AMAZING MONSTER: The Rise and Fall of Takeshi Morishima
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- NOAH's Takeshi Morishima was one of the best big men in wrestling in the late 2000's, a GHC champion who also had an incredible run in ROH. While he should be better remembered, but his career had an abrupt and tragic ending. This is the story of NOAH's fast, stiff and burliest monster star.
This incredible Hi5ame article on Morishima is highly recommended, and was crucial in detailing the sad circumstances surrounding the end of his career, and his arrest. puroprogramtranslations.blogsp...
(This video was originally made in 2020. Some parts of the audio had to be redone, so the quality fluctuates a little.)
Follow Kim Justice's Wrestling Road on Patreon for more documentaries: / kimblejustice
My Twitter: / kimxxxjustice
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0:00 Intro
2:30 Wild: Morishima's First NOAH Years, teaming with Takeshi Rikioh
9:15 Morishima Goes to the US, Becomes ROH World Champion
21:56 Morishima's Return: GHC Champion and Possible WWE Target
29:02 Morishima's Later Years: More GHC Reigns and Sudden Retirement
35:25 When It's Over: An Abortive Return and Tragic Scandal
#kimjustice #prowrestlingnoah #takeshimorishima #puroresu 
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Him being retired at 44 is even more insane when you consider that Tetsuya Naito just turned 42 and he just won the G1 Climax.
I mean, Naito's knees and eyes are hanging on with spit and hope
@@gaz-l621🤣🤣
For anyone wondering, a page from WWE Vault posted Morishima's tryout matches
Got to see Morishima a few times live when he was ROH champion. Guy was immense.
That was a magical time, ROH was SO well booked back then!
Morishima really could have been an all time great. His health and personal issues just kind of tanked him.
I think this is a prime example of why the stigma around mental health in Japan is so damaging. You pile physical injury toll on top of diabetes/drinking and quite obvious anxiety issues and your behavior and physical state go down quickly. Being trained from such an early age with little to no family doesn’t help. He hits bad times, has no where to turn, is in a poor state, and everything just snowballs.
I’m Type 2 diabetic an suffer from mental health issues. I have had some nasty mood swings and questionable behavior in my life even without ever drinking alcohol, doing drugs, or being dropped on my head nightly. I can imagine doing that practically alone in a society of pressure and stigmas to be a nightmare.
The thing is, had things have gone differently, there's nothing to suggest that Morishima wouldn't still be killing it in NOAH considering KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki are all still wrestling and doing fucking amazing work. In a weird way, despite having a lot of accolades, I'd still class Morishima as a 'What If?'. Although it's nice that people like GUNTHER and people like that are carrying on the legacy of big, burly brawlers who can do things that people their size shouldn't be able to do.
Keith Lee would've been in that conversation too but unfortunately, he had been dealing with his own health issues that are still handicapping him from achieving that greatness.
Walter was a burly brawler, but his transition to the Gunther in the main roster has also made him change his physique drastically.
@@TrolledBy Speaking as someone who loved his Walter look when he was bigger, I honestly think that despite him slimming down, Gunther is still a credible monster, just like how Morishima slimmed down by the end of his career, he still seemed like a beast.
@@TrolledByGot to give Gunther some major credit for how he transformed himself.
The guy changed his diet and lifestyle completely, he's in great shape now, fair play to him!
Damn, this takes me back to my teenage days watching that first ROH PPV. I imagine if Morishima would have came up during the black and gold NXT days then WWE would have signed him up. He had the exact body type Walter/Gunther had before he got shredded.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Delete this
He was a man ahead of his time, in so many ways. From what I heard about the Charlie Haas match, it only lasted three minutes. It was not a bad match, but I think Vince probably just looked at Morishima's body type and did not see what he wanted to see. He wanted another jacked 300 pounder that could kick ass. Well, Morishima did the latter, that was for sure! I don't think he got a fair shake, but I could be wrong. Love to ask Jim Ross what he really felt.
*@tgfabthunderbird1* JR saw Gordy R.I.P. So, and I'm obviously speculating, he more than likely saw positive in Morishima.
WWE wasn't gonna let him kick ass like he did in ROH and NOAH. Plus, a 3min match? Not exactly his normal matches.
