| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (1966-03-24)March 24, 1966 (age 59)[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Mitsuhiro Matsunaga |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 231 lb (105 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Chita, Aichi, Japan |
| Trained by | Masashi Aoyagi |
| Debut | October 6, 1989 |
| Retired | December 23, 2009 |
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (松永 光広,Matsunaga Mitsuhiro; born March 24, 1966) is a Japanese retiredprofessional wrestler best known for hisdeathmatch wrestling style, having competed in memorable deathmatches inBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW),Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) andWrestling International New Generations (W*ING). He is renowned for participating in the first-ever deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history on December 10, 1989[3] and is also credited for participating in aPiranha Deathmatch againstKendo Nagasaki on August 19, 1996, which has been considered to be the most popular and greatest deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history by wrestling journalists and many sports websites and Matsunaga has received critical acclaim for his performance.[4][5]
Matsunaga began his career in FMW where he specialized in the deathmatch wrestling style and adopted it as his own trademark style. He competed in many infamous deathmatches in W*ING and high-profilefeuds withMr. Pogo,Freddy Krueger andLeatherface in many successful deathmatches earned him the moniker of "Mr. Danger". After working as W*ING's ace from 1992-1993, Matsunaga left the company and returned to FMW where he headlined the successful1993 Year End Spectacular event againstAtsushi Onita. After an alliance with Onita, Matsunaga formed theW*ING Alliance to feud with FMW and avenge the demise of W*ING from FMW. Initially considered to be Onita's successor as FMW's ace, Matsunaga was demoted from his role and failed to gain prominence in FMW and ultimately quit the company in 1996. He then joined BJW and helped the promotion revolutionize in deathmatch wrestling and became atwo-timeDeathmatch Heavyweight Champion in the company before quitting in 2001.
Matsunaga was initially trained in martial arts and worked for the World Karate Association (WKA) organization. He received the training ofprofessional wrestling from fellow karateka Masashi Aoyagi and made his wrestling debut forAtsushi Onita'sGrudge in Nagoya event promoted under theFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) banner on October 6, 1989, by defeating Billy Mack.[6] FMW would bring in martial artists and several fighters to combine matches between professional wrestlers and martial artists and Matsunaga would be roped in to tour with FMW for a few more shows as part of FMW's working partnership with WKA.[3] Matsunaga headlined theBattle Creation event on December 10 at theKorakuen Hall inTokyo by teaming withJerry Blayman against Onita andTarzan Goto in the company's first-everbarbed wire deathmatch and the first-ever deathmatch in Japan, which Matsunaga and Blayman lost.[7][8][9] This match would set the stage for Matsunaga to establish himself as a deathmatch wrestler. Matsunaga then participated in theBattle Resistance Tournament on January 7, 1990, in which he defeatedKatsuji Ueda via disqualification in the first round before losing to eventual winner Masanobu Kurisu in the quarterfinals.[10]
Matsunaga left FMW after the partnership of FMW and WKA ended. He worked two shows forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the summer of 1991 in which he traded wins with Masashi Aoyagi.[11][12]
Matsunaga joined the newly upstartdeathmatch wrestlingpromotionWrestling International New Generations (W*ING) later that year, making his debut on September 20 by defeating Nobuhiro Tsurumaki.[13] He was soon placed in arivalry against the company's topvillainMr. Pogo and waspushed as the promotion's topfan favorite and the company'sace.[3] After having faced off against each other in many tag team matches throughout the late 1991, Matsunaga and Pogo competed in their first singles match against one another in a Scramble Bunkhouse Barbed Wire Baseball Bat Deathmatch on March 8, 1992, at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which Matsunaga lost.[14] Matsunaga rebounded by defeating Pogo in a Fire Deathmatch atOne Night One Soul.[15] Matsunaga competed in many memorable deathmatches throughout 1992 and his rivalry with Mr. Pogo was considered a classic.[3] He was then involved in a feud withLeatherface, to whom he lost in a Barbed Wire Deathmatch on October 28.[16] He then suffered another loss against Leatherface in a Spike Nail Deathmatch atWe Love W*ING.[17][18]
