Midget wrestler Little Tokyo dies at age 70

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• Little Tokyo wrestled on WrestleMania III’s undercard.

One of the best midget wrestlers of all time, Little Tokyo (Shigeri Akabane), died of a massive heart attack in St. Joseph, Missouri, last Tuesday. Tokyo was 70.

Little Tokyo may be best remembered for teaming with St. Joseph’s Lord Littlebrook (Eric Tovey) and King Kong Bundy against Little Beaver, Haiti Kid and Hillbilly Jim on the undercard of the WWE’s WrestleMania III in front of 93,000 people at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan in March 1987.

The Charleston Post and Courier‘s Mike Mooneyham wrote a nice tribute to Little Tokyo, featuring quotes from Lord Littlebrook’s son, Little Kato (aka Chris Dube). Little Tokyo trained Dube, whom my former colleague Peter Rugg profiled in April (“Little Bastard“).