Hiro Matsuda

Japanese Professional Wrestler

Hiro Matsuda was born in Tsurumi-ku, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on July 22nd, 1937 and is the Japanese Professional Wrestler. At the age of 62, Hiro Matsuda biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.

Date of Birth
July 22, 1937
Nationality
Japan
Place of Birth
Tsurumi-ku, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Death Date
Nov 27, 1999 (age 62)
Zodiac Sign
Cancer
Profession
Amateur Wrestler, Catch Trainer, Professional Wrestler
Hiro Matsuda Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 62 years old, Hiro Matsuda has this physical status:

Height
185cm
Weight
105kg
Hair Color
Not Available
Eye Color
Not Available
Build
Not Available
Measurements
Not Available
Hiro Matsuda Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Not Available
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
Not Available
Hiro Matsuda Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Not Available
Children
Not Available
Dating / Affair
Not Available
Parents
Not Available
Hiro Matsuda Career

Kojima played an active role as an ace pitcher at baseball in Nittai Ebara High School Baseball Club in Japan, and after graduating, he joined Japan Pro Wrestling in 1957, but left in 1960. Then Matsuda went to Peru. This travel is repelled by unwritten rules such as the upper and lower relations that Rikidozan brought from the customs of sumo room, and Japan's original mental theory (injuries can be cured by nature, and those who rest due to injury are considered to be lacking) . In Peru, he worked in the name of Ernesto Kojima. Later, after moving to Mexico through the United States, the ring name was changed to Kojima Saito, Great Matsuda, and Hiro Matsuda. The name “Matsuda” was a ring name given to two Japanese wrestlers active in the mainland of America, “Sorakichi Matsuda” in the 1880s and Manjiro "Matty" Matsuda in the 1920s.

During the Ernesto Kojima period, he was fighting with El Santo in Mexico. In the United States, he studied with Karl Gotch to learn full-fledged wrestling techniques and was taught catch-as-catch-can and submission wrestling. The German suplex hold, his biggest finishing technique, is said to have been taught under Gotch's guidance during this period.。Kojima adopted his Hiro Matsuda identity while competing in the southern United States, inspired by earlier wrestlers Sorakichi Matsuda and Matty Matsuda. He initially debuted under his real name at Rikidōzan's Japanese Wrestling Association, but then left Japan to pursue wrestling in the Americas. Once in a while he would return to Japan, where he formed a tag team with Antonio Inoki that was only the outward reflection of the long-time friendship between the two men.

Matsuda was the first Japanese wrestler to win a National Wrestling Alliance world singles title when he won its Junior Heavyweight Championship on July 11, 1964, in Tampa, Florida by defeating Danny Hodge. Then dropped the title to Angelo Savoldi on November 13. He would win a second title in 1975 defeating Ken Mantell and lose it to Hodge. Matsuda's challenge to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz on December 10, 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida, ended without a winner as a result of a time limit draw. He had previously made a challenge to Thesz a few times.

Matsuda settled in Florida in 1962, and later trained neophytes at the old Sportatorium in Tampa, home of the Championship Wrestling from Florida television program. As a trainer, Matsuda was famous for being very stiff with his trainees to toughen them up. His most famous student was Hulk Hogan who he started training in 1976. For many years Hogan and other wrestlers told a story that Matsuda broke Hogan's leg on his first day of training, to teach him to respect professional wrestling, and see if he really wanted to be part of the business. In reality on his first day of training, Hogan sprained an ankle. He came back the next day and tried to train on it. Matsuda saw it was all black and blue and told him he'd better sit it out for a week. After a week, he was back. Hogan later embellished that Matsuda broke his leg to not only make himself look tough for continuing to train under Matsuda, but also to show the seriousness of professional wrestling. Matsuda wouldn't let wrestlers train with him unless they did 1,000 pushups and 1,000 squats.

He came to work in Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987 as a heel to participate in a feud between his disciple Lex Luger and Dusty Rhodes, plus wrestled a few matches on TV with Four Horsemen manager James J Dillon acting as his manager. Matsuda was in Luger's corner. During the feud, he was billed as "The Master of the Japanese Sleeper," a sleeper hold. He famously locked Johnny Weaver, who was in Rhodes' corner, in the hold. The prolonged application of the hold caused Weaver to bleed profusely from the mouth. Later on he worked briefly for World Championship Wrestling acting as the manager in early 1989 for the Yamasaki Corporation (a renamed Four Horsemen) and then being involved in Terry Funk's stable, The J-Tex Corporation as their business agent from Japan. As was the case with Tojo Yamamoto, he was frequently made the manager or spokesman of Japanese wrestlers on excursion in the United States. In this role, he "introduced" The Great Muta (managed by Gary Hart) on a World Championship Wrestling episode. His last match was against Osamu Kido at the age of 53 on December 26, 1990 in Hamamatsu, Japan . Lou Thesz and Nick Bockwinkel had wrestled the same day and Thesz had wrestled his last match as well.

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