On April 3, 1993, Matsunaga won his firsttitle, the promotion'sWorld Tag Team Championship withYukihiro Kanemura by defeatingFreddie Krueger and Leatherface.[19] He vacated the title only six days later to concentrate on his ongoing feud with Leatherface. On May 5, Matsunaga defeated Leatherface in a Spike Nail Deathmatch to gain his first singles win over his nemesis.[20][21] Matsunaga then defeated Mr. Pogo in a Scramble Bunkhouse Deathmatch in their last meeting against each other in W*ING as Pogo would leave the company afterwards due to a contract dispute and return to FMW.[22] Following Pogo's departure, Matsunaga continued to feud with Freddie Krueger, Leatherface andThe Headhunters throughout the summer of 1993. He also made an appearance forEastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) in theUnited States on the August 31 episode ofHardcore TV by teaming withMiguelito Perez to wrestle The Headhunters to a double disqualification.[23][24] He then touredMexico to wrestle on two shows for theUniversal Wrestling Association (UWA).[25][26] Matsunaga's final match in W*ING was aWarGames match, in which Matsunaga,Crash the Terminator and W*ING Kanemura lost to Freddie Krueger,Jado andGedo atBest Champ on August 25.[27]
Matsunaga followed his rival Mr. Pogo and left W*ING to return to FMW on September 15, 1993, as avillain. He teamed with Pogo to defeatAtsushi Onita andMr. Gannosuke in a No Ropes Barbed Wire Street Fight Deathmatch.[28] Matsunaga feuded with Onita throughout the fall of 1993 and he challenged Onita for theBrass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in a highly anticipated No Ropes Barbed Wire Deathmatch between the two atYear End Spectacular, which was promoted as the first-ever meeting between FMW's ace and W*ING's ace. Onita retained the title.[29] After the match, Matsunaga made friends with Onita andturnedfan favorite as he joined the FMW side to feud with Pogo and his entourage. AtFMW 5th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1994, Matsunaga andTarzan Goto unsuccessfully challenged Pogo andHisakatsu Oya for theBrass Knuckles Tag Team Championship.[30] On July 31, Matsunaga teamed with Atsushi Onita to defeat Pogo and Oya for the tag team championship.[31] As a result, Matsunaga renewed his W*ING-era rivalry with Mr. Pogo as the two clashed in aStreet Fight Deathmatch atSummer Spectacular, which Matsunaga lost.[32]
Matsunaga had gained fame for his deathmatch wrestling style and was considered by Onita to succeed him as FMW'sace after Onita's retirement atFMW 6th Anniversary Show but Matsunaga's box office drawing power was considered weak by management and the management had to change their mind. On September 7, former W*ING wrestlerYukihiro Kanemura debuted in FMW and quickly joined Mr. Pogo and convinced Matsunaga to join them but a reluctant Matsunaga did not agree to the offer. Matsunaga met Kanemura at a hospital where Kanemura was being treated for some burns suffered in a match and Onita got the pictures of the meeting and accused Matsunaga of having turned on FMW and joined Kanemura which upset Matsunaga and he broke up with Onita and turned on FMW to formW*ING Alliance with Kanemura and Pogo to become a villain and feud with FMW.[3] At 6th Anniversary Show on May 5, 1995, the W*ING team of Matsunaga,Hido andHideki Hosaka lost toTakashi Ishikawa, Apollo Sagawa andKishin Kawabata.[33] Matsunaga's stock began dropping in FMW and he was mainly utilized in the mid-card. Following Onita's retirement, Matsunaga and Pogo continued their rivalry to maintain the deathmatch wrestling in FMW.[34]
Matsunaga would enter the Grand Slam Tournament for the vacant Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship, in which he scored eight points and lost his last match in the tournament againstHayabusa on September 24.[35] After the loss, Matsunaga showed respect to Hayabusa and teased an alliance between FMW and W*ING as the two defeated W*ING Kanemura andMasato Tanaka in atag team match on October 28.[36] The four men formed an alliance whileSuper Leather and Hido grew upset at Matsunaga and Kanemura for turning on W*ING and joining FMW and the two joined Lethal Weapon. This turned out to be a ruse as Matsunaga turned on Hayabusa during a match against Mr. Pogo and Super Leather on November 20 and then Matsunaga and Kanemura turned on FMW and Leather and Hido turned on Lethal Weapon to reform W*ING.[34][37] This was where W*ING regained its spot as the top villainous group and feuded with FMW and Lethal Weapon.
