Born | September 26, 1948 |
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Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Chan Chung The Dragonmaster Kendo Nagasaki Mr. Sakurada Rambo Sakurada |
Billed height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
Billed weight | 119 kg (262 lb) |
Debut | June 21, 1971 |
Retired | 2001 |
Kazuo Sakurada (桜田 一男 Sakurada Kazuo), better known as Mr. Sakurada and as the Japanese version of Kendo Nagasaki (ケンドー・ナガサキ), is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. He is best known, under various monikers, for his work in Stampede Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling. Sakurada is also highly regarded by Bret Hart as one of his most significant trainers alongside Katsui Adachi (a.k.a. Mr. Hito), who he taught with extensively in Stu Hart's "Dungeon."
Kazuo Sakurada debuted on June 21, 1971, in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance against Kim Duk. On March 8, 1973 he became involved in a shoot when his mid-card match against rookie Tsutomu Oshiro went horribly wrong and Sakurada began beating Oshiro severely, knocking him out of the ring. Oshiro was going to jump to New Japan Pro Wrestling along with his mentor Seiji Sakaguchi and friend Kengo Kimura, and Sakurada took actions into his own hands, blaming them for jumping ship.
When the JPWA collapsed in April, Sakurada joined All Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1976 he made a North American tour, and his stock increased in earnest.