Gran Hamada
| Gran Hamada | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hiroaki Hamada |
| Born | November 27, 1950 [1] Maebashi, Gunma, Japan[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | El Gran Hamada Gran Hamada Hiroaki Hamada Little Hamada Makai Masked Hurricane Mini Love Machine |
| Billed height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 92 kg (203 lb)[1] |
| Debut | March 16, 1972 |
Hiroaki Hamada (浜田 広秋 Hamada Hiroaki?), better known by his ring name Gran Hamada (グラン浜田 Guran Hamada?), (born November 27, 1950) is a Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He has wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro, and All Japan Pro Wrestling, and was the founder of Universal Lucha Libre. He has also had stints with the World Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the United States. His daughters Xóchitl Hamada and Ayako Hamada are professional wrestlers.
Contents
Professional wrestling career
He was one of the first dojo trainees at New Japan Pro Wrestling, being known as Little Hamada in the beginning. He was sent to Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association because of his lack of size, and he found a lot of success there - so much so that Mexican fans and promoters began calling him Gran Hamada (Great Hamada).[2] He also competed in Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, which added El (The) to the front of his name: El Gran Hamada.
In 1984 he became a member of the initial roster of the original Japanese UWF, but found that his flamboyantly acrobatic style clashed with the martial arts-inspired style and focus on realism of the UWF, and soon left for All Japan Pro Wrestling. He eventually broke off from AJPW to form his own promotion in 1990: Universal Lucha Libre.[2] However, wrestlers began to leave the ULL in 1993, and in 1995 Hamada closed the promotion to join Michinoku Pro, which had been formed by former ULL wrestlers. On April 13, 1997, Hamada teamed with Great Sasuke and Masato Yakushiji (who substituted for Gran Naniwa, who was injured) to defeat Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo and Mens Teioh (aka "Terry Boy") at ECW Barely Legal.
In 2001 he began competing for All Japan again, this time as a free agent. He briefly was part of the "Love Machines" stable under a mask as "Mini Love Machine" with "Super Love Machine" (Junji Hirata of New Japan, reprising his old role as "Super Strong Machine") and "Love Machine Storm" (Arashi, whose stage name literally means "storm").[1] They used Morning Musume's hit song "Love Machine" as their entrance theme. He would also briefly work for New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Land brand as Makai Masked Hurricane but only wrestled two shows under that name.[3]
His daughters Xochitl and Ayako, who are half-Mexican, are also professional wrestlers.[4]
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Hama-chan Cutter (Elevated cutter)[1]
- Signature moves
Championships and accomplishments
- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- Arsion
- P*Mix Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Ayako Hamada
- Big Japan Pro Wrestling
- Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
- Michinoku Pro Wrestling
- Apex of Triangle Six–Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Great Sasuke and Tiger Mask[1]
- Fukumen World Tag League (2000) - with Tiger Mask IV[8]
- NWA Hollywood Wrestling
- New Japan Pro Wrestling
- One Night Eight Man Tag Team Tournament (1994) - with Shinjiro Otani, El Samurai and Great Sasuke[10]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Universal Lucha Libre
- UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1 time)[11]
- UWF Super Middleweight Championship (1 time)[12]
- WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Perro Aguayo[13]
- Universal Wrestling Association
- UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (5 times)[14]
- UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[15]
- UWA World Middleweight Championship (3 times)[16]
- UWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Riki Choshu (1), Perro Aguayo (1) and Kendo (1)[17]
- UWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time)[18]
- WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[19][Note 2]
Luchas de Apuestas record
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Texano (hair) | Gran Hamada (hair) | Unknown | Live event | Unknown | |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | El Coloso (hair) | Unknown | Live event | Unknown | |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | Astro Rey (hair) | Naucalpan, Mexico State | Live event | Unknown | |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | Flama Azul (hair) | Naucalpan, Mexico State | Live event | Unknown | |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | César Valentino (hair) | Naucalpan, Mexico State | Live event | Unknown | |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | René Guajardo (hair) | Naucalpan, Mexico State | Live event | Unknown | [20] |
| El Signo (hair) | Gran Hamada (hair) | Naucalpan, Mexico State | Live event | July 26, 1975 | [21] |
| Aníbal (mask) | Gran Hamada (hair) | Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico State | Live event | August 22, 1980 | [22] |
| Gran Hamada, Enrique Vera and Kobayashi (hair) | Los Misioneros de la Muerte (hair) (El Signo, El Texano and Negro Navarro) |
Mexico City, Mexico | Live event | June 7, 1981 | [23] |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | Black Power (mask) | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | September 12, 1991 | |
| Gran Hamada (hair) | El Engendro (hair) | Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico | Live event | February 29, 1992 |
Footnotes
- ↑ At the time EMLL was part of the National Wrestling Alliance
- ↑ Sangre Chicana won the WWF title during a time that it was promoted by the UWA and exclusively in Mexico. The title reigns are not officially recognized by World Wrestling Entertainment. No reign with the championship prior to December 1997 is officially recognized or acknowledged by the World Wrestling Entertainment.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
