Genichiro Tenryu announced on 2/9 at a press conference in Tokyo that he will end his 52-year professional sports career with a show at Tokyo Sumo Hall on 11/13.
The date and place are symbolic. Tenryu started in sumo, regularly competing in the building (actually, it was the old Sumo Hall and not the new one) during the 60s and 70s. November 13 is symbolic because it will be 39 years, to the day, of his first pro wrestling match, a ten minute draw against third-year pro Ted DiBiase at the Amarillo Civic Center.
Both New Japan Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi and Pro Wrestling NOAH Vice President Naomichi Marufuji said they would send talent to the show.
Tenryu, born Genichiro Shimade, on February 2, 1950, meaning he just turned 65, is a legitimate all-time great in pro wrestling,. At his peak in the late 80s during his feud with Jumbo Tsuruta, he was top five in the world, and the two rivaled Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat for having the best matches in wrestling.
While the three biggest native stars in Japanese wrestling history are, by a wide margin, Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba, Tenryu would be in the next group with the likes of Tsuruta, Riki Choshu, Tatsumi Fujinami, Atsushi Onita, Akira Maeda, Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Nobuhiko Takada, Kazushi Sakuraba and Keiji Muto.
Tenryu has been suffering from back problems for years, from a combination of the punishment he took in the ring and from suffering from spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spine) which is the same problem that people like Steve Austin, Edge and Larry Matysik suffered from. He underwent back surgery in late 2011 and was out of action for a year. He wrestled a few matches since then, most recently appearing on the 1/31 All Japan show at Korakuen Hall that celebrated the 17th anniversary of the death of Baba, where he teamed with Akebono & Ultimo Dragon to beat Suwama & Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato. The key point of the match was a chop battle with Tenryu vs. Suwama, where Tenryu put Suwama over as being more powerful, which was a symbolic move since Tenryu’s reputation was for throwing hard chops and his ability to withstand similarly hard chops.
He was one of the best wrestlers in history past the age of 50, being a top tier very physical worker who could be counted on for great big show matches until at about the age of 54 or so.
He said the decision to retire was because his wife, Makio Shimade, has been ill. He said that she stood behind him while he had problems and he said he made the decision in December that 2015 would be his final year.
“I had a great life as a pro wrestler and enjoyed all of the times,” he said. “I must also say a special thanks to the late Giant Baba.”
A great youth athlete with natural power, Tenryu dropped out of school in the eighth grade due showing potential in sumo, which at the time was along with baseball, one of Japan’s two biggest sports.
He started in a sumo stable at the age of 13, in 1963, and was competing against adults in lower division tournaments in 1964. He was a child prodigy in sumo and garnered a name, but never achieved the level of success at the top level predicted for him.
Shimade did become a top star, using the sumo name Tenryu. From 1973-76, he bounced back and forth between the top division (the Maegashira division, which is the best 16 active sumos at the time who are in the big tournament) and the second highest division (The Juryu division for those who are essentially No. 17 to No. 32), but never came close to Yokozuna level. He was 47-43 in the Maegashira division in 1973, which was the best year of his career. He never placed top four in a Maegashira tournament. He retired as a mid-level top division competitor, who bounced from top division to second division back-and-forth during the 1975 and 1976 seasons. A behind-the-scenes shakeup that didn’t involve him, saw his sumo stable closed, and instead of joining a new stable, as a free agent, Baba gave him a lucrative offer to leave sumo for pro wrestling at the age of 26.
The signing got pro wrestling mainstream publicity. Tenryu and another sumo, Onoumi, whose real name was Takashi Ishikawa, started together. Tenryu was the bigger name from sumo, even though Ishikawa actually progressed faster as a worker at first, although Tenryu far surpassed Ishikawa in the 80s. Tenryu, from the day he was signed, because of all the publicity, was groomed to be one of the big three native stars in the company, along with Baba and Tsuruta.
