Mitsuhiro Matsunaga

Biography

Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (松永 光広, Matsunaga Mitsuhiro) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for his deathmatch wrestling style, having competed in memorable deathmatches in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING). He is renowned for participating in the first-ever deathmatch in Japanese wrestling history on December 10, 1989 and is also credited for participating in a Piranha Deathmatch against Kendo 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.

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 WING and high-profile feuds with Mr. Pogo, Freddy Krueger and Leatherface in many successful deathmatches earned him the moniker of "Mr. Danger". After working as WING's ace from 1992-1993, Matsunaga left the company and returned to FMW where he headlined the successful 1993 Year End Spectacular event against Atsushi Onita. After an alliance with Onita, Matsunaga formed the WING Alliance to feud with FMW and avenge the demise of WING 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 a two-time Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion in the company before quitting in 2001.