Gran Hamada passes away at 74 years old

Gran Hamada has died. His death was first reported by Realidad San Luis, a local news outlet in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where he had been living. Online sources list his age as 74. No cause of death has been disclosed at this time. Hamada was among the first wrestlers to train in the NJPW dojo and later made his debut for the promotion in its inaugural year of 1972. He’s also one of the first Japanese wrestlers to train in lucha libre and integrate it into his own style of wrestling. After training in the NJPW dojo, he went on excursion to Mexico and would wrestle in both countries throughout his career. In addition to NJPW, he wrestled for AJPW starting in 1981 and the Universal Wrestling Association beginning in 1979. He founded Universal Lucha Libre in 1990 and later worked with Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1993. In 1997, he appeared on two PPVs in the United States, performing at In Your House: D-Generation X and at ECW Barely Legal. LuchaBlog wrote of Hamada’s passing: “Maybe first Japanese wrestler to d