Media GoodGuy Don Frye visited Takayama in the hospital

[Buffmeister]

For those who dont know,
Takayama was a pro wrestler before/while and after fighting for Pride

He botched a move and is now paraliyzed from the head down..


Don took some time and visited him...



Cliffs

Tells Yoshihiro the story of him coming back from a 3 weeks coma, getting so much energy just by remembering their fight.

Says it was the most alive he felt, while they were slugging it out

His career "ended" right after this fight

 

[ultra321]

Paralyzed.... ooph... fuck thats rough...
kudos to Don for going to visit!
Much respect.

 

[Elvis.]

Honourable move by Frye , shows what type of man he is .
Poor guy got injured doing a sunset flip , fuck man you just never know

 

[C0NCH3TO]

I will always have a soft spot for the OG’s of this grueling sport we love. Gawd bless Don and Takayama.

 

[HatKick]

God bless the both of them.

 

[Dorkman]

Honourable move by Frye , shows what type of man he is .
Poor guy got injured doing a sunset flip , fuck man you just never know

Might have been combination of wear and tear from years of bumps eroding his spine down too, not sure exactly how Takiyama came down on it tbh. Happened to another prominent japanese wrestler who took a fairly routine bump but his neck was so degraded from all the years of punishment it's all it took to catastrophically damage it the rest of the way and he died on the spot.

 

[jeff7b9]

I read about this, real heartwarming stuff.

Don Frye is a real one.

Their fight was a piece of history.
Lighting in a bottle.
And represented the best of the spirit of martial arts:

fight like a warrior,
give it everything you have got,
and when it is over share mutual respect, compassion and honor.

 

[Casio Bioassay]

Wish him the best and hope he can make a full recovery. Respect to Don for going out the way to visit him.

 

[Captain Insano]

Frye is a good guy.

Sucks to hear about Takayama.

 

[Buffmeister]

Happened to another prominent japanese wrestler who took a fairly routine bump but his neck was so degraded from all the years of punishment it's all it took to catastrophically damage it the rest of the way and he died on the spot.

Mitsuharu Misawa

...He also was Tiger Mask 2

 

[Dorkman]

Mitsuharu Misawa
View attachment 968717
...He also was Tiger Mask 2
View attachment 968716

Yeah that's the guy. Just a career of back drops turned his spine to dust

 

[Fedor Fan]

Mitsuharu Misawa
View attachment 968717
...He also was Tiger Mask 2
View attachment 968716

Misawa was arguably the GOAT.

His matches with Kobashi are things of legend.

Very sad.

 

[Buff]

This is the move he botched... As demonstrated by Brock Lesnar - he was lucky to still be walking after this too.

Brock was insane. This is him getting it right.

Big Blonde Sexyama was just too big to pull it off.

Edit: I'm wrong. It was a sunset flip.

 

[Greyscale]

I knew about that. A powerful moment. Respect to the (true) Predator.

 

[Shogun515]

Respect to Takayama, legend for what he did in that fight.

 

[Buff]

Some good news... I follow Takayama on Twitter, and two things about the guy that haven't gone away with the guy are his fighting spirit, and his sense of humour...

He's regained some mobility through constant physio...



Hasn't lost his sense of humour...



Still makes money off merchandise...



And even gets the odd visit from some old pals (thats Hideki Suzuki).



The blonde hair is gone, the body is broken, but the man remains.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

This is the move he botched... As demonstrated by Brock Lesnar - he was lucky to still be walking after this too.

Brock was insane. This is him getting it right.

Big Blonde Sexyama was just too big to pull it off.

brock’s SSP was legitimately good. shame he botched it so badly at wm19 and never did it again.

 

[Buff]

Respect to Takayama, legend for what he did in that fight.

The story of that fight goes like this:

Don and Sexy were old friends from the Japanese pro wrestling circuit... Before the fight, Takayama (Sexy) was nervous - not about losing, that was a given, but about not putting on a good show... Don being the gentlemanly barbarian that he is concocted a strategy - "let's just link up in the middle of the ring and go ham like they do in hockey fights, and give the crowd what they want to see", and boy, did they?!

Its a beautiful example of sportsmanship - not a choreographed fight, or a fix because they were beating the shit out of eachother, and in doing so, it actually gave Takayama a decent puncher's chance in what would have otherwise been a total beatdown - a gentleman's agreement amongst two of the finest humans in combat sports history.

Legends do legendary shit.

 

[prikoke]

This is the part that sucks about this sport (and pro wrestling too). People ruin their health doing the thing *we* love watching. And most of them earn so little they have to keep doing it in their old age... Takayama really shouldn't have had to do any backflips at this age.

 

[pv3Hpv3p]

I've heard Frye talk about Takayama on the mma roasted podcast, and he's always literally gushed about how wonderful of a human he is. Not surprised Don came to visit, but a classy move on his part nonetheless.