Yoshimi Mushashibo

Takeshi Sanada (真田武; Sanada Takeshi, June 23, 1962 – October 3, 2021), best known as Yoshimi Mushashibo (武蔵坊よしみ; Musashibō Yoshimi), was a Japanese-born Magisterian professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler. He was primarly known for his time in Pure Magisterian Wrestling Association (PMWA), where he was their biggest star from 1991 up until 2000 and later served as the president. Considered the finest wrestler of his generation, he is often regarded by many Magisterian fans as the greatest professional wrestler. His matches with Shuji Inukai, Nobuatsu Tatsuko, and Reginald Evans in the 1990s are argued by many fans and experts in the industry as some of the greatest professional wrestling matches of all time.

Debuting in 1981, Mushashibo graduated from the GCTG training camp under the guidance of Eugene Edmonton and George DeColt. After the power struggle that happened between Edmonton and DeColt, Edmonton left the company to form Pure Magisterian Wrestling Association and Mushashibo - alongside GCTG wrestlers loyal to Edmonton - followed suit.

In 1986, PMWA had been in business for just one year, but had been building a good reputation for themselves, and were beginning to get in a position where they could challenge GCTG. PMWA founder and then-president Eugene Edmonton pulled off a risky move - he scheduled a PMWA show one day after a major GCTG event, and publically stated that they would put on a better quality show than their much bigger rivals. The show was headlined by a tag team match with the team of Mushashibo and Tatsuko facing the team of Edmonton and Deacon.

The tag team match had a clear dynamic to it - Mushashibo and Tatsuko were the young up-and-comers who were riding a wave of popularity and were attempting to match the current main eventers of the promotion, while Edmonton and Deacon were the legends, who were out to prove that they deserved their position as promotional figureheads. What followed was a match that is widely regarded as the finest pure wrestling match of all time, with career-best performances from all four men. Nobody backed down, and the entire match was wrestled with an intensity and spirit that epitmoised PMWA. After sixty minutes of awesome wrestling, a time limit draw was called, and all four men shook hands as a mark of respect.

After the critically-acclaimed tag team match, Edmonton's promise was fulfilled, as PMWA blew away the GCTG show, which was no small feat given that the larger promotion put on an excellent night of entertainment themselves. The show - mainly the tag team match - sky-rocketed PMWA in popularity, and made them a serious threat to GCTG, a position them kept from that point onwards. Afterwards, Mushashibo and Tatsuko would regularly tag team before breaking up in 1989 as both were groomed to become main eventers.

In 1990, Mushashibo challenged then-ace Pat Deacon in a singles match with the Royal Crown title on the line. Albeit a losing effort, the match between him and Deacon launched Mushashibo's career into superstardom that eventually led him to his first Royal Crown title win against Nobuatsu Tatsuko in 1991. His first Royal Crown title reign would last for 677 days - the then-longest reign before Shuji Inukai's 763-day reign from 2003 to 2005 - before losing the belt to Sean McFly.

Shortly after Pat Deacon's retirement, he ascended into ace status and proved to be a commercially-successful franchise player for the promotion with box office business skyrocket. During his time as the company's ace, he was involved in one of the most critically-acclaimed professional wrestling matches of all time, mainly wrestlers such as Shuji Inukai, Nobuatsu Tatsuko, and Clayton Pearlman. In 1998, Mushashibo was appointed as the company's head of creative by Edmonton and his first action was to build up Inukai as his successor as the company's ace. In 2000, Eugene Edmonton passed away and Mushashibo succeeded him as the company president.

PMWA under Mushashibo saw new generation of stars introduced to the PMWA fans while Mushashibo himself selflessly passed his experience and knowledge of psychology to the new generation of wrestlers. PMWA continued its success throughout the early 2000s, but as business declined and top star Shuji Inukai went inactive in 2006 to recover from a torn ACL, Mushashibo continued to work a full-time schedule, despite mounting injuries and pain killer abuses, for the company's survival. Mushashibo would eventually wrestle his final match in 2011 in a winning effort. Afterwards, Mushashibo focused his latter years running the company before his death on 3 October 2021 with Shuji Inukai succeeding him.

