1. John Tenta's professional wrestling career encompassed runs in World Championship Wrestling, where he was known as Avalanche and The Shark, All Japan Pro Wrestling and a return to WWF as Golga.
43 Facts About John Tenta
1. 2.
John Tenta died in 2006 after a long battle with bladder cancer.
3.
On March 6,2025, it was announced that John Tenta will be posthumously inducted into the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame, alongside his friend and tag team partner Fred Ottman, under their The Natural Disasters gimmick.
4.
John Tenta learned freestyle wrestling at North Surrey Secondary, becoming a Canadian junior champion in 1981.
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John Tenta won an athletic scholarship to Louisiana State University, where he competed in NCAA-level collegiate wrestling.
6.
LSU dropped varsity wrestling to comply with Title IX in 1985, forcing John Tenta to choose a new sport.
7.
John Tenta subsequently walked on to the LSU football team, where he participated as a defensive tackle in a few junior varsity contests.
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John Tenta then moved to Japan to pursue a career in sumo after being recruited by a former yokozuna who met John Tenta on a trip to Vancouver.
9.
John Tenta made his professional wrestling debut with All Japan Pro Wrestling on May 1,1987, teaming with Giant Baba and defeating Rusher Kimura and Goro Tsurumi.
10.
John Tenta had a solid 18-month career, teaming with Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, and The Great Kabuki, before getting the attention of American pro-wrestling promoters, as well as making tours in Vancouver for Al Tomko's NWA All Star Wrestling where he first competed as a babyface, but later turned heel when he began being managed by "Gentleman" Jonathan Sayers.
11.
John Tenta then made his WWF television debut on the November 11,1989, edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, where he was planted in the audience as a normal spectator at the taping held in Wheeling, West Virginia.
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The Ultimate Warrior agreed, and Hart, after pretending to look around the audience, centered his attention on the very large John Tenta who was sitting in the audience in casual clothing and appearing surprised.
13.
Bravo and John Tenta then beat and unleashed multiple big splashes on the prone Warrior.
14.
John Tenta made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania VI, defeating Hercules.
15.
John Tenta's career peaked when he entered a feud with Hulk Hogan.
16.
Kitao and John Tenta broke kayfabe by being uncooperative with each other.
17.
John Tenta left the WWF in January 1993 after losing via count-out to Bam Bam Bigelow the night after the Royal Rumble for a spell in Japan for WAR.
18.
John Tenta returned to the WWF in January 1994 when he assisted Bret Hart in a match with Shawn Michaels by countering Diesel's interference.
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John Tenta defeated Adam Bomb in a quick squash match at WrestleMania X John Tenta then engaged in a short feud with Yokozuna, with whom he had a sumo match on Raw.
20.
John Tenta again disappeared from WWF thereafter and returned to Japan for WAR.
21.
Hulk Hogan, a longtime friend, lobbied to have John Tenta come in, and so John Tenta left the WWF to join WCW.
22.
John Tenta was introduced as Avalanche and was a member of Kevin Sullivan's The Three Faces of Fear, billed at 517lbs.
23.
John Tenta later aligned with Big Bubba Rogers and feuded with Sting and Randy Savage.
24.
John Tenta returned under the ring name The Shark and joined the Dungeon of Doom faction.
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John Tenta believed this could be the beginning of a long term gimmick and even changed the tattoo on his arm of an LSU Tiger to that of a shark, a process that took 24 hours.
26.
At Fall Brawl, John Tenta teamed with other members of The Dungeon of Doom to face The Hulkamaniacs in a WarGames match where they lost.
27.
At the 1996 Great American Bash, he defeated Big Bubba Rogers; after the match John Tenta cut Rogers' goatee off with a pair of scissors.
28.
At Bash at the Beach 1996, John Tenta defeated Big Bubba in a Carson City Silver Dollar match.
29.
John Tenta said he wouldn't shave off the other half because he looked in the mirror and relived the embarrassment.
30.
John Tenta would go out to get the mail and his neighbors would laugh.
31.
In 1999, John Tenta returned to WCW for one night wrestling under his real name when he defeated Lash LeRoux on Monday Nitro in a dark match.
32.
John Tenta wrestled under a gold mask as one of the Oddities and the character had a fascination with Eric Cartman from the TV series South Park.
33.
John Tenta did return to the WWF with the Earthquake gimmick for a pair of appearances in 2001.
34.
John Tenta returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling in November 2002 where he finished up his career in July 2003, being a part of the company's Pro Wrestling Love era.
35.
John Tenta rose up the card after "Dr Death" Steve Williams left the company in January 2003, the month Mrs Baba permanently left and the new ownership fully in effect.
36.
John Tenta would wrestle in hardcore matches during his second run in AJPW.
37.
John Tenta announced that multiple tumors had spread to his lungs.
38.
On June 7,2006, John Tenta died of bladder cancer, just 15 days shy of his 43rd birthday.
39.
John Tenta came in and was pushed as this brutal monster heel, who sent everyone to the hospital and put Hogan down on television, which upset millions of kids.
40.
John Tenta's professional wrestling career garnered him appearances in several video games.
41.
John Tenta was included in the 1992 home video game WWF Super WrestleMania by LJN for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
42.
In 2004, the Japanese video game developer Spike released King of Colosseum II, a puroresu-wrestling game for PlayStation 2 that featured John Tenta as a playable character; it was a Japan-only release.
43.
John Tenta appeared in WWE 2K17 as well as WWE 2K18 along with Typhoon.