He's a "what if" though bc he definitely had something.
One good thing about Triple H taking over is he's more willing to sign foreign talent. He also makes more use of pre-taped promos so you could have wrestlers deliver their in their native language and give translated subtitles. It worked in Lucha Underground for me. Pentagon Jr was over as hell and didn't speak a lick of English.
My neck of the woods is not one ROH frequented much, but they did come there in 2007, and I was fortunate enough to see Takeshi Morishima defending the ROH title live. That is how I choose to remember him.
Recongnise your face anywhere. Love your custom figures!
Not sure if this video helped but Morishima's WWE tryout matches were posted for the first time on the WWE Vault RUclips channel, really cool little artifact!
The article and this video are both excellent. They point to the very thing Tenryu spoke of: the dojo system needs to change. The abuses of young wrestlers needs to end, both in sumo and puroresu, no matter the culture of the nation. The physical and mental well-being of the wrestlers and others involved needs to be examined, and a "life" needs to be had by these young folks, or they will turn up in some cases like Morishima. He is a major cautionary tale of what NOT to do or to be like.
Hi5same told me that Morishima was still in this secure location, and doing well. Hopefully he is done with drinking and has a better sense of self. I do not see him wrestling ever again, but he could be a trainer or a manager. I'd hope Marifuji or others could see their way to helping when the time is right. I wish the man well.
The culture of the Nation is a good point to this matter. as odd as an example to some people just look no further then most major, or even minor, Japanese anime and manga series.
Regardless of the genre (Shonen, Romance, Slice of Life, Mystery, High School comedy, etc) they more often then not have many factors in them that result in very questionable moments or arcs that fans (especially those outside Japan) come to hate or at least question the logic and mentality of the writers.
The most glaring issue of them all is the Trope: There Are No Therapists, and while characters and situations would not need the case of a licensed therapist for them to talk to the very fact more often then not drama and terrible situations come up because NO ONE EVER TALKS THEIR PROBLEMS OUT can get very grating.
And in the case of Japan its basically keyed into their nation as a whole: do not bring up personal issues, always internalize them and keep working or what have you. The same with romance, in this field anime and manga (or even light novels) are completely false in most portrayals of Japan or Japanese people in their fictional worlds. They usually refrain from any public signs of affection or even other forms of emotional expression. All of that is meant for home and in private and NOWHERE else usually.
Now this is not me truly hating on the Japanese Culture or saying its inferior or wrong or such. Its my personal take on how you brought up the culture aspect that ties into the factors with their Dojo system that can ultimately cause long term problems in the wrestlers trained in them. Since they do not have much of any social life or standard civilian life whilst training it can cause long term issues when you look at the age old detail regarding us as people: we are humans and are ultimately social creatures.
@@arashitendou5941--you make excellent points. I am an author who has several books set in Japan, due to my interest in its history, culture, and obviously martial arts. I've been fortunate to have Japanese friends guide me in some of the quirks of society. For example, internalizing and public displays of emotion are not considered good form, but they tell me this is changing. There too, the feeling of being unable to fit in leads to that isolation, such as the hikikomori, which I have written about from my own and others' experiences. Morishima had nothing but judo in school, and wrestling after it. Despite his efforts to make it in society, he just could not do it, there is so much there that I hope is now being addressed.
SNOWFLAKE QUIT WHINING
@@traviswilson36based
It might be brutal and cold hearted but they can leave if they want right? It’s not like they are held captive. It’s a voluntary situation they put themselves in.
As far as the end result; there are a lot of people who want to watch the kind of performers that the system produces.
There are lots of Japanese wrestling schools. They aren’t all like Noah, All
Japan, New Japan etc
wwe vault just released both of those tryout matches and he didn't look bad. the charlie hass one was 3 minutes but ppl reacted to his moves. the jamie noble one went a few minutes longer and people were clearly interested. i think his physique is what rub the front office the wrong way.
Same thoughts. WWE just being biased towards muscle men as usual
I was at an ROH show and I'm a big guy and he passed me by near the merch table and he was fucking huge.
I remember him from ROH, what a run. It is truly a shame how far he fell outside of wrestling. I wish him nothing but positivity in his life.
