lifts the opponent on the shoulders between the legs, but crossing the both arms during his bent-over position before, and drops on the mat with a seated position to set up a pin. It was used by Super Crazy with the name called Crazy Bomb and by Claudio Castagnoli in a sit-out variation called the Ricola Bomb . This move sees the wrestler bend over and place their opponent in a standing head scissors. However,
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#173279111482311960-592: Is regarded by some as the greatest professional wrestler of all time. The physical demands and consequences of the style in which he worked and the circumstances of his death, however, have made his legacy, or at least that of ōdō , somewhat problematic. Misawa was an eight-time world champion , having won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship five times and the GHC Heavyweight Championship (which he
12190-450: Is used by Hirooki Goto on rare occasions as Kaiten. The attacking wrestler forces the opponent to ascend to the top rope, standing usually on the top ropes with their legs spread. The wrestler then bends the opponent, placing their head between the wrestler's thighs. The wrestler then wraps their hands around the opponent's waist. The wrestler then lifts the opponent up, flipping them over, while jumping forward. The opponent falls down to
12420-504: The Batista Bomb . From a position in which the opponent is sitting across the wrestlers shoulder, the attacker bounces the opponent's back across the top rope. The attacker then spins around, using the momentum to powerbomb the opponent. This move is used by Dax Harwood and The Miz . Also called a spiral bomb. The wrestler lifts the opponent up onto their shoulders and spins around several rotations before sitting down and slamming
12650-619: The Border Toss , and Ethan Page who calls it the Ego’s Edge . Also known as a Niagara Driver , Splash Mountain Bomb , or Black Tiger Bomb , this powerbomb is similar to the crucifix powerbomb, but instead of the wrestler falling forward to drop the opponent, the attacking wrestler falls to a seated position for a pinfall attempt instead of releasing the opponent. Innovated by Kyoko Inoue and popularized by Black Tiger . A top rope version
12880-460: The Elgin Bomb . Also known as a Blue Thunder Driver or a Blue Thunder Bomb , this is a belly-to-back powerbomb, usually beginning in the back suplex position in which the wrestler stands behind their opponent and puts their head under the arm of the opponent. They then lift the opponent up using one arm around the waist of the opponent and another under their legs. The wrestler then spins
13110-477: The Hollow Point . Brock Lesnar inadvertently used the move on Hardcore Holly in 2002 which injured his neck. This was actually due to Holly sandbagging the move thus making it difficult for Lesnar to perform the move correctly. This move involves a wrestler standing over a bent over opponent, locking their arms around the opponent's waist and lifting them up, flipping them over, and slamming them down to
13340-639: The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship in a match rated the best of the year by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Misawa blew out his knee before the match, and still delivered a "great performance" in what wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer called "the best match of the Tiger Mask era", but he would require surgery afterward. The aerial style which Misawa had been made to adopt under
13570-482: The Orange Crush. Jon Moxley and Roderick Strong used the standing version. Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts ( MMA ) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling , incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place throughout Japan and the countries of East Asia . At
13800-533: The PWF World Tag Team Championship from Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen by count-out, which they held for eight days before dropping them back to the previous champions. In what was then "the biggest singles win of his career", according to Meltzer, Misawa pinned DiBiase on July 19. For the 1987 WSTDL, Misawa entered alongside Shinichi Nakano, and the two tied for eighth place, with three wins, seven losses, and one double count-out. On
14030-643: The Razor's Edge (also known as the Outsider's Edge or Diamond's Edge during his time in WCW as Scott Hall and Diamond Studd respectively). Hall also (though rarely) used a version of this move with the opponent positioned on the second rope away from him. Damian Priest uses the move as a tribute to Hall. The throwing variation is used by Bad Luck Fale who calls it the Bad Luck Fall , Hernandez who calls it
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#173279111482314260-486: The UFC came to prominence in mainstream media in 2006, and with their 2007 merger with Pride FC and purchases of WEC and Strikeforce , it has been the most significant MMA promotion in the world in terms of popularity, salaries, talent , and level of competition. According to Fight Matrix , these are the promotions with the top ranked talent as of November 2024: There are hundreds of MMA training facilities throughout
14490-666: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year award. However, Kobashi suffered a broken nose, and Misawa was so fatigued that, for the first time, reporters were not allowed to see him. Misawa successfully defended against Kawada on July 23, defeating him with the Tiger Driver '91. Misawa and Ogawa won both the All Asia and World Tag Team Championships from No Fear on August 25. They vacated
14720-575: The karateka was allowed to use his fists, feet and knees, while the boxer could only use his fists. Hadley won the fight via knockout on the first round. In 1988 Rick Roufus challenged Changpuek Kiatsongrit to a non-title Muay Thai vs. kickboxing super fight. Roufus was at the time an undefeated Kickboxer and held both the KICK Super Middleweight World title and the PKC Middleweight U.S. title. Kiatsongrit
14950-404: The longest reign in the title's history. Misawa remained atop the company throughout the 1990s, and following the death of president Giant Baba in 1999, Misawa inherited his position, but conflicts with widow and majority shareholder Motoko Baba led to his removal in May 2000. After this, Misawa led a mass exodus of the promotion's talent to form Noah. Noah was successful in the first half of
15180-529: The undercard of the WSTDL final, Misawa faced Kawada for the first time inside the Budokan, in the context of a tag match pitting himself and Takashi Ishikawa against Kawada and Fuyuki , and he pinned Kawada with a Tiger suplex. On AJPW's first event of 1988, Misawa wrestled an AWA World Heavyweight Championship match against Curt Hennig . Misawa won by countout , but the title did not change hands. This
15410-645: The "Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts". The motion passed unanimously. In November 2005, the United States Army began to sanction mixed martial arts with the first annual Army Combatives Championships held by the US Army Combatives School . Canada formally decriminalized mixed martial arts with a vote on Bill S-209 on June 5, 2013. The bill allows for provinces to have the power to create athletic commissions to regulate and sanction professional mixed martial arts bouts. Since
15640-671: The "father of mixed martial arts" stating: "If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away". A contemporary of Bruce Lee, Wing Chun practitioner Wong Shun Leung , gained prominence fighting in 60–100 illegal beimo fights against other Chinese martial artists of various styles. Wong also fought and won against Western fighters of other combat styles, such as his match against Russian boxer Giko, his televised fight against
15870-712: The 1920s and became renowned through its association with the " Gracie challenge ", which was issued by Carlos Gracie and Hélio Gracie and upheld later by descendants of the Gracie family . The "Gracie Challenges" were held in the garages and gyms of the Gracie family members. When the popularity grew, these types of mixed bouts were a staple attraction at the carnivals in Brazil. In the mid-20th century, mixed martial arts contests emerged in Hong Kong's street fighting culture in
16100-445: The 1991 Champion Carnival, held for the first time since 1982, and placed second in his block, with only one loss on April 6 to eventual second-place winner Stan Hansen. Misawa challenged Tsuruta for the Triple Crown on April 18, in the main event of a Budokan show that set an attendance record, but lost to him for the second consecutive time in singles competition. On June 9, Misawa pinned former Triple Crown champion Terry Gordy during
16330-491: The 1992 Champion Carnival, which took place from March 20 to April 17, Misawa reached the finals for the first time. On the twelfth date of the tournament, April 2, he wrestled Tsuruta in what would be their final singles match, and the two went to a 30-minute time-limit draw. Reigning Triple Crown champion Stan Hansen, who had lost to Tsuruta in the previous Champion Carnival final, defeated Misawa for his first CC win. On June 5, Misawa and Kobashi challenged Tsuruta and Taue for
16560-599: The 1993 WSTDL, and defeated the Holy Demon Army in the finals. This marked Misawa's second victory at the annual tournament, and his first tag championship reign with Kobashi. On February 15, 1994, Misawa was issued an invitation to participate in UWF International's (UWFi) summer tournament through a press conference, but this was ignored by the isolationist AJPW. On March 21, the third date of that year's Champion Carnival, Misawa faced Doug Furnas in
16790-495: The 1996 WSTDL, and were defeated in the final match by the Holy Demon Army when Kawada pinned Misawa in 31:37. On January 20, 1997, Misawa defeated Kobashi in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium to win his third Triple Crown championship. He defeated Steve Williams in his first defense on March 1, which was the retirement match of referee Joe Higuchi . Misawa then entered the 1997 Champion Carnival. Unlike
