Hiroshi Ueda (1940-2011)
Alias:
Great Ito
Mr. Ito
Ten Gu
Tengu
Umanosuke Ueda
Birthplace:
Yatomi, Aichi, Japan
Born:
June 20, 1940
Died:
December 21, 2011
Hiroshi Ueda was a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Umanosuke Ueda. During his wrestling career, Ueda primarily stood out for wrestling with bleached blonde hair, a practice which was rare in his day but later became more common. His ring name was inspired by samurai warrior and Shinsengumi member Umanosuke Ueda. After debuting in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance in 1961, he started the circuit in Los Angeles in 1966. In 1974, he joined Japan's International Pro Wrestling where he held the IWA World Heavyweight Championship from June 11, 1976, till July 28, 1976. Ueda was considered one of the first "traitor heels" in Japan, as he broke societal mores by dyeing his hair and using a brawling style, and teaming with a hated gaikokujin heel, Tiger Jeet Singh. The two men were the first team to win tag team titles in both New Japan Pro-Wrestling (the NWA North American Tag Team Championship) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (the NWA International Tag Team Championship). Mr. Gannosuke, Tatsutoshi Goto and Toru Yano later based their "dye job brawler" ring personas on Ueda's style. More recently, Takaaki Watanabe has based his "Evil" persona on Ueda. He later went on to appear as a henchman in the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle up until the end of the show in the late '80s and also appeared in the movie Burst City. In 1996, he was in a car accident, which left him paralyzed and eventually forced him to retire two years later. Ueda died on December 21, 2011, from respiratory failure; he was 71 years old.