I saw him in person many many times in Chicago on his many ROH excursions and was astonished. Go watch his match against Shingo Takagi it's great
I was there that night. So so good
His ROH run solidified him as a great worker and one of the better big/monster guys in modern wrestling.
He sold, he had great timing, and he never killed his opponents until the finish (except for squashing the ROH school students). Every ROH roster member looked like they could hang with him, even if it was for fleeting moments before Morishima went into his next phase of heat.
In 2013, the year when Takeshi Morishima and his NOAH colleagues went to fight in Brazil (my country) just once to compete in a Latin American tournament, he left my country after defeating Alejandro Saez from Chile.
Eu lembro de um vídeo do KENTA nocauteando alguém com um GTS aqui na América do Sul mas nunca mais achei
Reminded me so much of Terry Gordy. Man I miss those 2
Yeah, I viewed Morishima as a Japanese Terry Gordy.
I like to imagine, in my head, that he is his bastard son after a one night stand.
I know he's not, but it's my own form of kayfabe.
One of my all time favourite Kim Justice videos. Just an epic tragedy, his downfall is almost Shakespearean.
I was at pretty much at every ROH NYC show from 2006 to 2012 and I got to witness Morishima live, I Wasn't at the NYC show where he messed up Bryan's eye but I was at the other matches they had in NYC.
I was lucky to go to ROH and sit 1st row from 2005-2009 for so many shows. I got to see Nigel vs Morishima and Daniel Bryan vs Morishima is absolute wars. So blessed to witness him. TV didn't do him justice
Echoes of how ex-soldiers and ex-prisoners fall apart the moment they are out of their institutions, or can't be part of them any more. Or ex-premiership footballers, elite athletes and ballerinas... The systems they are part of can't train them for a life outside of them, because that means acknowledging there IS a life outside of them. Strange, then, how the tough old ex-Royal Anglian, sleeping rough on a bench, can have so much in common with a Japanese pro-wrester who peaked before he even got close to middle age.
A real sad story, a huge case of bad timing, bad injuries, bad booking and bad haircuts & outfits. I used to live in Tokyo in 2017-19 and would often go drinking in Kabukicho and Morishima had a real bad reputation in the area, I believe he even got banned permanently fom the DDT Bar for harrasing people.
Another excellent video never saw this when it was originally uploaded.
You're one of my go to source when it comes to Puro and Joshi wrestling, every video so far is stuff that I never knew about.
It's pretty good Kenoh occasionally checks in on him. Hopeful that he gets better soon 😊
He was great in Roh. So talented, such a shame his career didn't last longer.
My first ROH PPV/Show I watched was Man Up 2007. Obviously, Briscoes vs Steen and Generic in ladder war was so good that was like an awakening. But it also introduced me to my current favorite wrestler Bryan Danielson and his match with Morishima also blew me away. The whole thing with Bryan's eye, the story the match told. It's matches Like that I point to and say, obviously Danielson was going to work out in WWE and damn I'm surprised Morishima didn't get a run too. He was so good at the story and psychology of a match
Just imagine Morishima vs Gunther. That would be a fucking war.
I’ve always thought of him as the closest Japanese equivalent to Terry bam bam Gordy for some reason he always reminded me of him maybe it’s just me but that’s my 2 cents
Love these looks into Puro cheers mate
Got to see him tear it up in ROH a few times. Dude was a monster.
Always a good day when Kim drops a vid
Thank you for all these Puro videos, superb series! 🙏
Thank you Kim, your videos never disappoint
I'm such a sucker for NOAH videos. Please keep it up! You are great.
Takeshi Morishima in WWE would have been interesting. His try-ou match was a dark match on RAW against Charlie Haas during August 2008. If he had been picked up, he probably would have started during 2009. If he had been put on RAW, he would have most likely been given a VERY nice push and would have at least beaten MVP for the United States championship (Morishima as a heel U.S champ would have ruled), especially since WWE released and depushed SEVERAL upon SEVERAL RAW wrestlers during 2009 into January 2010 like Mr.Kennedy, Brian Kendrick, Chavo Guerrero (he didn't get released till 2011, but 2009 was a horrendous year for him since he got into a feud with Hornswoggle that year... and Hornswoggle beat him repeatedly and won that feud) etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. Most of the RAW wrestlers weren't doing well, so Morishima would have been one of the top RAW wrestlers by default, so he most likely wins the U.S title eventually during 2009. However, he doesn't win the WWE world title since Triple H held that for a while during that time and he's known for trying to hold on to that title like glue. But Morishima as a dominant heel U.S champion is a nice thing.