17020-439: The 1998 Champion Carnival, and proceeded to the finals with eight wins, three draws against Akiyama, Hansen, and Kawada, and one loss to Taue. This was despite various neck and back injuries, a broken finger, and a broken left kneecap, the latter of which was suffered during a match on April 6 against Ace. Despite this, and against a doctor's recommendation to perform surgery and take six weeks off, Misawa continued to work, and won
17250-418: The 1998 WSTDL and placed fifth with a 3-3-1 record. On January 22, 1999, Misawa lost the Triple Crown to Kawada in his first defense, but Kawada vacated it the next day. Seven minutes into the match, he had delivered a spinning backfist to the back of Misawa's head with such force that he broke his right forearm and wrist. This is the reason for the "ganso bomb" spot in which Kawada, unable to lift Misawa all
17480-450: The AJPW product, and to modernize its presentation, to address their box office troubles ran in direct opposition to Baba's intent to maintain her late husband's booking philosophy. Misawa was particularly intent on pushing the company's younger talent. In September 1999 he and Baba had a major fight over his decision to have Akiyama and Takao Omori headline a Budokan show (which sold out), although this match's placement had been decided by
17710-533: The All Asia belts soon afterward, as the match was done to break up the monopoly No Fear had achieved in the company's tag division. Misawa arranged a tournament for the All Asia titles from October 9–25, in which he and Ogawa did not participate. Misawa and Ogawa lost the World Tag Team titles to Akiyama and Kobashi on October 23 in Nagoya when Kobashi pinned Misawa after a Burning Hammer . Then, Misawa's fifth Triple Crown reign ended at Budokan on October 30, when he
17940-610: The All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) training camp in March 1981, and was trained mainly by Kazuharu Sonoda and Akihisa Takachihō , though he also received training from Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer , Shohei Baba , Dory Funk Jr. , and eventually Lou Thesz . He made his professional debut on August 21, 1981, where he lost against Shiro Koshinaka in an outdoor show in Urawa . After losing his first seventeen consecutive matches, Misawa had his first win on October 9 in
18170-576: The Brawlers contests", and ended the sport. Japan had its own form of mixed martial arts discipline, Shooto , which evolved from shoot wrestling in 1985, as well as the shoot wrestling derivative Pancrase , which was founded as a promotion in 1993. Pancrase 1 was held in Japan in September 1993, two months before UFC 1 was held in the United States in November 1993. In 1993, the sport
18400-569: The Budokan's maximum capacity. For his first defense of 1998, at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on January 26, Misawa defeated Akiyama by debuting the Emerald Flowsion . One month later, he had his final successful defense of the reign against Johnny Ace at the sold-out Budokan. This February 28 event was the first in a Budokan sellout streak that would last until Misawa's departure from AJPW. Misawa entered
18630-804: The Can-Am Express , and four days later, Misawa wrestled Bret Hart to a time-limit draw at the WWF/NJPW/AJPW Supershow in the Dome. Later that month, top star Genichiro Tenryu abruptly departed AJPW. He disagreed with Baba's creative direction, especially the booker's resistance to shootfighting influence on the All Japan product. Tenryu received a lucrative offer from Hachiro Tanaka, executive of eyewear company Megane Super, who had been interested in building his own wrestling promotion (and had almost signed Keiji Mutoh instead, but
18860-481: The Carnival against Taue on April 15. On May 26, he won his second Triple Crown championship against Stan Hansen in Sapporo, ending his then-record fourth (and final) Triple Crown reign. Misawa and Kobashi lost the tag titles in the Tokyo Sports match of the year on June 9, when the Holy Demon Army defeated them at Budokan. What made this match particularly significant is that it was the first time Kawada got
19090-539: The Champion Carnival for the second and final time in another match against Akiyama. In an effort to increase All Japan Pro Wrestling's visibility amidst unsatisfactory sales and television viewership numbers, Baba decided after years of refusal to book the Tokyo Dome for a belated AJPW 25th Anniversary show on May 1, despite the reservations of Misawa and Kobashi. Plans to use this as a "soft reset" for
19320-509: The GHC Heavyweight Championship for 448 days, his longest championship reign since his fourth Triple Crown reign, and made seven successful defenses throughout 2007. The first of these was on January 12, when he defeated Takeshi Morishima . On April 28, he defended against Takuma Sano . Bison Smith challenged Misawa on June 3, and Taue challenged on July 15. In late August, it was announced that Misawa would be on
19550-539: The Holy Demon Army. On March 2, Misawa defended the Triple Crown against Gary Albright , who had signed with AJPW in late 1995 after departing the UWFi. This was the main event that broke AJPW's Tokyo sellout streak, drawing only 14,000 people to Budokan. In April, Misawa participated in the Champion Carnival, and tied for third place. On May 24, at the Nakajima Sports Center in Sapporo, Misawa dropped
19780-512: The Iowa Athletic Commission officially sanctioned Battlecade Extreme Fighting under a modified form of its existing rules for Shootfighting . These rules created the three 'five-minute round/one-minute break' format, and mandated shootfighting gloves, as well as weight classes for the first time. Illegal blows were listed as groin strikes, head butting, biting, eye gouging, hair pulling, striking an opponent with an elbow while
20010-642: The Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand and fought against three Muay Thai fighters. The three kyokushin karate fighters were Tadashi Nakamura, Kenji Kurosaki and AkiFujihira (also known as Noboru Osawa), while the Muay Thai team of three authentic Thai fighter. Japan won 2–1: Tadashi Nakamura and Akio Fujihira both knocked out their opponents with punches while Kenji Kurosaki, who fought the Thai,
20240-621: The November 2 and 3 Ring of Honor (ROH) Glory By Honor cards in Philadelphia and New York City respectively. On September 29, Misawa defeated Marufuji in a rematch for the GHC title, and on October 27, Misawa successfully defended against Samoa Joe in a Budokan show with 14,000 people in attendance. The following week, Misawa traveled to the United States for the ROH appearances. On
20470-522: The Tiger Mask II gimmick strained his knees. According to Masanobu Fuchi , Misawa was actually more interested in working a ground-based style, and years later, he would comment that it was more difficult to elicit crowd reaction when working under the hood. Nonetheless, since the audience expected the superhuman from the Tiger Mask character, crowds were more difficult to impress during this period than they were after his unmasking. Upon his return,
20700-609: The Tiger Mask-Kobayashi program culminated on August 31 when Misawa won the title from Kobayashi in a rematch, with a variation of the tiger suplex wherein one of Misawa's hands was used to put Kobayashi in a half nelson before lifting him; this would become known as the Tiger Suplex '85 . After a successful defense in Aizuwakamatsu against Chavo Guerrero Sr. on October 28, Baba graduated Misawa to
20930-507: The Tokyo Dome with 53,000 people in attendance (the day after Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas drew 30,000 people). Despite the event's success, Misawa's match was never broadcast on television, since performers' contracts included exclusivity clauses to the television networks which broadcast their respective promotions' programming. On April 9, Misawa and Kenta Kobashi won the All Asia Tag Team Championship from
21160-541: The Toukon Memorial Day event in the Tokyo Dome. The two wrestled to a thirty-minute time-limit draw, as has been Noah's insistence, particularly from Ryu Nakata, in order to bolster the nascent company's credibility. On September 23, 2002, Misawa defeated GHC Heavyweight champion Takayama to begin his second reign. Takayama was at the peak of his stardom, due to his fight against Don Frye at Pride 21 , and according to Meltzer in his 2009 Misawa obituary, this
21390-495: The Triple Crown championship on May 2, in the main event of the Giant Baba Retirement Show (so named because AJPW did not want to consider it a memorial event ) at the Tokyo Dome. On May 7, a press conference was held to announce that Misawa was the new AJPW president. One month later, on June 11, Misawa successfully defended against Kobashi at Budokan. For the second consecutive year, Misawa and Kobashi won
21620-514: The Triple Crown programs and finishes through the end of 1998. In October, he started wrestling tag matches with Yoshinari Ogawa . At the Budokan on October 31, Misawa faced Triple Crown champion Kobashi for the title, and won to start his fourth Triple Crown reign in 43:29. This match was rated Match of the Year by Tokyo Sports , Nippon Sports , and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Misawa and Ogawa participated in
21850-512: The United States by CV Productions, Inc. Its first competition, called Tough Guy Contest was held on March 20, 1980, New Kensington, Pennsylvania , Holiday Inn . During that year the company renamed the brand to Super Fighters and sanctioned ten regulated tournaments in Pennsylvania . In 1983, Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill known as the " Tough Guy Law " that specifically called for: "Prohibiting Tough Guy contests or Battle of
22080-532: The United States during the 1990s, Misawa had a significant stylistic influence upon independent wrestling , through the popularity of his work among tape-traders worldwide including the United States , the United Kingdom , Canada , and Australia . Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the second incarnation of the Tiger Mask gimmick in 1984, which he wrestled as, through to the decade's end. After
