of) three times. He was also an eight-time world tag team champion. Fifty-three of the sixty-nine events at the Nippon Budokan that Misawa headlined were sellouts, a drawing record that has been compared to Bruno Sammartino's run at Madison Square Garden. Misawa was named Wrestler of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter on three occasions (1995, 1997 and 1999), and at the time of his death held the record for most WON five star matches, with 25, including one as Tiger Mask, a record since tied by Will Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 17. He is also one of the eleven wrestlers to have been awarded a six-star rating by the publication, for his match with Kawada on June 3, 1994, which has been specifically cited as one of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time. Early life Misawa was born in Yūbari, Hokkaidō, but the family moved to Koshigaya, Saitama as the coal mine where his father worked declined. Misawa had an older brother, who was favored by his father. According to Misawa, his father was violent towards his mother, and once stabbed her with a kitchen knife; they divorced during his first year of elementary school. Misawa won a long jump competition held by Koshigaya in elementary school, and joined the gymnastics club in junior high. Amateur wrestling Misawa was a fan of professional wrestling, especially AJPW, from an early age, and his first favorite wrestler was Horst Hoffman. (Hoffman's emerald green trunks would later be emulated by Misawa.) Misawa had wanted to pursue a vocation as a professional wrestler since he was 12, and planned to do so after completing junior high, but his mother and teacher persuaded him to continue his studies so that he could attend a school with a good amateur wrestling program. Misawa attended the high school at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology in Tochigi on a scholarship, alongside Toshiaki Kawada, who was a year below him. He wanted to drop out in his second year to begin training, but during an encounter with Jumbo Tsuruta, the latter convinced Misawa to complete high school education, and to concentrate on amateur wrestling if he was serious about professional wrestling. Wrestling at 187 pounds, Misawa won the national high school championship in 1980, and in the same year he placed fifth at the freestyle World Championships, competing in the junior age group. Despite his