Japanese professional wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa died Saturday from an apparent heart attack after receiving a back suplex move in a match in Hiroshima, according to multiple media reports.

Misawa, 46, was taking part in a tag team match when his opponent grabbed him and took him to the mat in the common suplex move. Reports say, however, that Misawa was rendered unconscious. The match was stopped and Misawa was administered to before being taken from the arena. He was declared dead at the hospital.

Misawa was a former high school and national wrestler who gained fame in the 1980s in professional wrestling as a character called the Tiger Mask. He unmasked in 1990 and became even more popular. Misawa was named professional wrestler of the year three times.

At the time of his death, he was the founder and owner of Pro Wrestling NOAH. Many publications characterize Misawa's popularity in Japan as comparable to Hulk Hogan or The Rock in the United States.

Mitsuharu Misawa, dead at 46.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b3/Misawa.jpg/200px-Misawa.jpg

http://cbrz.sakura.ne.jp/sblo_files/cbrz/image/8EO91F2.jpg

http://www.miyatasan.com/~yagifau/2003/P3010108.JPG

http://noah.s101.xrea.com/fighters/x/noah/img_noahwaza/waza_misawa3.jpg

News report (in Japanese):
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5nOD0cS5eAU&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5nOD0cS5eAU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

http://cache2.nipc.jp/battle/news/img/f-bt-090614-3303-ns-big.jpg

Arigato Misawa-san

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5WW20FvFzjA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5WW20FvFzjA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5UFrfkgXOhE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5UFrfkgXOhE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

He was the worst of the Tiger Masks IMO but as himself, GOAT. I still watch his 94 **** with Kenta Kobashi, awesome stuff.

RIP, but he went out doing what he loved.

(Noticed a lot of fans are blaming strong style for his death, silly)

This was a shock. I remember when I was a kid living in Japan how much people in the Puro circles loved this guy. And rightly so, he made american pro-wrestling look like a pillow fight between two women. Tough, tough guy. Wonder what will happen to NOAH, my guess is Kobashi will probably take over.

Some additional details

Pro wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa dies in ring after blow to head

HIROSHIMA -- Wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa died on Saturday night after suffering spinal damage during a match in Hiroshima. He was 46.

Misawa was fighting in a tag team match at Hiroshima Green Arena in front of around 2,300 spectators. During the match, opponent Akitoshi Saito used a back suplex on him, causing him to strike his head and leaving him unable to move. His heart stopped shortly after.

A doctor in the audience reportedly used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to try and start his heart again, but to no avail. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead at 10:10 p.m. It later turned out that the cause of his death was damage to his cervical spinal cord.

A 20-year-old spectator said: "He hit his head after the back suplex and was knocked unconscious. The EMTs were performing CPR for a long time. But even during the match Misawa kept shaking his head, and he looked to be in a bad way."

Misawa was a member of Ashikodai High School's wrestling club before making his professional debut in 1981 with All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW). In 1984, he gained fame for the first time as Tiger Mask II, before taking off the mask six years later and fighting under his own name, standing alongside fellow legends Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta. He left AJPW in 2000 to form his own promotion unit, Pro Wrestling Noah.

The last death in a Japanese professional wrestling ring occurred in 2000, when New Japan Pro-Wrestling fighter Masakazu Fukuda died after striking his head. He was aged 27.

He was the worst of the Tiger Masks IMO but as himself, GOAT. I still watch his 94 **** with Kenta Kobashi, awesome stuff.

RIP, but he went out doing what he loved.

(Noticed a lot of fans are blaming strong style for his death, silly)

I've never really followed it too much but I've got mad respect for Japanese Pro Wrestling. Those guys are hard to the core.

I sort of figured that the Tigermask persona was how he was best known in the States, hence the reference in my original comment.

Whoo cares?

Whoo cares?
Well, not you apparently.