22310-442: The World Tag Team belts for the 1994 WSTDL, which they won for the second consecutive year on December 10 against Williams and Ace in 25:05. Although they only defended the belts once, Misawa and Kobashi's first reign was the longest in the title's history for over a decade. On January 24, 1995, they successfully defended against the Holy Demon Army, working to a time limit draw. The story of this match had Kawada knock out Misawa with
22540-462: The World Tag Team titles back from the Holy Demon Army, in another sixty-minute time limit draw in Nagoya . Misawa won his first Triple Crown defense against Kobashi ten days later, but the two again entered the 1995 WSTDL as a team, defeating the Holy Demon Army for Misawa's fourth consecutive win of the tournament. In a story similar to previous matches between the teams, Misawa sold a Kawada kick to
22770-515: The World tag titles, but Taue pinned Kobashi for a successful defense. Misawa injured his shoulder in July and missed a few small dates. However, Tsuruta was also absent from the tour, for what was initially reported as a knee injury, and then as a case of gout upon his return, but was actually more serious, and AJPW did not want to lose both of their biggest draws for a whole tour. As a result, Misawa
23000-467: The Year awards from Tokyo Sports and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . Meltzer wrote in 2015 that the Misawa/Kobashi rivalry "peaked" with this match. Misawa said afterwards that this would be their final singles match, and with the exception of the opening match of Noah's 2004 Christmas Eve show (a ten-minute time-limit draw), this would be honored. At Great Voyage 2004 on January 10, in
23230-502: The apron unprovoked. However, when he tapped the active Misawa's shoulder minutes later, Misawa retaliated with an elbow strike that downed Tsuruta for several minutes. On June 8, Misawa would face Tsuruta for the main event at Budokan. Baba was convinced in consultation with wrestling journalist Tarzan Yamamoto that Misawa had to defeat Tsuruta by pinfall. According to a now-famous backstage story which has been recounted several times by Meltzer, Baba's decision to put Misawa over came during
23460-458: The attacking wrestler falls to a seated position as they slam the opponent down. Some wrestlers remain in seated position to pin the opponent, while others choose not to. The move can either be performed as a standard powerbomb or as a gutwrench powerbomb . The move was popularized by Jushin Liger , who used it as a finisher, known as the Liger Bomb , and was also famously used by Batista as
23690-529: The attende. Misawa and Koshinaka arrived in Mexico on March 16, 1984, where they wrestled for EMLL as a tag team under the names Samurai Shiro and the Kamikaze (or Kamikaze Misawa). Misawa improved his aerial skills under the guidance of La Fiera , and on April 5, Misawa had his first major singles championship match, headlining Arena México and wrestling NWA World Middleweight champion El Satánico to
23920-637: The back and shoulders of the opponent to the ground. The wrestler may also fall to their knees as they slam the opponent down. A sitout version is commonly known as a Tiger Driver and was invented by Mitsuharu Misawa . Ahmed Johnson used the sitout version as well, calling it the Pearl River Plunge . Tyler Bate uses the move as his finishing maneuver, calling it the Tyler Driver '97 and Toni Storm calling it Storm Zero . Another variation credited to Mitsuharu Misawa . In this version,
24150-557: The beginning of a feud between the Super Generation Army, with Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi , and the Tsuruta-gun stable, a mix of veterans and younger talent. Akira Taue was initially among Misawa's allies, but he soon defected to Tsuruta-gun. On July 27, Misawa made his first challenge for the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship in July, losing to Stan Hansen. Misawa lost to Tsuruta in
24380-471: The belts to No Fear in the sold-out Ariake Coliseum. On February 17, 2002, at Nippon Budokan, Misawa teamed with the returning Kobashi for a match against Akiyama and Yuji Nagata which Akiyama pinned Kobashi to win. It appeared that Kobashi was going to resume full-time work for Noah in their next tour, and this was greatly anticipated, as the return show had sold out over a month in advance. However, Kobashi further damaged ligaments in his left knee during
24610-470: The carrying partner's shoulders. There is also an avalanche variation of this move performed from the middle rope. This was popularized by The Shield in WWE . Also known as a Tiger driver or Tiger bomb. The wrestler faces a bent over opponent, and hooks each of the opponent's arms behind the opponent's back . The wrestler then lifts the opponent in the air and flips them over, throwing them back down and driving
24840-549: The championship to Akiyama on July 28, in a sold-out Budokan event for the promotion's one-year anniversary. In October, Misawa and Ogawa participated in the Navigation Tug of War tournament to determine the first GHC Tag Team champions , but were eliminated in the semi-finals by Akiyama and Saito. Misawa and Ogawa became the second team to hold the belts when they defeated Scorpio and Vader on November 30 in Sapporo, but this reign only lasted nine days before they dropped
25070-462: The championship to Taue, who had won that year's Carnival. The next week, Misawa and new partner Jun Akiyama won the World Tag Team titles from the Holy Demon Army. They made two successful defenses—the first on June 8 against Williams and Ace (voted match of the year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter ), and the second on July 9 against the Holy Demon Army —before dropping the titles to Williams and Ace on September 5. Misawa and Akiyama entered
25300-549: The character at a July 31 show in the Kuramae Kokugikan , and in his first match he defeated La Fiera at the sold-out Denen Coliseum on August 26. Misawa would notably work with Jerry Estrada and Pirata Morgan over the rest of the year. In 1985, Baba would bring in top junior-heavyweight talents and high flyers to further establish the new Tiger Mask, including the Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi ,
25530-493: The company product, including an FMW -style exploding ring deathmatch with Atsushi Onita and a potential partnership with the WWF , were vetoed by Baba, who believed that "if [they] were to do this, it would have to be as service to [their] fans". For the main event of this show, Kawada received his second title shot against Misawa during this reign, which All Japan announced in a March 16 press conference would have no time limit. In
25760-460: The concept of mixed martial arts internationally. Early mixed-match martial arts professional wrestling bouts in Japan (known as Ishu Kakutōgi Sen (異種格闘技戦), literally "heterogeneous combat sports bouts") became popular with Antonio Inoki only in the 1970s. Inoki was a disciple of Rikidōzan , but also of Karl Gotch , who trained numerous Japanese wrestlers in catch wrestling . Regulated mixed martial arts competitions were first introduced in
25990-523: The conclusion of the meeting, all parties in attendance were able to agree upon a uniform set of rules to govern the sport of mixed martial arts. The rules adopted by the NJSACB have become the de facto standard set of rules for professional mixed martial arts across North America. On July 30, 2009, a motion was made at the annual meeting of the Association of Boxing Commissions to adopt these rules as
26220-631: The conference would depart with Misawa to form a new promotion in August. The next day, Misawa announced the name of the new promotion: Pro Wrestling Noah . On June 20, Misawa met with Nippon TV officials, who had cancelled All Japan's television program, and secured a time slot for Noah programming. On July 20, he wrestled his last AJPW match for several years, in which he and Ogawa won against Taue and Masao Inoue . Pro Wrestling Noah debuted with two events, collectively called Departure, on August 5 and 6 at Differ Ariake . While they sold out in minutes,
26450-534: The contracted fighters under one promotion. Comparisons were drawn to the consolidation that occurred in other sports, such as the AFL-NFL Merger in American football . The first documented use of the name mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic, Howard Rosenberg , in 1993. The term gained popularity when the website, newfullcontact.com (one of the biggest websites covering
26680-552: The decade, but as business declined and top star Kobashi left in 2006 for cancer treatment, Misawa continued to work a full-time schedule, despite mounting injuries, for the company's survival. On June 13, 2009, during a tag match in Hiroshima with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith , Misawa accidentally died after a botched belly-to-back suplex from Saito; his death was attributed to his numerous injuries that he had received for years before his death. Misawa
26910-541: The departure of Genichiro Tenryu , Misawa unmasked mid-match in May 1990 and began a rivalry with company ace Jumbo Tsuruta . Misawa's victory over Tsuruta on June 8, 1990, led AJPW to sell out every Tokyo event they held into early 1996, and as Tsuruta receded from the main event due to hepatitis , Misawa was cemented as AJPW's ace when he won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship from Stan Hansen in August 1992 and held it for
27140-528: The early 1920s, merged various forms of combat styles such as wrestling, judo and striking into one unique martial art. The popularity of professional wrestling, which was contested under various catch wrestling rules at the time, waned after World War I , when the sport split into two genres: " shoot ", in which the fighters actually competed, and " show ", which evolved into modern professional wrestling . In 1936, heavyweight boxing contender Kingfish Levinsky and professional wrestler Ray Steele competed in
27370-639: The event itself as, in the culmination of a trend that had been observed at house shows leading to this, Baba arrived at the venue to fans chanting "Misawa" outside, and noticed a significant boost in Misawa merchandise sales. Misawa defeated Tsuruta in a 24-minute match. This show had drawn about 500 people shy of a sellout, which was a rare attendance figure for All Japan. However, the momentum of Misawa's push led All Japan to sell out every event they held in Tokyo after this until early 1996. This victory also marked
