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UFC ON VERSUS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC on VERSUS on March 21 live from the FirstBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific!

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DREAM 13

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of DREAM 13 coming to you from the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan on March 22. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 3 AM Eastern/12 AM Pacific!

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STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS on March 26 live from the SavMart Center in Fresno, CA. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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UFC 111: GSP VS. HARDY

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on March 27. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and feature a heavyweight showdown between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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UFC FIGHT NIGHT: FLORIAN VS. GOMI

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi live from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC on March 31. The event will be headlined by a lightweight battle between Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific!

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BELLATOR XIII

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIII live from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida on April 8. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

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BELLATOR XIV

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIV live from the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on April 15. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

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STRIKEFORCE: NASHVILLE

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Strikeforce: Nashville live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN on April 17. The event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson and feature the US debut of Japanese submission god Shinya Aoki! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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MFC 25: VINDICATION

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of MFC 25: Vindication live from the Edmonton Expo Center in Edmonton, Alberta on April 17. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

the savage science quote

“If you go by the rules, you end up being an accountant.”

Robert Evans

Puroresu legend Mitsuharu Misawa dead at 46

Written by Lyman Hoyt   |   Saturday, June 13 2009

misawa1Japanese pro wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa died of an apparent heart attack during a Pro Wrestling NOAH match.
Mitsuharu Misawa died in Hiroshima, Japan earlier today less than a week before his 47th birthday.  He was in a tag team match for his Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion with Go Shiozaki against Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito.  Saito hit a back suplex on Misawa, which appeared to knock him unconscious.  Medical staff attempted to revive him in the ring, but when CPR failed he was taken to a hospital by ambulance.  Initial reports in the Japanese media suggest that he was pronounced dead at the hospital, but a number of eyewitness accounts have speculated that he may have died in the ring.

That’s at least a small bit of solace amid the tragedy of Misawa’s death—he died in the ring doing what he loved, and what he did better than just about anyone on the planet.  Not like Owen Hart died in the ring, doing a stupid stunt in a silly character that he was reportedly assigned as “punishment” for refusing to go along with a storyline he felt demeaning, but working the kind of brutally stiff, athletically realistic match that got a generation hooked on Japanese wrestling.

Misawa was a top level high school wrestler, and that got him noticed by All Japan Pro Wrestling majordomo Shohei ‘Giant’ Baba.  He made his professional debut in 1981, and got his first big break in 1984 when he was chosen as the second ‘Tiger Mask’ replacing Satoru Sayama.  In 1990, he had his longtime tag team partner (and occasional rival) Toshiaki Kawada unmask him.

Misawa would wrestle as himself from then on, and become an even bigger star in the process.  In June, 1990 he became one of the top stars in All Japan Pro Wrestling when he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta.  That match was his first main event appearance at the venue Cheap Trick made famous in America, the Nippon Budokan.   He soon faced Triple Crown Champion Stan Hansen in an unsuccessful challenge for the title, and would become arguably the biggest native star in Japanese pro wrestling for the next decade.

He’d have legendary battles against Kawada, Hansen, Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama and Steve ‘Dr. Death’ Williams in singles competition.  He’d also become a force on the tag team scene along with Kawada facing Williams and Terry Gordy along with Tsuruta and Akira Taue.  Misawa would continue as a mainstay in AJPW until the early part of this decade.  After the death of Giant Baba, he repeatedly bumped heads with his widow over the company’s direction and in 2000 quit to establish Pro Wrestling NOAH.  He would serve as the company’s president while wrestling a full time schedule until his untimely death.

Japanese pro wrestling served as a ‘gateway drug’ for many into ‘shoot’ fight sports and MMA.  For at least three of us here on the SAVSCI staff, our introduction to MMA wasn’t via the UFC but through Japanese pro wrestling and the “worked/shoot” and later “shoot” promotions it created.  Before the Internet, fans would trade videotapes to stay up on the latest matches from Japan and along with Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger and ‘The Great Muta’ Keiji Mutoh it safe to say that Misawa is one of the wrestlers most responsible for getting a generation of American fans hooked on the product.  For American fans at the time—and with the WWE at its creative low point—the All Japan and New Japan Pro Wrestling product was nothing short of a revelation.

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