HOWEVER...
They might have put Morishima on ECW during the final year of WWE's ECW.
I think Morishima would have won all of his matches in WWE's final year of ECW given how barren that roster eventually got during 2009. However, does he replace Ezekiel Jackson's spot and become the final ECW champ? I have no clue. He most likely would have gotten put in William Regals' ECW 2009 faction, but that might have been it.
Finally...
What if Morishima goes to Smackdown? Well, I think Morishima kills most of that roster since they had guys like Ricky Ortiz (anyone remember him? Anyone? Anyone? No? Well, I barely remember him, so no big deal... you didn't miss anything important. LMAO), Mike Knox, etc, etc, and I think he would have eventually killed Rey Mysterio and taken the Intercontinental championship. So Morishima as Intercontinental champion, at least for a short while before someone like Jericho would have taken it from him.
Overall,
I think Morishima in WWE 2009 would have worked best on RAW as a monster WWE United States champion. He would have been a dominant heel U.S champ on RAW (which would have been great!), especially since most of the rest of the RAW roster was drowning in some sort of way at that time. Maybe he would have saved Chavo's career by murdering Hornswoggle first before Hornswoggle had a chance to bury Chavo.
While I like your ideas, unfortunately am personally to pessimistic for assuming Vince would have booked him well at all.
Even to this day he's hardly done well with foreign talent or those that developed and learned outside the WWE system: Claudio (Cesaro) was constantly shunted to tag teams and when he was in his peak of momentum with the fans and in world title opportunities he ALWAYS lost, Danielson took a while, Adam Cole was to be made a manager after leaving NXT, Tensai who rebuilt himself in Japan became a joke pretty quickly, Funaki pretty much got nowhere, Asuka is constantly made a 2nd or 3rd wheel even though she is the champion in her reigns, Nakamura became obsessed with hitting peoples groins, Joe hardly got anything outside of NXT, and Gunther was seemingly to lose his title a long time ago and have the full name of a Nazi U-boat commander apparently.
@@arashitendou5941Joe did get to take part in one of my favorite matches ever in WWE: the 2017 Summerslam Fatal 4-Way along with Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. I agree that he wasn't used properly in WWE though. He's simply one of the best wrestlers in the world and wasn't used like one on the main roster. Oh well. At least we got those magical NXT years where Triple H decided he was going to try to run the best indy promotion he could under Vince's nose.
WWE Vault uploaded those two dark matches.
I remember Ricky Ortiz. He had the rally rag towel gimmick
this might be your best your work yet. One of all all time favorites and the way his career ended and the complete spiral he went down is nothing short of tragic. I hope he has real friends and is at peace.
Loved morishima in ROH thank you for the video kim!!
I love your Docs! Keep up the great work
Great video! I was visiting Tokyo earlier this year and stopped by Toudoukan. I randomly found an autographed Takeshi Morishima hat. I had only seen one of his mathces, but I wanted to buy a few things to commemorate my visit. Admittedly I didn't know much of his story, but your video has been a great help! It's sad to hear about his downfall. I hope he's able to get his health (mentally and physically) sorted out and can live a peaceful life. It seems like a return to the ring would be too difficult on him.
GREAT JOB KIM
LOVE THE WORK
I first got exposed to Morishima in ROH and I INSTANTLY became a fan of his. It's sad to see what happened to him. I would love to see him against guys like Kiyomiya or a crossover bout with Okada.
Just watched Danielson match. What a frigging banger. Seeing how Danielson's eye injury was legit makes it even more awesome .
I love your content Kim but I already know this one is gonna make me very sad
Morishima was an awesome wrestler. He could've been a biggest superstar
There was also the rumour that Morishima and Sugiura had to apologise to Misawa/the office for how "poor" their match was.