27600-671: The events themselves were not profitable. The low ticket prices attracted scalpers, who resold $ 60 ringside seats for $ 2700. Noah also spent more than the live gate of the first show to place a screen in the parking lot for the 1,300 people watching outside the venue. In the first show's main event, Misawa and Taue lost to Kobashi and Akiyama in a two-out-of-three-falls tag match, and in the second, Misawa and Ogawa defeated Kentaro Shiga and Daisuke Ikeda . The company would struggle to grow from here, because legal threats against NTV from Motoko Baba kept Noah off television until April 2001. Misawa had not expected as much of AJPW's talent to join him in
27830-432: The exodus as they had, and financial difficulties caused Misawa to cancel his insurance and borrow money from his home to fund their salaries. However, Noah sold out their biggest show to date, December 23's Great Voyage at Ariake Coliseum , well in advance. In his first major singles match for his own promotion, Misawa defeated Vader in the semi-main event. Another problem for Noah arose on January 18, 2001, when, during
28060-402: The eye by lying outside the ring for ten minutes. Kobashi managed to get the pinfall himself, though, with a moonsault to Taue. This would be Misawa's final WSTDL win, and through this win he and Kobashi became the first tag team since Terry and Dory Funk Jr. to win the tournament three times. The tag titles, however, did not change hands, as they had not been vacated before the tournament by
28290-560: The finals, and on April 22 in the Nakajima Sports Center , Misawa made his televised debut in the final match for the Lou Thesz Cup (which Thesz himself refereed), again wrestling Koshinaka to a loss. Baba had intended to send the tournament winner on a foreign excursion, but while Misawa lost the match, he was perceived as the superior talent, despite Koshinaka being three years his senior, so Baba decided to send them both. Misawa had his first title match on May 20, when he and Koshinaka unsuccessfully challenged Mighty Inoue and Ashura Hara for
28520-486: The first ever G1 Climax . Will Ospreay also uses the move renamed it to the Storm Driver '93 . It is rarely attempted due to the dangerous nature and risk factor of the move. This move is similar to a standard powerbomb. Instead of slamming the opponent directly on the mat from the shoulders, the attacking wrestler first lifts the opponent even higher by holding onto the opponent and extending their arms up, lifting
28750-561: The first night, he teamed with Kenta Kobayashi to face Morishima and Marufuji, wrestling to a thirty-minute time-limit draw. The following night, he defended against Kobayashi. Despite having reportedly contracted flu, this match was considered by some to have been Misawa's best in years, and Meltzer stated in 2009 that it was Misawa's final singles match "in the **** [four-star] range". On December 2, Misawa and Akiyama wrestled Kobashi and Takayama, in Kobashi's return match. This match, which
28980-642: The first televised use of the term. Since the late 1990s, both strikers and grapplers have been successful at MMA, although it is rare to see any fighter who is not schooled in both striking and grappling arts reach the highest levels of competition. MMA fighters are ranked according to their performance and outcome of their fights and level of competition they faced. The most popular and used, ranking portals are: Mitsuharu Misawa Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Mitsuharu Misawa ( 三沢 光晴 , Misawa Mitsuharu , June 18, 1962 – June 13, 2009)
29210-432: The first time in their rivalry, pinning him in 6:09. On May 31, 1997, Misawa had a six-man tag with Kobashi and Kentaro Shiga against Williams, Richard Slinger and Lacrosse which was billed as Misawa and Kobashi's last match as tag partners. After they won, Kobashi thanked Misawa with a handshake. The next week, Misawa defeated Kawada again in a June 6 Triple Crown match. On a sold-out July 25 Budokan show, Misawa made
29440-495: The first time inside the Tokyo Dome , though not in an AJPW event. NJPW president Seiji Sakaguchi asked Baba to help the company with their second Tokyo Dome show after plans with WCW fell through, and he agreed under the condition that the AJPW wrestlers would not be beaten or made to look weak. Misawa teamed with Genichiro Tenryu in a victory by countout against George Takano and Riki Choshu , in an event that sold out
29670-421: The first time since 1974. Reigning Triple Crown champion Kobashi defeated him in the semifinal, and went on to win his first Champion Carnival after ten consecutive appearances. While Misawa became company president in 1999, and had been head booker for several months before that, Shohei Baba's widow Motoko held eighty-five percent of AJPW's shares with Nippon TV holding the other fifteen. There were reports of
29900-499: The first two-time GHC Tag Team champions, and this reign would last far longer than their first. After successful defenses on March 6 against Ikeda and Muhammad Yone , and on April 25 against Kobayashi and Marufuji, Misawa and Ogawa appeared for American independent promotion Pro Wrestling IRON, defending the belts against Nigel McGuinness and Bart Blaxson on June 11 in San Leandro, California . Misawa and Ogawa's next defense
30130-563: The form of rooftop fights. During the early 20th century, there was an influx of migrants from mainland China, including Chinese martial arts teachers who opened up martial arts schools in Hong Kong. In the mid-20th century, soaring crime in Hong Kong , combined with limited Hong Kong Police manpower, led to many young Hongkongers learning martial arts for self-defence . Around the 1960s, there were about 400 martial arts schools in Hong Kong, teaching their own distinctive styles of martial arts. In Hong Kong's street fighting culture, there emerged
30360-583: The founding of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) promotion company in 1993. The company held an event with almost no rules, mostly due to the influence of Art Davie and Rorion Gracie attempting to replicate mixed contests that existed in Brazil and Japan. They would later implement a different set of rules (example: eliminating kicking a grounded opponent), which differed from other leagues which were more in favour of realistic, "street-like" fights. The first documented use of
30590-442: The greatest professional wrestling matches of all time, and even the "consensus Greatest Match of All Time" from the tape-trading era of American puroresu fandom. Although he and Kobashi successfully defended against Steve Williams and Johnny Ace on July 22, Misawa dropped the world championship to Williams six days later. At 705 days, Misawa's first reign is the longest in Triple Crown history. Misawa and Kobashi vacated
30820-546: The head with one hand and a leg with the other, and the wrestler will then spin the opponent's head away from them, dropping the opponent down to the mat. Often the wrestler drops to a seated position while spinning the opponent. Innovated by Lioness Asuka , who called it the Towerhacker Bomb and popularized by AJ Styles as the Rack Bomb . The wrestler places the opponent's head in between their legs, then grabs
31050-617: The heavyweight class due to his knee problems, and the championship was vacated in March 1986. While he did not stop performing aerial maneuvers, Misawa would use them more sparingly going forward. On April 19, 1986, Misawa and Baba participated in the Crockett Cup , a single-elimination tag team tournament held at the Louisiana Superdome . They reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to eventual second-place team Ronnie Garvin and Magnum T. A. The next day, Misawa
31280-405: The historian E. Norman Gardiner, "No branch of athletics was more popular than the pankration." There is also evidence of similar mixed combat sports in ancient Egypt , India and Japan . The mid-19th century saw the prominence of the new sport savate in the combat sports circle. French savate fighters wanted to test their techniques against the traditional combat styles of its time. In 1852,
31510-702: The inaugural GHC Heavyweight champion . At the first stop of the tour in Differ Ariake, Misawa defeated Akitoshi Saito in the first round, and proceeded to the finals after victories over Ogawa in Okayama on April 4, and Akiyama in Hiroshima on April 11. For Noah's first television taping, at the Kokusai International Center on April 1 (aired April 6), Misawa and Ogawa won against Marufuji and Takeshi Rikio . On April 15, before
31740-545: The independent circuit and in Ring Of Honor as Rok-C). The top rope version is also used sometimes, as seen in the picture above. The move is also very dangerous, because when the wrestler flips over the opponent's back, if they put too much downward force on their legs, it could result in a leg injury. Seth Rollins was injured while attempting to perform a sunset flip powerbomb by applying too much downward force on his leg, thus injuring it. An avalanche leg trap variation
31970-706: The jurisdiction of the CSAC, rendering the vote meaningless. On September 30, 2000, the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board (NJSACB) began allowing mixed martial arts promoters to conduct events in New Jersey. The first event was an IFC event titled Battleground 2000 held in Atlantic City. The intent was to allow the NJSACB to observe actual events and gather information to establish a comprehensive set of rules to regulate
32200-411: The kickboxing rules already accepted by most state athletic commissions. These modified kickboxing rules allowed for take downs and ground fighting and did away with rounds, although they did allow for fighters to be stood up by the referee and restarted if there was no action on the ground. These rules were the first in modern MMA to define fouls, fighting surfaces and the use of the cage. In March 1997,
32430-402: The kneeling version of this move as a finisher early in his career and would often drop his opponents off to his side instead of forwards. Also known as the buckle bomb . This move sees the wrestler faces a standing opponent, bends them forwards, takes a hold around their waist and then flips the opponent up and over so the opponent is sitting on the wrestler's shoulders. The wrestler then faces
