The Great Sasuke tries to fly even higher! Is he the next governor of Iwate?

Masanori Murakawa, known to puroresu fans world-wide as The Great Sasuke is currently a member of the Iwate Prefectural Assembly (scroll down to the bottom - he's the third to the last) but this Sunday he's planning to announce his candidacy for the office of governor of Iwate! I guess he's following in the footsteps of Sonomanma Higashi. For those who don't know who Sasuke is, this is a pretty good example (thanks to Youtube user kinnikumask):



He was one of the first Japanese pro wrestlers who tried to mix the lucha libre style with puroresu, especially with the organization he founded, Michinoku Puroresu. If you watched the WWF/WWE back in the late '90s you'd recognize some of the guys who wrestled for Michinoku Pro. But Sasuke has also wrestled for anyone who'd have him, including ECW, NJPW, the late FMW and pretty much everywhere else in Japan. He's had classic matches with Chris Benoit, Jushin Lyger, TAKA Michinoku and has broken his mind many times just to please his fans. He was/is a high flyer and well, not exactly an accurate one. That video up there of the Space Flying Tiger Drop? He was just as likely to botch that move and nearly kill himself as he was fly gracefully through the air and actually hit his opponent. Naturally, you'd love him when he was on but you'd still watch with morbid fascination when he was in such bad condition that his seconds had to spray various parts of his body during the match. While not my absolute favorite Japanese wrestler he is always worth a rental from the video store. Hey, I'd vote for him! The Great Sasuke in 2007!

Note: The Japanese version of the article has the date of the election as April 8th.

Extra: The Great Sasuke at work! In the mask no less! Also find The Great Sasuke on YouTube! (and ignore all those stupid AMVs for Naruto)