He was trained in Texas by Dory Funk Jr. and started in the Amarillo territory, before he and Ishikawa went to San Francisco as a tag team for Roy Shire, using the names Tenryu Shimada & Takashi Onoumi.
He was pushed as a star in Japan from the start, pushed more than his talent for several years. His talent caught up around 1983. Early the next year, Tenryu defeated Ricky Steamboat (subbing for champion David Von Erich, who died two weeks earlier) to win the United National title. The title had been Tsuruta’s belt, but Tsuruta was being moved up to become the perennial International champion. Tenryu held the United National title from 1984 to 1988, when Baba decided to merge the three belts (United National, International and PWF) to form the Triple Crown. Stan Hansen, the PWF champion, beat Tenryu, and then Tsuruta beat Hansen to become the first Triple Crown champion.
Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta were the top Japanese rivals for a few years of Hansen & Bruiser Brody, as well as Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, with a number of memorable championship and tag team tournament matches against the best teams of that era. Tenryu thrived at the hard hitting style popularized by Hansen & Brody, and then started working the faster paced style filled with near falls working with the New Japan stars who crossed over like Choshu & Yatsu. In 1984, when Choshu, who was New Japan’s hottest wrestler at the time, jumped to All Japan, the original plan was to build the top around Choshu vs. Tsuruta, but Baba changed his mind knowing Tsuruta had a slower style and was less adaptable, and made the move to make Tenryu the big rival of Choshu, and focal point of the feud. This really made Tenryu hotter than Tsuruta, even though both were booked at the same level.
When Choshu returned to New Japan in 1987, Tenryu became a rival of Tsuruta for the top spot in the promotion.
Tenryu left All Japan to form Super World Sports, and later, WAR. He was a top worker into his early 50s, but had slowed down in recent years and had undergone major back surgery.
Tenryu’s main claim to fame was being the only wrestler to hold the PWF World title, the United National title (when they were separate), as well as the Triple Crown and the IWGP heavyweight title. He’s also the only Japanese wrestler to hold pinfall wins over both Baba and Inoki, which was one of his proudest achievements because once those two became big stars, it was very rare they would lose, and almost never to a native. He was also booked to be the final Japanese wrestler to beat Hogan, in a 1991 match, a finish that even WWF had agreed to. But Hogan came to Japan and on the night of the show, refused to do it. Tenryu, to save the show, agreed to lose the match rather than do a face saving double count out.
Tenryu’s farewell tour will start with small building shows promoted by his daughter on 3/6 and 4/3 in Tokyo. His Osaka farewell is scheduled for 5/3. He will also have farewell shows in Kumamoto, Sapporo and Fukui (his home town).
During his career he won the Tokyo Sports Wrestler of the Year award in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1993, and also won the All Japan tag tourney three times (1984 and 1986 with Tsuruta, 1989 with Stan Hansen).
He also won Tokyo Sports match of the year eight times, in bouts with Tsuruta (1987 and 1989), Hansen (1988), Hulk Hogan (1991), Choshu (1993), Onita (1994), Takada (1996) and Muto (1999).
His June 8, 2001, match at a sold out Budokan Hall in Tokyo, where he lost the Triple Crown to Muto, was voted Match of the Year in the Observer poll, making him, at 51, the oldest wrestler ever to win such honors.
Because he was the biggest star who was not under contract to either All Japan, NOAH or New Japan from 1990 on, he has likely had more stadium singles main events against a wider variety of opponents than anyone in pro wrestling history.
Tenryu was one of the oldest remaining active wrestlers in Japan, along with Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Great Kojika, Great Kabuki, The Funk Brothers, Mil Mascaras and Mitsuo Momota.
For what it’s worth, Tokyo Sports reported that WWE Japan officials stated that Tenryu may be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in the near future.
If not ? Too damn bad
Dude literally has no neck left. The stiff duelling forearms 
Poor Yoshi. He was going to get a second chance and one of those evil gaijin fukked him up again.