32660-451: The late 1880s when wrestlers representing the style of catch wrestling and many others met in tournaments and music-hall challenge matches throughout Europe. In the US, the first major encounter between a boxer and a wrestler in modern times took place in 1887 when John L. Sullivan , then heavyweight world boxing champion, entered the ring with his trainer, wrestling champion William Muldoon , and
32890-468: The late 1960s to early 1970s, the concept of hybrid martial arts was popularized in the West by Bruce Lee via his system of Jeet Kune Do . Lee believed that "the best fighter is not a boxer, karate or judo man. The best fighter is someone who can adapt to any style, to be formless, to adopt an individual's own style and not following the system of styles." In 2004, UFC President Dana White would call Lee
33120-409: The locker room to have his wife leave the company. He was somewhat successful in that she ceased to have any creative influence when Misawa began booking. Misawa attempted to keep her content by maintaining the same salary that she had been paid when her husband was alive (approximately $ 500,000), but since she was the majority shareholder this did not change the power dynamic. Misawa's wish to change
33350-491: The mat back first, and the wrestler usually falls to their knees or to a sitting position. This variation was popularized by Chris Candido as the Blonde Bombshell , while Bubba Ray Dudley used a sit-out version. Another variation sees the opponent sitting on the top rope. The wrestler climbs up to the top rope and stands facing the opponent. The wrestler then bends the opponent over and takes hold of opponent around
33580-518: The mat back first. The difference compared to a regular powerbomb is that the opponent's head does not go between the wrestler's thighs, instead they remain slightly in front or to the side of the wrestler. The falling variation was used by Jack Swagger as the Swagger Bomb . "Dr. Death" Steve Williams popularized the sitout variation , naming it the Doctor Bomb . Kenny Omega also uses
33810-514: The match he could not remember the finish afterwards; Baba announced that Misawa would take a break to heal. Misawa returned on August 22 to work the first main event of the Summer Action Series II tour, a six-man match with Akiyama and Satoru Asako against Kobashi, Ace, and Johnny Smith . He admitted that his knees were still a problem and that he only felt sixty percent healthy, but he considered his return necessary because
34040-488: The match. Kobashi was advised to take the next six months off, or have major surgery that would prevent him from wrestling for another year. While he initially intended to ignore medical opinion, Misawa cancelled his appearances. This essentially forbade Kobashi from returning before he was ready, despite the increased business that this would have brought Noah. On May 5, Misawa wrestled his first match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling since 1990, in which he faced Masahiro Chono for
34270-427: The move on Kairi Sane . However, in recent years, Seth Rollins has continued to use the move semi-regularly, with Balór also using it against Rollins at Summerslam 2023, suggesting that WWE may have lifted the ban. This variation sees a wrestler catching an opponent mid-air or lifting them up in a standard powerbomb, before slamming him to the mat as quickly as possible. It was used as a finisher by Chris Benoit under
34500-423: The name Wild Bomb . The wrestler lifts the opponent upside down as in a vertical suplex and then pushes their upper body forward while sitting down, ending the move in the same position as the sitout powerbomb . A fall-forward and standing versions are also possible. The move was invented by Kenta Kobashi who called it Orange Crush . El Generico used the move with a double pumphandle cradle before delivering
34730-602: The name "MMA" at the UFC 17 rules meeting in response to increased public criticism. The question as to who actually coined the name is still in debate. The first state-regulated MMA event was held in Biloxi, Mississippi on August 23, 1996, with the sanctioning of IFC's Mayhem in Mississippi show by the Mississippi Athletic Commission under William Lyons. The rules used were an adaptation of
34960-467: The news on June 12. At an emergency board meeting held in response on June 13, co-vice president Mitsuo Momota and fellow boardsmen Kobashi, Taue, Kenichi Oyagi, and Yoshihiro Momota collectively resigned from their positions. On June 16, Misawa led a press conference, in which he was accompanied by all of AJPW's native wrestlers except Kawada and Fuchi. He announced that after finishing their last commitments to AJPW in July, all 23 who accompanied him to
35190-649: The opponent and performing a powerbomb. This move was popularized by Kevin Owens and Scott Steiner . Oba Femi uses this move as a finisher, named the Fall From Grace . A variation of the powerbomb where the opponent is lifted into the air and then dropped without being forced into a pin . Kevin Nash , Big Van Vader , Bubba Ray Dudley , Chris Benoit , Sycho Sid , Lita , Sara Del Rey , John Bradshaw Layfield and Sable use this move. Raquel Rodriguez uses
35420-456: The opponent around 180°, dropping them to the mat back first as they drop to a sitting position. Invented by Jun Akiyama , it is used as a signature move by Sami Zayn , as well as Konosuke Takeshita . Apollo Crews uses a toss variation of the move. John Cena uses a kneeling variation of the move, dubbing it the Protoplex . Also known as a pyramid driver , this move can be executed when
35650-463: The opponent down to the mat, as in a sitout powerbomb . A release variation sees the wrestler remain standing or kneeling and just throwing the opponent away from them onto their back to the mat. A gutwrench variation is also possible, with the wrestler dropping the opponent as in a normal gutwrench powerbomb. This maneuver was used by Diamond Dallas Page , but the sitout variation was popularized by Michael Elgin , who adopted it as his finisher as
35880-425: The opponent in front of the wrestler's body. As the wrestler brings the opponent back down to the mat, the wrestler kneels, slamming the opponent onto the mat. The wrestler faces a bent opponent and places them in the standing headscissors position (bent forward with their head placed between the wrestler's thighs). The wrestler then grabs hold around the opponent's upper torso or waist, and lifts them on top of one of
36110-485: The opponent is on the mat, kidney strikes, and striking the back of the head with closed fist. Holding onto the ring or cage for any reason was defined as a foul. While there are minor differences between these and the final Unified Rules, notably regarding elbow strikes, the Iowa rules allowed mixed martial arts promoters to conduct essentially modern events legally, anywhere in the state. On March 28, 1997, Extreme Fighting 4
36340-612: The opponent up off the shoulders of the attacking wrestler just moments before slamming them down to the mat. This move was used prominently by The Undertaker , who named it the Last Ride . A sitout version is used by Kota Ibushi , who calls it the Golden Star Bomb , and a pop up variation is used by Keith Lee , who calls it the Spirit Bomb as a homage to Dragon Ball Z . This move starts by lifting an opponent like
36570-407: The opponent's stomach, lifts the opponent over their shoulder, and holds both their arms in a cross position over their head. The wrestler finally runs or falls to their knees and throws the opponent onto the mat back and neck first. Sheamus employs the running variation, dubbing it the Celtic Cross . The falling variation is often associated with Razor Ramon , who popularized the move; calling it
36800-542: The original shoot style. Professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki founded Pancrase in 1993 which promoted legitimate contests initially under professional wrestling rules. These promotions inspired Pride Fighting Championships which started in 1997. Pride was acquired by its rival Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2007. A fight between Golden Gloves boxing champion Joey Hadley and Arkansas Karate Champion David Valovich happened on June 22, 1976, at Memphis Blues Baseball Park. The bout had mixed rules:
37030-458: The penultimate match of a card at the Nippon Budokan, Misawa received an NWA title shot against Ricky Steamboat , which he lost. He ruptured his left Anterior cruciate ligament during the match, and was inactive for the rest of 1989. Misawa returned after his injury by participating in a main-event battle royal at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on January 2, 1990, the first date of AJPW's New Year Giant Series. On February 10, Misawa would wrestle for
37260-447: The position, before Tsuruta himself was forced out of the company with no severance package. Momota, who would function as an intermediary between Misawa and Motoko, ran the office while Misawa was trained for the position. After Misawa and Ogawa unsuccessfully challenged Kobashi and Akiyama for the tag titles in the semi-main event at a March 6 Budokan show, Misawa placed third in the 1999 Champion Carnival. He then defeated Vader for
37490-451: The precursors of modern MMA are mixed style contests throughout Europe, Japan, and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s. In Japan, these contests were known as merikan , from the Japanese slang for "American [fighting]". Merikan contests were fought under a variety of rules, including points decision, best of three throws or knockdowns, and victory via knockout or submission. Sambo , a martial art and combat sport developed in Russia in
37720-551: The premier rivals of the original. While he was Sayama's most notable rival during his time as Tiger Mask, the Dynamite Kid had signed with the WWF by this time, so Kobayashi became Misawa's most notable feud in this period. Their first match on February 1 ended in double disqualification, when Kobayashi ripped up Misawa's mask and busted him open by running him into the ring post. A rematch at Sumo Hall on March 9 ended in double count-out. On June 21, in his first match at Nippon Budokan , Misawa unsuccessfully challenged Kobayashi for
