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[Pro Wrestling] Japanese veteran Ryuma Go dead at age 53
By Zach Arnold | October 20, 2009
Ryuma Go (Hiroshi Yagi) died on the 18th in a Kanagawa hospital reportedly due to septicimia (blood poisoning). He was 53 years old.
According to Yomiuri Shimbun, a relative discovered Go last week in bad condition at his home. (The relative is believed to his his oldest daughter.) The front door was reportedly locked, so the relative got into the house through a window on the second floor and rushed Go to the hospital after he was discovered in bad condition. Go had reportedly been in an bicycle accident a few days ago (on the 7th) and had fractured his right wrist, with the area getting infected and the infection spreading throughout his body.
A funeral with approximately 30 wrestlers (led by Animal Hamaguchi & Goro Tsurumi) was performed on the 19th in Atsugi city in Kanagawa. Go was put into his casket with a ‘pro-wrestling baka (fool)’ t-shirt and his wrestling shoes. Go’s eldest daughter was the chief mourner. Hamaguchi addressed and handled the press spotlight at the funeral. At the funeral, Go’s wife put together a collage of old wrestling photos featuring the veteran in various stages of his life.
The aforementioned Yomiuri article discussed that Go, who had been recently working at a restaurant in Roppongi, was going to try a full-time comeback in wrestling and had asked Hamaguchi for advice on how to make it happen. His last wrestling match was on September 3rd.
Go, who was a famous drinker, had reportedly not quit his lifestyle in his post-wrestling days. In fact, his drinking was one of the first points brought up in a lighthearted manner by wrestlers such as Riki Choshu. After retiring from wrestling in 2002, Go was arrested a year later in a purse snatching incident at the JR Shinjuku train station. Go received a lot of heat in the media and on message boards when it was discovered that he appeared in a gay porn video.
Career notes: After going for a try-out in 1970 for Kokusai (Int’l) Pro-Wrestling at the age of 14, Go would end up wrestling all over the world (in Canada, Germany, America). He ended up working with Tatsumi Fujinami and the two had a WWWF Jr. Title match at Nippon Budokan in 1978. He floated from New Japan to UWF to All Japan. He formed Pioneer wrestling in 1989 and would work various independent dates, including matches featuring space alien gimmicks. Go was known for his raw strength and power in the ring.
Topics: Japan, Media, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 1 Comment » | Permalink | Trackback |
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