Hirokazu Nagai (born November 10, 1968), better known as Mitsuya Nagai, is a
Japanese former
Professional Wrestler and
Mixed Martial Arts fighter. A lover of the rings from his youth, he entered
Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym while in school and later became a shootboxer with the intent to ease his entrance in pro wrestling, but the latter evaded him until landing in
Akira Maeda's Fighting Network RINGS. Nagai developed as a spirited rookie at both wrestling and MMA, but being surrounded by stars of both fields meant he never ascended, and after being mistreated too many times by Maeda he left for traditional pro wrestling. A surprisingly adaptable shooter, Nagai went to have well established tenures in
All Japan Pro Wrestling and
New Japan Pro-Wrestling, standing out as a loyalist in the former and a martial arts thug in the latter, before becoming a freelancer in 2006. He has wandered since, working for every promotion who wants to buy his services at both kicking people in the head and flying over the ropes.
"Mitsuyatropes":
- '80s Hair: Came disturbingly close to have a mullet in the mid-1990s.
- The Ace: Nagai is one of those old school Japanese pro wrestlers who do everything: shoot-style, MMA (though curiously, while he mostly likely has trained in it, he has never actually fought under the more modern "Vale Tudo"-inspired rules, unlike his other RINGS stablemates), conventional pro wrestling and comedy wrestling, and has teamed up with a varied list of people.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- Won the All Japan Pro Wrestling 2002 Giant Baba Memorial Cup, which was improbable not only because Nagai was one of the wrestlers least related to Baba in any way (he knew him personally, but just that), but also because he was at the time just a tag team specialist from the midcard and never got higher than that in the promotion.
- In the second of his first three matches for ZERO1, challenged Shinjiro Otani for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Arguably to Kazuo Yamazaki. They both were Satoru Sayama trainees with chips on their shoulders that separated from Sayama to work for his other shoot style peers, were never really pushed in their respective promotions despite their experience compared to most of their peers, and left on bad terms with them. Intentionally or not, Nagai has even grown to resemble Yamazaki in appearance over time, with his shaven head and little beard.
- The Apprentice: To Satoru Sayama, Naoyuki Taira, and Akira Maeda.
- Bash Brothers: With Masahito Kakihara, Yoji Anjo and Toshiaki Kawada in All Japan, as well as Katsuyori Shibata (while in Makai Club) and Masayuki Naruse in New Japan.
- Beware the Nice Ones: After months of work disagreements with Maeda, not only Nagai got de-pushed and belittled, but also slapped in the face by Maeda for no reason after an important match. At that point Nagai snapped, told RINGS to screw themselves and left the promotion.
- Bratty Half-Pint: He originally wanted to go into pro wrestling before finishing high school and needed Giant Baba to remind him his duties. Actually inverted in RINGS itself - he was the oldest member of the first generation native team, not counting Maeda.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Often wore neon green tights or shorts.
- Cool Mask: Wore one as Makai #5, NP5 and Mitsuyaman.
- Defeat Means Respect: In All Japan, he earned Toshiaki Kawada’s respect despite losing a match to him and was selected to be his new tag partner in 2001.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": His real first name is Hirokazu.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but was injured before he could debut. He was also briefly a trainee for UWF International before he switched to RINGS.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Naomichi Marufuji once called him "Bald Octopus" when he worked in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
- Finishing Move:
- In his RINGS times, he used shoot-style moves like armbar, chokes and kneebars.
- After his return to traditional pro wrestling, he adopted the Hyper Knee Kuga (springboard knee strike), Hyper Knee Tiger (a diving variation of the previous), Nagai/Makai Driver (falcon arrow), Nagai/Makai Sleeper (arm trap hammerlock guillotine choke) and Nagai Lock (reverse Indian deathlock).
- I Know Shootboxing: And later competed in K-1. He also trained in Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym, and was a part of his Seikendo school in 1999.
- Lightning Bruiser: One of the best strikers of the RINGS Japan team as well as the fastest. Even in pro wrestling, he's a hard-hitting shooter who also has aerial moves.
- Manly Tears: Cried tears of joy after he beat Valentijn Overeem in a match.
- Morality Pet: Was one to Masayuki Naruse in New Japan. When Naruse failed at keeping Nagai a babyface, he became an arrogant tweener himself.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Two of his best moves are just knee strikes, only done while jumping from the ropes or the turnbuckle.
- Nerd Glasses: Wears them when he is not fighting.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: In his RINGS times. Nagai could work well and wasn't too bad of a shooter, but unfortunately shared the ring with guys who were either way better workers and/or way better fighters, even within the native branch. He ended up being one of the least notable people in the team, despite having been the very first RINGS trainee, and needed to return to traditional pro wrestling and sail away from shoot-style in order to finally become a name.
- Power Copying: He used several moves from Akira Maeda, like the capture suplex and the spinning heel kick. He later copied Takashi Iizuka's Hell Thrust.
- Red Baron: "Shippūdotō" ("Storm and Stress", a reference to the Sturm und Drang), "Shippu Ikaru" ("Hurricane Fury"), "Gogatana" ("The Little Sword").
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Masahito Kakihara’s blue when they tagged together in All Japan.
- Satellite Character: Debuted in ZERO1 under a mask as NP5, a short-lived member of Y2P-160Kg's P-Force Men stable. Later had a singles match after taking off his mask, and was not seen in the promotion until thirteen years later.
- Signature Move: Rikuga (running knee strike) and RDO (wrist-clutch lifting DDT).
- The Sixth Ranger: Became an official wrestler for Battlarts between 1999 to 2001.
- Sore Loser: Once blew off Mikhail Ilyukhin’s handshake after Mikhail beat him by armbar.
- Spectacular Spinning: Threw jumping spinning kicks on occasion.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Appeared in HUSTLE under a mask as "Mitsuyaman", replacing Kintaman in his team with Kurodaman.
