After dropping out of high school, Ueda joined sumo and had his debut as a pro in 1958/05.
Ueda joined JWA in 1960 and debut against Mitsuaki Hirai in 1961/04. During the same time, both Shohei Baba and Kanji Inoki debuted as well.
Between 1966 and 1970, he wresteld in the U.S., where he would become Mr. Ito. It is said to be that Ueda was the one who leaked Inoki's attempt of a coup within JWA, which caused Inoki getting kicked out and start New Japan.
After JWA closed in 1973, Ueda, along with other JWA wrestlers, All Japan. However, he was not satisfied with the way Baba treated him and left for the U.S.
He returned to Japan in 1976 to wrestle for IWE and also started wrestling for New Japan in 1977, where he had a great heel run teaming with Tiger Jeet Singh. He jumped back to All Japan following Singh in 1981.
Ueda joined IWA Japan in 1992 but was involved in an auto accident in 1996. He was paralyzed and had been on a wheelchair since then.
When he was still active, Ueda regularly visited the nursery homes and made donations for aged people. Ueda, one of the greatest heels in the puroresu history, never raved about it in public.
He passed away at the age of 71 on 2011/12/21. |