37950-405: The previous two years, Misawa reached the finals, with nine wins, two losses to Kobashi and Williams, and one draw against Kawada. However, as he, Kobashi, and Kawada had achieved a three-way tie, a one-night round-robin tournament playoff between the three was held to determine the victor. After Misawa and Kobashi wrestled first to a time-limit draw, Kawada defeated Misawa in singles competition for
38180-448: The product closely and bought a Noah show to see Misawa and Kobashi. Misawa had planned to retire in 2007, but he was the only consistent top draw that Noah had. Misawa decided to put the world title on himself for Noah's survival, because he felt pressured to appear on every show at least until Kobashi returned. He defeated Marufuji at Great Voyage at the Budokan on December 10 to win his third GHC Heavyweight Championship. Misawa held
38410-404: The promotion's second Tokyo Dome event, he faced Kawada for the first time since the exodus in the main event, which he won. Noah claimed a sellout crowd of 62,000 people attended the event, but a later earnings report recorded that the company lost 10 million yen on the show. Destiny was Noah's final Tokyo Dome event. Misawa unsuccessfully challenged Rikio for the GHC Heavyweight Championship in
38640-515: The remains of Jumbo's faction, who were being led by Akira Taue. However, Kawada and Taue ended their feud with a handshake after wrestling to a draw in the 1993 Champion Carnival, and shortly thereafter formed the Holy Demon Army ( 聖鬼軍 , Seikigun ). Kenta Kobashi would take Kawada's place as Misawa's tag partner. Misawa entered the 1993 Champion Carnival and reached the finals to face Hansen again, who defeated him for his second Carnival victory on April 21 in Yokohama. Nevertheless, Misawa made
38870-519: The result of these disagreements, the AJPW executive board voted to remove Misawa from the presidential position on May 28. All parties agreed to keep this news private until the end of the current tour, and Misawa attempted to persuade Baba to give him her public blessings to start a new company, so as to smooth the public transition and preserve the legacies of Giant Baba and the recently deceased Tsuruta. Baba refused this proposal or relinquishment of any of her majority share, and so Tokyo Sports broke
39100-510: The same time, in Brazil there was a phenomenon called vale tudo , which became known for unrestricted fights between various styles such as judo , Brazilian jiu-jitsu , catch wrestling , luta livre , Muay Thai and capoeira . An early high-profile mixed bout was Kimura vs. Gracie in 1951. In mid-20th century Hong Kong , rooftop street fighting contests between different martial arts styles gave rise to Bruce Lee 's hybrid martial arts style Jeet Kune Do . Another precursor to modern MMA
39330-402: The second was against Kobashi on October 21 at the Budokan, during AJPW's 25th anniversary event. The latter won the Match of the Year award from Tokyo Sports . Misawa and Akiyama entered the 1997 WSTDL, and reached the finals against the Holy Demon Army again, to lose at Budokan on December 5. AJPW announced the show had sold out, but it was reported as actually having drawn 800 seats below
39560-405: The seconds legs while they are sitting on the second or top turnbuckle. Finally, both opponents will be slammed to the mat. A variation this move is called triple powerbomb, and it is performed by three wrestlers. Two wrestlers lift an opponent with a belly-to-back hold and place the opponent's legs on the third partner's shoulders, who executes the powerbomb while the other two push the opponent from
39790-506: The semi-main event by Kobashi and Taue when Kobashi pinned Misawa. On March 1, 2003, in the sold-out Budokan, Kobashi used the Burning Hammer to defeat Misawa for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, in their first Noah singles meeting. Like Kawada's Tokyo Dome win over Misawa in 1998, this was the culmination of years of failure on Kobashi's end to overcome Misawa in title matches. The resultant match received significant critical acclaim. As they had done in 1999, Misawa and Kobashi won Match of
40020-521: The semi-main event of Battle Banquet. On September 10, Misawa and Ogawa defended against Saito and Inoue, and on October 24, they defended against Taue and Takuma Sano . Misawa returned to AJPW on October 31 for the Keiji Mutoh: Love and Bump pay-per-view , where he and Mutoh defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in what was billed as a "Special Dream Tag Match". After another successful GHC Tag Team defense against Donovan Morgan and Michael Modest on December 4 in Yokohama, Misawa and Ogawa lost
40250-400: The shoulders of the wrestler, before then slamming them down in a powerbomb motion. A seated version is also possible. This maneuver was occasionally performed by "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown and was referred to as the Alpha Bomb . Raquel Rodriguez uses a one arm version of the powerbomb known initially as the Chingona Bomb , now dubbed the Texana Bomb . In this variation of a powerbomb,
40480-432: The shoulders of the wrestler, placing the opponent in a pinning predicament. In this variation of the powerbomb, the wrestler runs before they releases the opponent. A wrestler may also sit down for a pinfall attempt. In this variation of a powerbomb an opponent is first scooped so they are horizontal across an attacking wrestler's chest. The wrestler then pushes the opponent up and turns them, so that they are sitting on
40710-454: The sitout variation as the Dr. Willy Bomb . Also known as an Inverted front powerslam, this move sees the attacking wrestler faces a bent-over opponent and apply a gutwrench waistlock before lifting the opponent up so they are lying across the wrestler's shoulder, facing upward, with the wrestler maintaining the waistlock to hold them in position, known as an overhead gutwrench backbreaker rack . The wrestler then falls forward, standing or into
40940-406: The situation was that, as of the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2000, all the promotion's talent were working as free agents, since Misawa was not authorized to give the raises he intended to award all native workers. Misawa had also wanted to modernize their contracts, providing wrestlers with full medical coverage, full injury pay, and possibly stock options (which NJPW's contracts offered). As
41170-561: The sold-out Budokan on September 18, and on Noah's final Budokan show of the year on November 5, which sold out, he defeated Genichiro Tenryu. On the undercard of Noah's April 23, 2006, Budokan show, Misawa and Ogawa defeated Minoru Suzuki and Takahiro Suwa . Noah announced an attendance of 14,200 people, but the real number was reportedly under 10,000. In July, Misawa announced that Kobashi would be out indefinitely to treat kidney cancer , which had been diagnosed through tests run during his annual physical. Noah's next Budokan show on July 16
41400-469: The sold-out Budokan, Misawa and Ogawa began their second GHC Tag Team Championship reign when they defeated NJPW stars Yuji Nagata and Hiroshi Tanahashi . Alongside Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta Kobayashi winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team championships from El Samurai and Wataru Inoue in the semi-main event, this was a victory for Noah as they had lost their last four interpromotional matches with NJPW talent. This also made Misawa and Ogawa
41630-462: The sport at the time), hosted and reprinted the article. The first use of the term by a promotion was in September 1995 by Rick Blume, president and CEO of Battlecade Extreme Fighting, just after UFC 7. UFC official, Jeff Blatnick , was responsible for the Ultimate Fighting Championship officially adopting the name mixed martial arts. It was previously marketed as "Ultimate Fighting" and "No Holds Barred (NHB)", until Blatnick and John McCarthy proposed
41860-469: The sport effectively. On April 3, 2001, the NJSACB held a meeting to discuss the regulation of mixed martial arts events. This meeting attempted to unify the myriad rules and regulations which had been utilized by the different mixed martial arts organizations. At this meeting, the proposed uniform rules were agreed upon by the NJSACB, several other regulatory bodies, numerous promoters of mixed martial arts events and other interested parties in attendance. At
42090-438: The sport in the late 1990s he was the prototype – he could strike with the best strikers; he could grapple with the best grapplers; his endurance was second to none. " — Mike Sloan describing UFC champion Frank Shamrock 's early dominance The high profile of modern MMA promotions such as UFC and Pride has fostered an accelerated development of the sport. The early 1990s saw a wide variety of traditional styles competing in
42320-482: The sport. Following these changes, the sport has seen increased popularity with a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing and professional wrestling . In ancient China , combat sport appeared in the form of Leitai , a no-holds-barred mixed combat sport that combined Chinese martial arts , boxing and wrestling. In ancient Greece , there was a sport called pankration , which featured grappling and striking skills similar to those found in modern MMA. Pankration
42550-483: The sport. However, early competition saw varying levels of success among disparate styles. In the early 1990s, practitioners of grappling based styles such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu dominated competition in the United States. Practitioners of striking based arts such as boxing , kickboxing , and karate , who were unfamiliar with submission grappling, proved to be unprepared to deal with its submission techniques . As competitions became more and more common, those with
42780-407: The tag titles against the Holy Demon Army on May 21 in Sapporo. Two weeks later, on June 3, Misawa defeated Kawada at Budokan in Kawada's third challenge for the title, and the final successful defense of Misawa's first Triple Crown reign. This match was the second to receive a six-star rating from Dave Meltzer, and would be the last one to do so until 2017. It has been specifically cited as one of