Mushashibo was a six-time world champion, having won the PMWA Royal Crown Heavyweight Championship six times. He was also a six-time tag team champion, being a PMWA Royal Crown Tag Team Champion for five times holding it with Shuji Inukai as 'Team Dynasty 2000'. He holds the record for most five-star rated matches by the Magisterian Sports Observer, with 27.

Early life
Sanada was born in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, but his family moved to Annesia City, Federal Capital Territory when he was a year old. Sanada had two older sisters and one younger sister, which were also wrestlers for the Magisterian Women's Wrestling promotion that ran between 1952 and 1995.

Sanada was a fan of professional wrestling, especially GCTG, in an early age, and his favourite wrestler was Crippler Ray Kingman (Kingman's golden-black trunks would later be emulated by Sanada)

Personal life
Sanada married fellow PMWA wrestler Yuma Maruya - who is regarded as the greatest female professional wrestler of Magisterian wrestling - in 1992. They had a daughter named Fujiko, who was the unquestionable black sheep, competing in violent deathmatches that he hated. After the highly controversial Love Hotel Deathmatch promoted by Warrior Queen MMXV, Yoshimi was reportedly furious after Fujiko was apparently impaled by a confused platypus' poisonous ankle barb, which hospitalized Fujiko for several weeks.

After his death, Maruya became the Vice President of the company after being appointed by Yoshimi's close friend, Shuji Inukai.

Death
On October 3, 2021, Yuma Maruya reported that Yoshimi Mushashibo sadly passed away due to heart failure at 1:34am (UTC-8), at age 59.

Aftermath
After Mushashibo's death, PMWA held a ceremony for Sanada and Inukai took over as the President of the company. Master Sports and the Magisterian Sports Observer printed special memorial issues. Wrestling promotions across the world opened their shows with ceremonial ten counts in tribute, and GCTG, MWF and VEW posted their memorial messages on their respective websites.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Pure Magisterian Wrestling Association
 * PMWA Royal Crown Heavyweight Championship (6 times)
 * PMWA Royal Crown Tag Team Championship (6 times) - w/ Shuji Inukai (5), James Gilmour (1)
 * Grand Summit (1993, 1995, 1999)
 * Grand Tag Team Summit (1995—1996, 2005, 2008) - w/ Shuji Inukai (1995—1996), James Gilmour (2005, 2008)
 * Hall of Pure Immortals (Class of 2022)
 * Master Sports
 * Match of the Year (1994) vs. Nobuatsu Tatsuko (Night of Legends 1994)
 * Match of the Year (1995) vs. Clayton Pearlman (Summer Wrestling Open 1995)
 * Match of the Year (1997) vs. Shuji Inukai (War of the Roses 1997)
 * Match of the Year (1999) vs. Shuji Inukai (Summer Wrestling Open 1999)
 * Match of the Year (2003) vs. Shuji Inukai (Marching On Together 2003)
 * Match of the Year (2005) vs. Nobuatsu Tatsuko (Wrestling Spirit 2005)
 * Wrestler of the Year (1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2003)
 * Tag Team of the Year (1995, 1997) - Team Dynasty 2000 (w/ Shuji Inukai)


 * Magisterian Sports Observer
 * Match of the Year (1994) vs. Nobuatsu Tatsuko (Night of Legends 1994)
 * Match of the Year (1997) vs. Shuji Inukai (Never Walk Alone 1997)
 * Match of the Year (1998) vs. Reginald Evans (Never Walk Alone 1998)
 * Match of the Year (1999) vs. Shuji Inukai (Marching On Together 1999)
 * Match of the Year (2003) vs. Shuji Inukai (Marching On Together 2003)
 * Feud of the Year (1994) vs. Nobuatsu Tatsuko
 * Wrestler of the Year (1995, 1996, 2000)
 * Tag Team of the Year (1996, 1998, 1999, 2002) - Team Dynasty 2000 (w/ Shuji Inukai)
 * Magisterian Sports Observer Hall of Fame (Class of 2011)