Gran Naniwa confirmed dead

[Warner2BruceTD]

Meltzer was hesitant to report this, based on sketchy translated info on the Michinoku Pro website. But now two wrestlers (Scott Norton, Kikutaru) have confirmed on twitter that Gran Naniwa has passed away, apparently of a heart attack.

The shocking part is he was either 33 or 34 years old. He took part in early Super J Cups in the mid 90's, which means he was only 17 or 18 at the time. Everyone assumed he was MUCH older, because he's been wrestling seemingly forever, and was semi retired.

Mostly worked comedy matches, but he could really go and could work with top level juniors when he wanted to. He was a masked wrestler who did a crab gimmick, and he would carb walk down the ropes as his signature spot.






Super-J Cup '95 alumni: (Back row, left) Chris Jericho, Gedo, Psicosis, Chris Benoit, El Samurai, Hanzo Nakajima, Masayoshi Motegi, Shinjiro Otani, Sho Funaki, Dos Caras, Gran Naniwa. (Front row, left) Damian, Ultimo Dragon, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Rey Misterio Jr and Masaaki Mochizuki.

[SHOGUN]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNslAaRhns8[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHkCIr7Mh7w[/ame]

[Warner2BruceTD]

I have this on VHS. Amazing tournament. It was so loaded, Misterio vs. Psicosis was a non tournament match. Just look at the talent that came out of this.

Shocking to now know Naniwa was like 17 years old.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Wow, I havent watched this in probably 10 years. Makes me want to dust off the VCR and watch the whole show.

Naniwa shows some great fire early. I love the crab walk transition spot. Then Liger mocks him and flips the bird. Love it.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I see youtube has the Naniwa/Damian 666 first round match up. If I recall, it was a good comedy match. Damian was still doing his gimmick where he would scream out names of stars and then copy their big moves.

Thanks SHOGUN, I probably would have never thought to look for these.

[SHOGUN]

That was a good match. Surprising he was so young at the time.

RIP.

[SHOGUN]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJcbpdRlrb8[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PX_DDH_Amo[/ame]

[SHOGUN]

I see youtube has the Naniwa/Damian 666 first round match up. If I recall, it was a good comedy match. Damian was still doing his gimmick where he would scream out names of stars and then copy their big moves.

Thanks SHOGUN, I probably would have never thought to look for these.

Yeah. That was the match. It was pretty funny all the way through.