Morishima injured his ankle during the match and it was still swollen and hurting him the week after in Coventry, England.
Plus they had to follow Kobashi/KENTA vs Sasaki/Nakajima.
So that, along with the Rikio match which, like you alluded to, was merely fine. Plus his weight increase and the dismissive WWE report. And how quickly Misawa pushed the abort button as shown with Rikio and Marufuji, no wonder they put the belt on Sasaki as he had the larger star power.
Nice video 🎉
My first live ROH show was Manhattan Mayhem 2. One of the greatest matches I've ever seen.
Awesome documentary 💯 I loved Morishima's run as the ROH champion & NOAH champion 🏆 it's sad hearing about how he's had to deal with certain issues in his life I hope he's doing well 🙏
Morishima is one of my favorite big guys from Noah! Sick style and his feud with Bryan Danielson are some of the best matches ROH produced
Man, I had no clue that Morishima had fallen on such hard times. 😥 I was always a big fan of his work in ROH... I really hope and pray that he's okay. As much as we all love pro wrestling, at the end of the day this stuff doesn't matter... what matters is his health.
Since you referenced it here, I'd love to see that Misawa video again, if you're ever able to post it publicly. It was fantastic!
This was a great video as well. You are absolutely one of the greatest sources for puro history on RUclips, Kim. Thank you so much!
Someone has reuploaded the Misawa vid and kept it on YT happily ruclips.net/video/5d2ASyU0ndA/видео.html
If theres one thing always welcome in Wrestling its a new Kim Justice Doc!!!
I worked with this guy in 06 seemed nice enough… he was treated like the next big thing at the time
That's me at the 0:40 mark. Much appreciated. Love your vids
Great video mate. I sadly had never heard of him cus I didn't watch roh. But now I do know his story at least.....
I love your videos the best subscription I have
We need a video on the career of the most underrated wrestler and promotion ace of all time - TAKASHI SUGIURA! Forgot Go Shiozaki, Sugiura IS NOAH!! Sugiura carried the company after the Misawa/Kobashi era though to today. He's in his 50s and he's still having 5-star main event title matches in NOAH, Zero-One and the little known G-Prowrestling debut show. The guy has even overcome a heart condition. He is the Japanese Kurt Angle.
I love this content
Thank For The Rise and Fall Video 🙊🤯😃😍👍🥰💐🌟🥇🏆
This took me back to 2007 when i first started going through the ROH catalog. American Dragon, Nigel and Morishima all blew my mind and really got me back into wrestling. I remember my friends all laughing at me when I'd tell them that Dragon would be WWE Champ one day.
While watching this I got to thinking that you would probably do a great job covering the global inter-promotional feud between Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka in this format.
Love the videos.
I bought the ROH DVD with Roderick strong vs morishima
26:22 This video was released 11 months ago. That policy has changed. WWE has re-opened the "forbidden door" (they used it throughout the 80s and 90s before Tony Khan)
He was amazing he really was I got asked by some buddies of mine if you could pick 10 dudes to start a territory I always picked Punk, Styles, Joe, Daniels, Danielson, McGinness, Morishima, Aries, Hero, & Low Ki.
WWE records EVERYTHING, so I bet official footage exists of those Morishima dark matches. It'd be really neat to see, just for the novelty of it.
It really is a sad story, especially because a lot of people tried to help him get his life together, but he ultimately decided he didn't want to help himself.
Can't watch for a few more days. So I thought I'd leave a comment.
I don't care if he steps into a ring again or not, I just want him to be happy and live the rest of his life being happy. He's only 45. I feel so bad for him because I can relate to being socially outkast. He's only known one thing in his whole life and when that was taken from him, well, he spiraled. I really hope wherever he is that he is genuinely improving.
Damn it's really upsetting hearing what happened to Morishima
Morishima vs. Gunther = Dream Match
been catching up on some of these great videos, WWE Vault (a new official channel) has just today uploaded Morishima's try-out matches with WWE!!
I was wondered what happen to him. Sad. I hope he doing well. I got to see him wrestling in person during his ROH run as champion in 2007.
An agile big man, no one like him! Hope to see him get his life together and back in the ring one day.
