1. Genichiro Shimada, better known as Genichiro Tenryu is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter.
24 Facts About Genichiro Tenryu
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Genichiro Tenryu had two stints with All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he spent the majority of his career while promoting Super World of Sports, Wrestle Association R and Tenryu Project.
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Genichiro Tenryu is widely considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
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At the time of his retirement, professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer wrote that "one could make a strong case [that Tenryu was] between the fourth and sixth biggest native star" in the history of Japanese professional wrestling.
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Genichiro Tenryu finished one more tournament, and even though his career still showed promise, he decided to leave the sumo world at the young age of 26 in September 1976.
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In 1987, following the departure of the Japan Pro talent, Kakuryu broke up after losing the tag team titles to The Road Warriors, which led to Genichiro Tenryu forming his own stable, "Revolution", with former International Pro Wrestling wrestlers Ashura Hara and Hiromichi Fuyuki, as well as All Japan rookies Toshiaki Kawada, and Yoshinari Ogawa; Tatsumi Kitahara would join the group upon his debut in 1988.
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Hara was kicked out of the promotion in late 1988, and Genichiro Tenryu replaced him with Stan Hansen, with whom he held the World Tag Team Championship as well.
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Genichiro Tenryu wrestled his first match for the nascent promotion in September 1990, teaming with Takashi Ishikawa as "Revolution" to defeat Dojo Geki.
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In 1991, as part of a working agreement between Super World of Sports and the World Wrestling Federation, Genichiro Tenryu appeared at WrestleMania VII, where he teamed with Koji Kitao to defeat Demolition.
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Genichiro Tenryu wrestled his final match for SWS in June 1992, teaming with Ashura Hara and Ultimo Dragon to defeat Jerry Estrada, King Haku, and The Great Kabuki.
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Genichiro Tenryu traded victories with Tatsumi Fujinami and Antonio Inoki, thus becoming the only Japanese wrestler to defeat both Inoki and Baba by pinfall.
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In 1998, as WAR went into decline, Genichiro Tenryu began an earnest comeback, this time in New Japan.
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Genichiro Tenryu first joined Heisei Ishingun, allied with its leader Shiro Koshinaka, and they won the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Team Wolf, Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
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In December 1999, Genichiro Tenryu made history as the first native to win the top two distinctions of professional wrestling in Japan by beating Mutoh for the IWGP title.
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In 2000, following the near-collapse of All Japan due to the Pro Wrestling Noah split, Genichiro Tenryu closed WAR and rejoined All Japan, eager to test his mettle against the remaining ace, his former disciple Kawada.
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Genichiro Tenryu beat Kawada in the subsequent tournament for the vacant Triple Crown, winning the belts for a second time.
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Genichiro Tenryu has been with the Hustle promotion and was a part of the main heel group led by Generalissimo Takada.
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At Hustle Aid 2007 Genichiro Tenryu was defeated by Razor Ramon HG and joined the main face group led by Razor Ramon HG, Hustle Army.
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In December 2009, following the folding of Hustle, Genichiro Tenryu began running his own Genichiro Tenryu Project promotion.
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Genichiro Tenryu continued to make forays into other promotions, remaining active even past age 60.
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On February 7,2015, it was reported that Genichiro Tenryu had decided to retire from professional wrestling with his final match scheduled to take place later in the year.
23.
Genichiro Tenryu appears as a gang member in the 2017 video game Yakuza Kiwami 2, alongside Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami.
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Genichiro Tenryu is a regular guest on the annual 24-hour comedy special, Gaki no Tsukai - No Laughing Challenge, often appearing as a character who occasionally speaks unintelligibly to cause the contestants to laugh.