RIP Goro Tsurumi

[leo]

It has been announced that the IWE/AJPW/90s indy sleaze stalwart passed away today at the age of 73 from heart failure. He had been suffering from high blood pressure and ulcerative colitis in his lower legs due to diabetes.

Tsurumi is recognised for being the first real native heel in Japan, starting the Dokuritsu Gurentai faction in the latter days of IWE, an effort by Isao Yoshihara to generate interest in the struggling promotion.

A memorial video has been posted here featuring a match pre-heel turn, where he and Animal Hamaguchi unsuccessfully challenged Gokudō Combi (Motoshi Ōkuma & Great Kojika) for the All-Asia tag titles.

 

During his AJPW run, he would sometimes slot into tag teams with more established foreign wrestlers, working alongside Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, Gypsy Joe amongst others. He also appeared in the several iterations of the Real World Tag League, teaming with foreigners “The Mongolian” and One Man Gang, as well as former IWE colleague Rusher Kimura as part of their Kokusai Blood Oath Army faction.

After leaving SWS he was involved in Ryuma Gō-derivative small budget indie promotions working matches against extraterrestrial and supernatural gimmicks, such as this one from Mr Hito’s retirement show in 1997.

For more information, @KinchStalker has a detailed profile here.

May he rest in peace.