I remember when I first saw Morishima on ROH PPV, I'd only been into wrestling for about a year and knew nothing about him. I'd heard of KENTA and just figured that Morishima was some fat nepobaby (I had zero clue about the dojo system back then) foisted on ROH by NOAH. Hot damn was I proven wrong the second the bell sounded! Him and Danielson vs KENTA and McGuinness blew my twelve year old mind!
Man this was sad. I do hope he is better.
Living here in Philadelphia where ROH was created and grew, I can honestly say that Takeshi Morishima's run with the company and the Championship showed what an ABSOLUTE MONSTER he was! I was genuinely saddened to hear that he had to retire due to health reasons.
It's always depressing to see show business take people with a particular talent and leave them spent. I might risk being accused of Japan-bashing, but I'm often astounded by that nation's ability to wilfully ignore _massively_ apparent red flags regarding mental health. This happens all over the world of course, and certainly the dialogue surrounding mental illness, anxiety and chronic stress is better than it was in the 2000's/early 2010's - but it's sad nobody actively assuaged Takeshi from his ill-advised return to the ring.
Takeshi was undoubtedly a very mentally resilient guy, but that combined with what I think was a natural drive that helped him become a wrestler (especially within the demanding dojo culture he was raised within) was the convenient "get-out" his managers and guardians needed to leave him twisting in the wind, so to speak. He clearly needed help adjusting to a life outside wrestling, and whilst no one could force him to find meaning occupying his life with something else, it doesn't feel like anyone who was in a real position to aid him with that did anything to help.
ROH should induct him in their hall of Fame. also have Samoa Joe induct him
I only ever got to see him live once in Coventry of all places, tagging with Yone against the legend Akiyama and super underrated Bison Smith. What a ring full of hard bastards.
One of the marks against Morishima in WWE was that he was frequently compared with Terry Gordy. Michael Hayes in particular was very vocal in his disagreement about that comparison.
So did Hayes advocate for him to be in WWE or not?
@@duckmercy11 Not. He was one of the most vocal detractors. And honestly looking at how well Yoshi Tatsu panned out it’s for the best.
New video lets goooo
As a wrestler this channel fire
I remember watching this video long ago. It was really good. I wonder what has happened with Morishima since this video was made?
puroprogramtranslations.blogspot.com/2018/11/article-traces-to-nowhere-takeshi.html
I remember randomly turning on The Wrestling Channel (TWC) on Sky back in the day and saw this lad & my mind was blown, I thought he would of been WWE bound for sure
Haven’t even started this one but man it’s gonna be sad.
I've always wanted to know what happened to him since his ROH days and wow.....this was depressing.
I was there in the Manhattan Center for many of Morishima's ROH matches. The night he wrestled Samoa Joe for the first time (part of Joe's farewell tour I recall as he was leaving for greener pastures) was my first ROH show, and I was sitting across from who I believe was Morishima's family. A very interesting night for sure.
That’s so cool his family was there 👍
This was disheartening i only knew about him wrapping up in noah
I remember reading about him and KENTA's ROH run in PWI back in 2005-06ish
It is interesting that WWE vault a few days ago put up Morishima try out matches.
This is a sad, tragic tale
Make a Danielson ROH title reign video
Japanese version of Terry Gordy.
Such a shame he had to retire early, along with the post retirement part of his life. The guy truly had everything imo, despite him being inconsistent at times, he was still an incredible wrestler.
Man reminde me of Stan Hansen
Could you possibly do a Naomichi Marufuji or Taiji Ishimori Noah video in the future
I think the WWE not liking his size and conditioning makes sense given what happened in the proceeding years where his abilities seemed to decline and he ended up with diabetes. Being fat alone won't hurt you with WWE, as Vader proves. But you have to be an athletic big man. Something he was at one time but it seems by the time he reached the WWE tryout wasn't anymore.
I would like to see a Bryan Danielson video about his ring of honour title reign that would be great to see on this channel
It’s weird to hear Kanemaru described as anything but an old hand. All my experience with him is his work in New Japan. He’s still great, never get anything but a decent match when drunk uncle Nobu turns up.
Watching this as a sumo fan, I think we may have lost an ozeki to puroresu,