On February 23, 1996, Matsunaga, Hido and W*ING Kanemura lost to Masato Tanaka,Ricky Fuji andTetsuhiro Kuroda in the first-everWarGames match in FMW history.[38] After the match,Víctor Quiñones debuted in FMW and ledThe Headhunters in attacking FMW and W*ING and then Quinones formed Puerto Rican Army in an attempt to take over FMW. FMW and W*ING joined forces and W*ING turned into a fan favorite group. Matsunaga lost to longtime rival Mr. Pogo in a Barbed Wire Double Hell Deathmatch on March 15.[39] Matsunaga was initially scheduled to take onAbdullah the Butcher in a high-profile Barbwire Caribbean Glass Double Hell Deathmatch atFMW 7th Anniversary Show but thenCactus Jack was selected in Abdullah's place. Jack was contracted toWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) at the time and WWF did not allow Jack to compete against Matsunaga due to Matsunaga'sHepatitis B and Matsunaga was pulled out of the match by FMW and replaced by W*ING Kanemura. Matsunaga would instead team with Hideki Hosaka and Hido to defeatMiguel Perez, Shoji Nakamaki andToryu.[40] This would be his last appearance with the company as Matsunaga left FMW due to being unhappy with his spot in the company.[3]
Matsunaga and Nagasaki did a fantastic job of building up the drama of someone going into the piranha tank. It could have been one of those matches where they just danced around for 16 minutes and teased someone going in. Instead Matsunaga and Nagasaki managed to stay away from the tank during the match and built up a decent story and progression for it to take place. They even made it a point to open each other up and get a lot of their blood into the tank to "fire up" the crazy, biting fish.
Matsunaga debuted for the new rising deathmatch promotionBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) on July 19, 1996, by teaming with Shoji Nakamaki to defeatKendo Nagasaki andSeiji Yamakawa in a No Ropes Barbed Wire, Scaffold, Table and Barbed Wire Boards Elimination Deathmatch[41] to begin feuding with Nagasaki. Matsunaga defeated Nagasaki in a singles match on August 5.[42] AtSummer Night Dream, Matsunaga competed against Nagasaki in a high-profile Yokohama Amazon River Piranha and Barbed Wire Board Deathmatch, which Nagasaki won. The match earned critical acclaim and would become very popular in Japan and considered to be a pioneer in the popularity and success of deathmatch wrestling in Japan. It was considered by many to be the best deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history.[43]
Daniel Massey of Bleacher Report commented "The piranhas took a chunk out of Matsunaga’s chest and he looked in terrible pain when he left the arena. I don’t wish that on anyone, but he chose to wrestle there and in Japan—had they have been fobbed off with a rubbish ending, there would have been a riot. That does not mean I condone the actions, but that’s what makes it great. The final reason this match was the greatest Death Match of all time was because the wrestlers were so good. Matsunaga was already synonymous with the Death Match format and was considered a veteran, so this new concept of piranhas made it more exciting, as even he hadn’t encountered anything like it before. The two wrestlers had a certain chemistry in the ring, and to hold an audience for 20 minutes with a tank of piranhas in the middle of the ring is no easy feat."[4]
Ryan Byers of 411mania commented "This probably seemed like a fairly revolutionary little match when it first occurred, and the stipulation upon which the match was built is something that has rarely if ever been duplicated. However, if you take away the piranha, there’s nothing that separates it from five hundred other deathmatches that we have seen throughout the years", with "The match is still well worth watching for curiosity’s sake, but I can’t imagine going out of your way to watch it if you’re interesting in seeing a top of the line deathmatch."[44]
Matsunaga competed in a variety of deathmatches during the early years of BJW and helped the promotion to make a mark in the deathmatch wrestling fame in Japan. In the summer of 1998, Matsunaga participated in a tournament to crown the inauguralDeathmatch Heavyweight Champion, losing toThe Great Pogo in the final in a Glass and Fire Coffin Cremation Deathmatch on August 9.[45] On August 23, Matsunaga defeated Pogo in a Glass and Fire Coffin Cremation Deathmatch to win the title.[46] Matsunaga lost the title toShadow WX in a 3-Way Board Alligator Deathmatch on September 23.[47] On August 19, 2001, Matsunaga defeatedZandig in a 200 lighttubes and thumbtack and glass board deathmatch to win his second Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship.[48] Matsunaga lost the title back to Zandig atAnte Up.[49] This was his last appearance with BJW as he left the company after losing the title.
Matsunaga competed as a freelancer in the Japaneseindependent circuit during the last few years of his career. On September 16, 2002, Matsunaga attackedMammoth Sasaki with a baseball bat during Sasaki's match againstHisakatsu Oya for the Wrestlings Marvelous Future (WMF) promotion.[50] A match was made between Matsunaga and Sasaki which stipulated that if Matsunaga won then he would be allowed to compete in WMF and deathmatches would also be legal in the company and if he lost then he would be banned from competing in WMF. The match took place on September 30, which Matsunaga lost.[51] Matsunaga would make appearances forPro Wrestling Zero1 between 2005 and 2008. On December 23, 2009, Matsunaga lost toAkitoshi Saito in his retirement match at aPro Wrestling NOAH show.[52]
After retiring from professional wrestling, Matsunaga opened Mr. Danger, a franchisedsteakhouse with twoTokyo locations operating out ofSumida City[53] andTaitō City.
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