Gran Hamada

Hiroaki Hamada (November 27, 1950) better known by his ring name Gran Hamada, 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 Wrestling, 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.
==Career==
He was one of the first dojo trainees at New Japan Pro Wrestling, being known as Little Hamada in the beginning. Sent to Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association because of his lack of size, he found a lot of success there - so much that Mexican fans and promoters began calling him Gran Hamada (Great Hamada) and the name stuck. 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. 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.
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"). They used Morning Musume's hit song "Love Machine" as their entrance theme.
His daughters Xochitl and Ayako, who are half-Mexican, are also professional wrestlers.
He has apparently resurfaced in New Japan under the WRESTLE LAND brand at their second show on June 30, disguised as Masked Hurricane and teaming with Ray Cobra against Tiger Mask IV and Edo Samurai in a losing effort (Ray Cobra was pinned after a Tombstone Piledriver from Tiger Mask IV).
==Championships and accomplishments==
*Universal Wrestling Association
**WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
* Profile
Category:Japanese wrestlers
Category:1950 births
Category:1972 debuts
Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Apache Pro-Wrestling alumni
Category:ARSION alumni
Category:Asistencia Asesoría y Administración alumni
Category:Big Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre alumni
Category:Dradition Pro-Wrestling current roster
Category:Dragondoor Project alumni
Category:Dramatic Dream Team alumni
Category:Extreme Championship Wrestling alumni
Category:Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts alumni
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Category:Fukumen MANIA alumni
Category:Full Contact Wrestling alumni
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Category:Kaientai Dojo alumni
Category:Legend The Pro-Wrestling alumni
Category:Michinoku Pro Wrestling alumni
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Category:Real Japan Pro Wrestling current roster
Category:Toryumon Japan alumni
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Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni
Category:Universal Wrestling Federation alumni
Category:World Entertainment Wrestling alumni
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni
Category:World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana alumni
Category:Wrestling Marvelous Future alumni
Category:REINA X World alumni
Category:Hamada family
Category:Living people
Category:Dotonbori Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Mobius alumni
Category:Onita Pro alumni
Category:Male wrestlers
Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Wrestling New Classic alumni
Category:WWF Light Heavyweight Champions