Japanese Wrestling Legend Hayabusa Has Passed Away At Age 47
Eiji Ezaki, better known to fans in the world of professional wrestling as Hayabusa, passed away at the age of 47 yesterday. The Japanese superstar died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage – bleeding in the brain for the non-medical ones – and an owner of a tavern found him in his home dead just hours before Hayabusa was supposed to perform in a small concert. Hayabusa was a legend in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling where he spent most of his career and even got to wrestle once for ECW at Heatwave in 1998, wrestling in a tag team match with Jinsei Shinzaki vs Rob Van Dam and Sabu. Wrestling in several dangerous matches, the sport finally caught up to Hayabusa and in 2001 he cracked two of his vertebrae which left him paralyzed after a failed springboard moonsault. He made sporadic wrestling appearances since then and last year he regained the use of his legs, being able to walk with the support of a cane. WWE paid tribute to Hayabusa with a short article on their website and also embedded tweets from Neville, Sami Zayn, Natalya, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and others who have met him throughout their careers.
Sad to hear the passing of HAYABUSA He was an innovator & good person. Glad to have shared ring w/him pic.twitter.com/fppeXoB7mf
— Tommy Dreamer (@THETOMMYDREAMER) March 4, 2016
I was sad to wake up to news that Hayabusa, who thrilled Japanese, Mexican and American fans (in ECW) passed away. pic.twitter.com/MWGubiz7T6
— Joey Styles (@JoeyStyles) March 4, 2016
RIP Hayabusa! A career cut short, a life cut even shorter.
— Gregory Shane Helms (@ShaneHelmsCom) March 4, 2016
Very sad to hear of the passing of Hayabusa. Thank you. #restinpeace https://t.co/l1lKIyx8Kx
— Alex Lee (@alexleesekai) March 4, 2016
Sad to read about Hayabusa. An amazing performer, who literally gave his body for the industry we love. A true innovator and inspiration.
— Steve Corino (@KINGCorino) March 4, 2016
Colin Vassallo has been editor of Wrestling-Online since 1996
