Real Name - Mitsuhiro MatsunagaBirthdate - 3/24/66
5’11” 239 lbs. - Chita, Aichi, Japan
Athletic Background - Karate, Sumo, Mixed Martial Arts, K-1
Teacher(s) - Masashi Aoyagi
Professional Background - FMW(`89-`90),
W*ING(`91-`92), New Japan(`91), FMW(`93-`96), ECW(`93), UWA(`93), CMLL(`93), Big Japan(`96-`00), BattlARTS(`98-`99), Big Japan(`99-`00), Free(`00-`09)
Aliases - Mr. Danger
Groups - W*ING Alliance, CZW USA
Peak Years - `91-`99
Finisher(s) -
- Danger Bomb (Cross-Arm Thunder Fire Powerbomb)
- W*ing-style Scorpion Deathlock
Favorites -
- Foreign Object
- Axe Kick
- DDT
- Lariat
- Mid Kick
Ringwork Rating -
| Move Set | 4 |
| Science | 0 |
| Aerial | 1 |
| Power | 6 |
| Strikes | 6 |
Intangibles Rating -
| Entertainment | 7 |
| Selling | 6 |
| Bumping | 8 |
| Carrying | 4 |
| Heat | 7 |
| Legacy | 6 |
Place in History - People may forget that FMW was born out of Atsushi Onita creating his own Inoki-like rivalry with legit fighters. While not all that different than what the UWF did, Onita added layers of dramatic flair and dangerous elements like barbed wire, fire and explosives. It was in this environment that Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, one of the big stars of the death match wrestling style, was created. A karate disciple of Masahi Aoyagi, Onita’s main rival, Matsunaga looked nothing like the “Mr. Danger” character that he soon morphed into. FMW’s success led to the creation of several smaller groups and Matsunaga was a foundational star in two of them. He grew out a beard and bleached his short hair, a look that had been a staple of Japanese heels since Umanosuke Ueda. He also traded in his white gi for some black karate pants. In the ring, he adopted some pro-wrestling moves, but he still relied heavily on his karate kicks. In 1991, Matsunaga hooked up with W*ing, a short-lived garbage group with a cult following, and spent a few years battling Mr. Pogo, Leatherface and an assortment of talent from North America in matches with barbed wire and fire. Like Aoyagi, Matsunaga had underlings, Akitoshi Saito and Yukihiro Kanemura, who went on to future success on their own. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga had the charisma and recklessness to quickly gain a reputation. When W*ing began its rapid decline, Matsunaga returned to FMW to face off with Onita in a battle of the top hardcore wrestlers. Onita won, of course, but Matsunaga was moved into the top mix and positioned as Onita’s successor as the top face. He revised his rivalry with Mr. Pogo and headed up a stable of former W*ing talent. After growing disillusioned with his push, Matsunaga left for the new Big Japan Pro-Wrestling company. This group pushed the death match genre to new extremes and Mr. Danger was often at that center of it all. Broken glass and barbed wire nets were one thing, but scorpions, crocodiles and piranhas were new territory. These approaches yielded inconsistent results, but furthered the mystic of Mr. Danger. Based on his name value, he opened a steakhouse in Tokyo, which was a struggle, but became the focal point for a book he published in 2007. Although his restaurant became his priority, Matsunaga continued to wrestle around the Tokyo area. He won Big Japan’s Deathmatch Heavyweight title on two occasions, worked for many of the FMW legacy indies that sprung up and appeared in some bizarre spectacles for Zero-One. In 2009, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga had his official retirement against former underling Akitoshi Saito on a NOAH show.