History Wrestling / GenichiroTenryu

* GutturalGrowler: He is famous for his raspy, gruff voice.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Invoked. He used to be rather pale-skinned in his early career, but he subjected himsef to a heavy tan after moving to SWS and has done so since.

* {{Hunk}}: In his sumo days, he was considerably more slender-looking compared to his peers and he was popular with women as a handsome wrestler due to his muscular build and gentle, well-proportioned features.

* {{Hunk}}: In his sumo days, he was considerably more slender-looking compared to his peers and he was popular with women as a handsome wrestler due to his muscular build and gentle, well-proportioned features.

* AuthorAppeal: Likes to book wrestlers with a background in SumoWresling like himself, and seemed to have a spot for martial artists and shoot-style wrestlers too.

* FinishingMove: Powerbomb, lariat, Northern Lights Bomb (scoop brainbuster, originally adopted from Wrestling/KensukeSasaki to taunt him) and 53 Sai (a snap brainbuster he started using after turning 53 years old).

* [[IKnowKarate I Know]] SumoWrestling: Had a sumo career which was discharged by a scandal, and he is known as a friend to all sumo pro wrestlers, especially if they are disgraced like him. He also trained some UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling with Wrestling/BillyRobinson, though he never showed it much.

** Tarzan Yamamoto, chief editor of the ''Weekly Pro Wrestling'' magazine, and an important creative consultant behind AJPW's resurgence in the late 80s and 90s. He hated Tenryu for leaving AJPW and performed a huge campaign against SWS, which many people believe (and Yamamoto confirmed in his autobiography) was fueled also by Giant Baba (although Yamamoto claimed that he also disliked Tenryu on a personal level for having accepted an offer that NJPW would have had the pull and pockets to shut down - and indeed did, since Keiji Mutoh was actually the original choice to run SWS, but Seiji Sakaguchi made a call and blocked the signing - but not AJPW). Their enmity went to the point that Tenryu refused to let WAR participate in the 1995 uber-event Bridge of Dreams, a chance no Japanese promotion would have rejected at the time, only because it was promoted by WPW. In fact, and only to spit Yamamoto, Tenryu decided to book an "Anti-Bridge of Dream" WAR event the same night, counting with NJPW guests, a coverage by rival magazine Weekly Gong and a later closed-circuit television screening to ensure he would pull it off.
** Takashi Ishikawa, a former WAR wrestler that left to form Tokyo Pro Wrestling in a move that mirrored Tenryu's own SWS's affair, became another enemy, as he attracted Hiromichi Fuyuki away from WAR with money promises. It got to the point that when TPW joined Akio Sato's union of independent promotions, Fighting for Future, Tenryu created his own, Pro Wrestling Alliance, only to oppose them.

* AuthorAppeal: Likes to book wrestlers with a background in sumo (like himself), and seemed to have a spot for martial artists and shoot-style wrestlers too.

As usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genichiro_Tenryu The Other Wiki]].

** Tarzan Yamamoto, writer of the Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine, hated Tenryu for leaving AJPW and performed a huge campaign against SWS, which many people believe (and Yamamoto confirmed in his autobiography) was fueled also by Giant Baba (although Yamamoto claimed that he also disliked Tenryu on a personal level for having accepted an offer that NJPW would have had the pull and pockets to shut down - and indeed did, since Keiji Mutoh was actually the original choice to run SWS, but Seiji Sakaguchi made a call and blocked the signing - but not AJPW). Their enmity went to the point that Tenryu refused to let WAR participate in the 1995 uber-event Bridge of Dreams, a chance no Japanese promotion would have rejected at the time, only because it was promoted by WPW. In fact, and only to spit Yamamoto, Tenryu decided to book an "Anti-Bridge of Dream" WAR event the same night, counting with NJPW guests, a coverage by rival magazine Weekly Gong and a later closed-circuit television screening to ensure he would pull it off.

** Tarzan Yamamoto, writer of the Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine, hated Tenryu for leaving AJPW and maintained a huge campaign against SWS, which many people believe was personally instigated by Giant Baba. Yamamoto would confirm in his autobiography that he accepted payment from Baba to print negative coverage (although he claimed that he also disliked Tenryu on a personal level for having accepted an offer that NJPW would have had the pull and pockets to shut down - and indeed did, since Keiji Mutoh was actually the original choice to run SWS, but Seiji Sakaguchi made a call and blocked the signing - but not AJPW).
*** Their enmity went to the point that Tenryu refused to let WAR participate in the 1995 uber-event Bridge of Dreams, a chance no Japanese promotion would have rejected at the time, only because it was promoted by WPW. In fact, and only to spit Yamamoto, Tenryu decided to book an "Anti-Bridge of Dream" WAR event the same night, counting with NJPW guests, a coverage by rival magazine Weekly Gong and a later closed-circuit television screening to ensure he would pull it off.

