Gran Hamada passes away at 74 years old

  • Ian Carey
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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 do an excursion to Mexico. Elevated the opinion of Japanese wrestling in Mexico, forever tying both wrestling scenes together. Blazed trail that Tiger Mask and Liger followed, and many more. Key figure in 1st Mexico promotion battle in decades.”

Hamada was over two-thirds of the way to induction into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame Class of 2024. He received 42.5 percent of the vote last year, falling 17.5 percent short of the required 60 percent.

Voices of Wrestling and LuchaBlog recorded a podcast focused on Hamada’s case for the WON Hall of Fame in October.

“He’s the godfather of Lucharesu, so what does that mean? What were his business metrics? How incredible of a wrestler was he? What’s his influence case? Over the course of the episode, Case, Mike, and Cubs make the argument why Gran Hamada merits Hall of Fame inclusion.”

The podcast episode is available here.