43010-401: The technique of "ground and pound" developed by wrestling-based UFC pioneers such as Dan Severn , Don Frye and Mark Coleman . These wrestlers realized the need for the incorporation of strikes on the ground as well as on the feet, and incorporated ground striking into their grappling-based styles. Mark Coleman stated at UFC 14 that his strategy was to "Ground him and pound him", which may be
43240-569: The term mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. Originally promoted as a competition to find the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat, competitors from different fighting styles were pitted against one another in contests with relatively few rules. Later, individual fighters incorporated multiple martial arts into their style. MMA promoters were pressured to adopt additional rules to increase competitors' safety, to comply with sport regulations and to broaden mainstream acceptance of
43470-451: The time of his death held the record for most WON five star matches, with 25 , including one as Tiger Mask. His match with Kawada on June 3, 1994, has been cited as one of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time. Misawa was born Mitsuharu Kotake ( 小竹 光晴 , Kotake Mitsuharu ) in Yūbari , Hokkaidō , but the family moved to Koshigaya , Saitama as the coal mine where his father worked declined. Originally, his name
43700-602: The titles to Doug Williams and Scorpio on January 23, 2005, when Scorpio pinned Ogawa. Misawa made several interpromotional appearances in the first half of 2005, including a UK tour. On March 18, he and Ogawa defeated Doug Williams and Stevie Knight in a British Championship Wrestling event. The next day, at The Wrestling Channel's International Showdown supercard, Misawa, Ogawa, and Kotaro Suzuki were defeated by Williams, Scorpio, and James Tighe . On March 20, Misawa and Suzuki appeared for German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling , losing to Ares and Ahmed Chaer. At
43930-448: The titles, foreshadowing Misawa's main-event push . The tour built up to the Misawa-Tsuruta match through a series of six-man tags in which Misawa and fellow young stars, later to be known under the faction name of the Super Generation Army ( 超世代軍 , Chosedaigun ), wrestled Tsuruta's stable . During the third of these matches, at Korakuen Hall on May 26, Tsuruta bullied Misawa's partners, Kobashi and Akira Taue , by knocking them off
44160-440: The two tours without him had been the worst-performing in company history. Misawa and Akiyama officially disbanded their team on August 30 after defeating Kobashi and Takao Omori in the main event of a show in Hakata. While he had had creative influence before this, it was around September when Misawa took over the booker position almost entirely after he reportedly threatened to start his own promotion. However, Baba still booked
44390-408: The waist. The wrestler then flips the opponent up and over so they are sitting on the shoulders of the wrestler. At the same time, the wrestler spins around 180° and leaps forward, falling to the ground in a standing or sitting position and driving the opponent's back and shoulders to the mat or can jump backwards away from the turnbuckle to drop into a seated position. Another variant of the Superbomb
44620-503: The wake of the Great Recession . This marked the end of a 55-year period of wrestling programming on the station, going back to the JWA . The program, which had been airing in a thirty-minute Sunday slot floating between 1:30 and 3 AM, was still Noah's best means of mainstream exposure. Misawa appeared at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom III on January 4, 2009, losing alongside Takashi Sugiura to Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto . On March 1, Noah held their final NTV taping at Budokan, with
44850-657: The way for a powerbomb, dropped him onto his neck. The match involving Kawada and Misawa was the last match that Giant Baba would watch, having reportedly called it the best match he had ever seen. Nine days later, he died of liver failure from complications of colon cancer. Misawa had not been aware of the severity of his condition, which was only known by Baba's innermost circle: his wife Motoko, older sister, and daughter, as well as referee Kyohei Wada and secretary Ryu Nakata. Although Motoko Baba had selected Mitsuo Momota to succeed her late husband as president, board member Jumbo Tsuruta used his influence to help Misawa inherit
45080-588: The world. MMA gyms serve as specialized training centers where fighters develop their skills across various martial arts disciplines, such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, Muay Thai, and boxing. These gyms provide structured environments for athletes to prepare for competition, offering coaching, sparring, and conditioning programs. Certain gyms, such as the UFC Performance Institute offer facilities like cryotherapy chambers , underwater treadmills , and DEXA machines. The following are popular MMA gyms along with notable fighters that have trained out of them. As
45310-501: The wrestler face up. The wrestler then either sits down or stays standing. They may also wrap their hands around the opponent's upper legs. The move sees the wrestler lifts the opponent and drops them on the mat, while sliding forward and lifts his legs off the mat, putting his full body weight on top of the wrestler and thus pinning their shoulders more firmly against the mat. Popularized by Genichiro Tenryu , Toshiaki Kawada and recently Gunther . Samoa Joe used this to transition into
45540-423: The wrestler keeps the arm hooks applied during the entire move, causing their opponent to land on their head, neck, and shoulders. Misawa popularized the move as Tiger Driver '91 . The name refers to the January 29, 1991 match in which Misawa debuted the maneuver against Akira Taue . Kota Ibushi uses this move as finishing move. Masahiro Chono used it as finishing move on rare occasions, most famously used to win
45770-402: The wrestler moves forward slightly so the opponent's midsection is between the wrestler's thighs instead of their head. The wrestler wraps their arms around the opponent's midsection in a waistlock, then jumps and rolls forward, under the opponent's legs, and into a seated position, forcing the opponent to fall back to the mat. The resulting position can lead to a sitout pin . This is often called
46000-435: The wrestler raises them up again and drops them. Depending on the wrestler, they may continue to repeat the process and may pin the opponent after the last one. Although neither wrestler does this anymore, Chris Jericho and Brock Lesnar used the multiple powerbomb as a signature maneuver when they debuted in WWE ; Jericho's version was a double and Lesnar's a triple although some times a double. AEW wrestler Wardlow uses
46230-430: The wrestler's shoulders on their back. The wrestler then bends forward and slams the opponent down to the mat on their back or shoulders. It is also known as an Over-the-shoulder powerbomb or a One shoulder powerbomb. Innovated by the Great Nita ( Atsushi Onita ). The late Mike Awesome used the standing, a running, and kneeling versions of this move as finishers, collectively dubbed Awesome Bomb . Sid Vicious also used
46460-475: Was Bartitsu , which Edward William Barton-Wright founded in London in 1899. Combining catch wrestling , judo , boxing , savate , jujutsu and canne de combat (French stick fighting), Bartitsu was the first martial art known to have combined Asian and European fighting styles, and which saw MMA-style contests throughout England, pitting European catch wrestlers and Japanese judoka champions against representatives of various European wrestling styles. Among
46690-417: Was Noah's first interpromotional match with AJPW wrestlers since the mass exodus. On July 10, Noah held their first Tokyo Dome show, Departure , and in the penultimate match, they defended against AJPW president Keiji Mutoh and Taiyo Kea , one of the few AJPW wrestlers who had not joined the Noah exodus. Eight days later, Misawa had his first AJPW match since July 2000, where he defeated Satoshi Kojima in
46920-501: Was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his 18-year stint with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and for forming Pro Wrestling Noah in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside Toshiaki Kawada , Kenta Kobashi , and Akira Taue , who came to be nicknamed AJPW's " Four Pillars of Heaven ", and whose matches developed the ōdō ( 王道 , "King's Road") style of puroresu and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in
47150-427: Was best, began testing each other in their respective arts of kenpo, jujitsu, Chinese and American boxing and tang soo do . From this they developed kajukenbo , the first American mixed martial arts. In 1951, a high-profile grappling match was Masahiko Kimura vs. Hélio Gracie , which was wrestled between judoka Masahiko Kimura and Brazilian jiu jitsu founder Hélio Gracie in Brazil. Kimura defeated Gracie using
47380-460: Was blocked by Sakaguchi). This was initially under the auspices of becoming an ambassador for the brand, but the actual intentions of this deal were made clear months later by the formation of wrestling promotion Super World of Sports (and a resultant exodus of talent in its wake). Since this departure left Jumbo Tsuruta as the only native main event star that the promotion had, Baba made the decision to turn Misawa into his new rising star. During
47610-424: Was defeated by Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. After this, Misawa still felt obligated to work every Noah event; while Kobashi had returned, by this time the company was struggling too much to handle losing Misawa on their cards. His injuries were accumulating, including osteophytes on his neck which caused pain during simple tasks, such as brushing his teeth and touching the collar of his gown, and