* BigBrotherMentor: Many wrestlers who worked with Tenryu at the beginning of their careers, among them Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa and Wrestling/ToshiakiKawada, have called him this.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know]] SumoWrestling: Had a sumo career which was discharged by a scandal, and he is known as a friend to all sumo pro wrestlers. He also trained some UsefulNotes/CatchWrestling with Wrestling/BillyRobinson, though he never showed it much.

* SuperSpit: Often does the Asian mist with water from his bottle.

Genichiro Shimada (born February 2, 1950) is a [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} Japanese]] sumo and {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er and promoter, better known as Genichiro Tenryu. He started as a sumo wrestler at the age of 13 and competed for 13 years. Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling's Giant Baba sent Shimada (''Tenryu'' was his ''Shikona,'' or ''ring name,'' in Sumo) to train with the Funk Brothers ([[Wrestling/TerryFunk Terry]] and Dory Jr.) in their Amarillo, Texas promotion. Tenryu debuted against [[Wrestling/TedDiBiase Ted [=DiBiase=]]] in 1976. After some time in the AJPW undercard and a brief run in Jim Crockett Promotions, his career started picking up in the 1980s. He is the second wrestler ([[Wrestling/{{Vader}} Big Van Vader]] was the first) and the first native-born one to win both the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/tc-h.html All Japan Pro Wrestling Unified Triple Crown Heavyweight Title]] and the Wrestling/{{New Japan|ProWrestling}} [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/newjapan/iwgp-h.html IWGP Heavyweight Title]]. He also held the Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/nwa-ma-6.html World 6-Man Tag Team Titles]] with Wrestling/TheRoadWarriors. Tenryu and fellow former sumo wrestler Koji Kitao defeated Wrestling/{{Demolition}} (Smash and Crush) in the team's last-ever [=PPV=] match, at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} VII'' in 1991. Tenryu also was in the 1993 ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' and, as a hired gun for Wrestling/MrFuji, was one of the ten wrestlers who attacked Wrestling/TheUndertaker during his [[GimmickMatches casket match]] with [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE World Heavyweight Champion]] Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}} at ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble 1994.'' (He also competed in the Rumble match itself.) He was inducted into the ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter]]'' Hall of Fame in 1996.

* BiggerIsBetterInBed: A rumor very popular in Japanese tabloids is that Tenryu had an enlargement surgery.

** With Keiji Mutoh/Wrestling/TheGreatMuta. It extends to real life, as Tenryu left All Japan in the 2000s mostly because the role of chairman was given to Mutoh instead of him.

* TheAlliance:

** Tenryu had this dynamic with younger wrestlers even before he became a promoter. In 1984, when talented junior Shiro Koshinaka was passed over in favor of the younger Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa, who was given the Tiger Mask gimmick, Koshinaka desired to jump ship to NJPW, where he believed he would have a better future. Baba refused to approve this, but Koshinaka happened to bump into Tenryu, who then accompanied him and persuaded Baba to grant his request. Tenryu then stuffed a wad of ¥10,000 bills into his coat pocket as a parting gift.

** Tenryu had this dynamic with younger wrestlers even before he became a promoter. In 1984, when talented junior Shiro Koshinaka was passed over in favor of the younger Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa, Koshinaka desired to jump ship to NJPW, where he believed he would have a better future. Baba refused to approve this, but Koshinaka happened to bump into Tenryu, who then accompanied him and persuaded Baba to grant his request. Tenryu then stuffed a wad of ¥10,000 bills into his coat pocket as a parting gift.

* AFatherToHisMen: Even if he was certainly a cruel trainer and worker, he is described by everybody as a very generous and benevolent boss, even to people from other promotions and foreign wrestlers. In a time in which going to Japan to wrestle was synonymus of being treated coldly, paid little money and left to subsist in bad hotels, people like Wrestling/LanceStorm and Wrestling/ChrisJericho only had good things to tell about him.

** Tarzan Yamamoto, writer of the Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine, hated Tenryu for leaving AJPW and maintained a huge campaign against SWS, which many people believe was personally instigated by Giant Baba. (Yamamoto would confirm this in his autobiography.) Their enmity went to the point that Tenryu refused to let WAR participate in the 1995 uber-event Bridge of Dreams, a chance no Japanese promotion would have rejected at the time, only because it was promoted by WPW. In fact, and only to spit Yamamoto, Tenryu decided to book an "Anti-Bridge of Dream" WAR event the same night, counting with NJPW guests, a coverage by rival magazine Weekly Gong and a later closed-circuit television screening to ensure he would pull it off.