10 Subjects Dark Side Of The Ring Should Cover Next
6. The In-Ring Death Of Mitsuharu Misawa
Great documentaries can prove vital; if they challenge a culture with enough conviction, that culture can change in its wake.
The culture of modern puroresu is in need of change because that 'modern' prefix increasingly describes the period, and not the style. Mitsuharu Misawa's tragic 2009 in-ring death instigated a new safety drive spearheaded by NJPW star turned politician Hiroshi Hase, whose committee of education and science encouraged representatives of each major puro league to implement formal safeguards. For a time, particularly through the beautifully refined defensive style of Hiroshi Tanahashi, the mainstream forked between strike-based strong style and, in the absence of destructive non-stop bombs, the slowed lighting of one fuse that erupted at the finish.
This has receded in recent years. Memories of the King's Road have faded to a point at which they have become lost. Its danger has returned.
A documentary may not prove influential, but the time to revisit the end of that line is now. In the U.S., too, many wrestlers take head-first bumps in a collective quest to get rich from the currency of critical acclaim.
A sobering retrospective on Misawa's death - believed to have resulted from ostensible internal decapitation, the last tick of his bump clock - might remind fans and talent alike that greatness in wrestling is sometimes mutually exclusive to its purpose.