47840-401: Was defeated by Vader. In the 1999 WSTDL, Misawa and Ogawa scored nine points (4-1-2), achieving third place in a three-way tie. In a Budokan show on February 27, 2000, Misawa was pinned by Akiyama for the first time in singles competition during the semi main-event. Misawa then entered the 2000 Champion Carnival, which he changed from round-robin format to a single-elimination tournament for
48070-441: Was diagnosed with hepatitis . Due to the void this left in the All Japan product, and Taue's specific need for a tag partner, Baba split Kawada from Misawa in the spring of 1993 to become his premier native rival in singles competition. In early March 1993, Kawada announced that he would no longer work as Misawa's tag partner after the advertised matches on the tour had been fulfilled. At the time he denied that he would join up with
48300-412: Was finding it increasingly difficult to get fights in Thailand as his weight (70 kg) was not typical for Thailand, where competitive bouts tended to be at the lower weights. Roufus knocked Changpuek down twice with punches in the first round, breaking Changpuek's jaw, but lost by technical knockout in the fourth round due to the culmination of low kicks to the legs that he was unprepared for. This match
48530-508: Was forced back into action before he was ready, and worked matches while wearing a sling. On August 22, 1992, Misawa defeated Hansen to win the first of what would eventually be five Triple Crown championships. In his first defense, on the final card of the October Giant Series tour, Misawa defeated Kawada at Budokan. He and Kawada would later win the 1992 WSTDL, defeating Taue and Jun Akiyama (who had only debuted that September) on December 4 and earning their second World Tag Team Championship as
48760-413: Was formed by combining the already established wrestling and boxing traditions and, in Olympic terms, first featured in the 33rd Olympiad in 648 BC. All strikes and holds were allowed with the exception of biting and gouging, which were banned. The fighters, called pankratiasts, fought until someone could not continue or signaled submission by raising their index finger; there were no rounds. According to
48990-428: Was held before a Budokan sellout crowd of 17,000 people (reportedly the venue's all-time attendance record ), and which Misawa won with an Emerald Flowsion to Kobashi off the middle rope, was awarded Match of the Year by Nikkan Sports and Tokyo Sports . Misawa himself was awarded Wrestler of the Year by Tokyo Sports , and received the Nikkan Sports MVP award as determined by fan voting. On March 2, 2008, Misawa
49220-419: Was held under these rules, making it the first show conducted under a version of the modern rules. In April 2000, the California State Athletic Commission voted unanimously in favor of regulations that later became the foundation for the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts . However, when the legislation was sent to the California capital in Sacramento for review, it was determined that the sport fell outside
49450-416: Was in midair to cause him to land on his head and shoulders. On February 26, Misawa and Kawada unsuccessfully challenged the team of Terry Gordy and Steve Williams , known as Satsujin Gyorai , for the World Tag Team championships in Sendai . During the match, Misawa was knocked out in kayfabe by a Gordy powerbomb to the arena floor, which left Kawada to fight the champions alone. Misawa then entered
49680-435: Was initially reported that he would be able to return in July, this was much too optimistic as Kobashi would have several more procedures throughout the year. In early 2001, Misawa had his only two matches against Shinya Hashimoto , who had worked on the Great Voyage card. In the first, on January 13, Misawa and Ogawa defeated Hashimoto and Alexander Otsuka at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium when Misawa pinned Otsuka after
49910-477: Was knocked out by elbows. The Japanese fighter who lost, Kenji Kurosaki, was a kyokushin instructor, rather than a contender, and that he had stood in as a substitute for the absent chosen fighter. In June of the same year, karateka and future kickboxer Tadashi Sawamura faced top Thai fighter Samarn Sor Adisorn: Sawamura was knocked down sixteen times on his way to defeat. Sawamura went on to incorporate what he learned in that fight in kickboxing tournaments. During
50140-442: Was popularized by B. J. Whitmer , who used the move to toss himself and fellow wrestler Jimmy Jacobs into a crowd at a Ring of Honor show in June 2006. The attacking wrestler stands facing the opponent, who is often charging at the attacker, before bending the opponent down so they are bent in front of the attacking wrestler as he/she stands over them then the wrestler reaches around the opponent's body and lifts them up, spinning
50370-423: Was reintroduced to the United States by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). UFC promoters initially pitched the event as a real-life fighting video game tournament similar to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat . The sport gained international exposure and widespread publicity when jiu-jitsu fighter Royce Gracie won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament, submitting three challengers in
50600-412: Was serious about professional wrestling. Wrestling at 187 pounds (84.8 kilograms ), Misawa won the national high school championship in 1980, and in the same year he placed fifth at the freestyle World Championships, competing in the junior age group. Despite his success, Misawa disliked amateur wrestling, and only saw it as a means to an end for a career in professional wrestling. Misawa entered
50830-437: Was set to have Kobashi and Takayama face Misawa and Akiyama in the main event. This was Takayama's first match in two years, as he had suffered a stroke after a 2004 NJPW G1 Climax match against Kensuke Sasaki . Misawa arranged Sasaki himself as a replacement for Kobashi, and the resultant event was a sellout. After this, though, Budokan show attendance declined throughout the year, as Misawa gave junior heavyweight Marufuji
51060-620: Was slammed to the mat in two minutes. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European wrestling champion Ernest Roeber . In September 1901, Frank "Paddy" Slavin , who had been a contender for Sullivan's boxing title, knocked out future world wrestling champion Frank Gotch in Dawson City , Canada. The judo-practitioner Ren-nierand, who gained fame after defeating George Dubois, would fight again in another similar contest, which he lost to Ukrainian Catch wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Another early example of mixed martial arts
51290-412: Was supposed to be Hideki, but was changed to Mitsuharu after his mother was denied honors. Misawa had an older brother, who was favored by his father. According to Misawa, his father was violent towards his mother Akiko Misawa, and once stabbed her with a kitchen knife; they divorced during his first year of elementary school and, thus, Mitsuharu and his brother took Misawa as their surname. Misawa won
51520-637: Was taken to the AWA's WrestleRock 86 event by Stan Hansen , where he defeated Buck Zumhofe . Misawa entered his first World's Strongest Tag Determination League (WSTDL) in 1986 alongside Baba, where his role was to lose pinfalls when they faced that year's star teams. The pair would tie for sixth place with three wins, three losses, and one double count-out. The next March, Misawa was defeated in his only match against then- NWA champion Ric Flair . Misawa transitioned into being Tsuruta's occasional tag partner as Tsuruta's feud with Genichiro Tenryu became AJPW's main program. On July 3, Misawa and Tsuruta won
51750-410: Was the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki exhibition bout, fought between boxer Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio Inoki in Japan, where it later inspired the foundation of Shooto in 1985, Pancrase in 1993, and the Pride Fighting Championships in 1997. In the 1990s, the Gracie family brought their Brazilian jiu-jitsu style , first developed in Brazil from the 1920s, to the United States—which culminated in
51980-421: Was the first popular fight which showcased the power of such low kicks to a predominantly Western audience. The movement that led to the creation of present-day mixed martial arts scenes emerged from a confluence of several earlier martial arts scenes: the vale tudo events in Brazil, rooftop fights in Hong Kong's street fighting culture, and professional wrestlers , especially in Japan . Vale tudo began in
52210-418: Was the inaugural holder of) three times. He was also an eight-time world tag team champion. Fifty-three of the sixty-nine events at the Nippon Budokan that Misawa headlined were sellouts, a drawing record that has been compared to Bruno Sammartino 's run at Madison Square Garden . Misawa was named Wrestler of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter on three occasions (1995, 1997 and 1999), and at
52440-471: Was used by Konnan as well. It is used by Roman Reigns as a signature move. This move, invented by Masato Tanaka , is performed when the wrestler will put the opponent in to the position for a belly to back suplex , lift them up and then catch them in mid air as if going for a spinebuster but instead put the opponents legs on their shoulders then drives the opponent to the mat like a falling powerbomb. Due to convenience of wording, this name can refer to
52670-403: Was very controversial at the time, since titles frequently changed hands via countout in Japan. For that year's WSTDL, Misawa teamed with Jimmy Snuka , where they tied for seventh place with seven points. In a tag match held during the League but not towards it, Misawa had his first match against Kenta Kobashi (teaming with Ishikawa) on November 24, which he and Snuka won. On March 8, 1989, in
52900-449: Was when Noah "really started taking off". The match was noted for its brutality, and it caused Takayama to suffer a dislocated AC joint , torn shoulder ligaments, and a broken eye socket bone (the latter was the same injury he received during the Frye bout). Misawa made his only successful defense on December 7, defeating Ogawa. At Great Voyage 2003, the first event of the year (at the sold-out Budokan), Misawa and Chono were defeated in
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