History Wrestling / JumboTsuruta

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Collegiate Wrestling]]: At Chou University. He won amateur championships in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling in 1971 and 1972. He went to the Olympics in 1972 but didn't win anything. He also trained in sambo with Victor Koga, and might have picked up some catch knowledge from Wrestling/BillyRobinson during his work with AJPW.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Collegiate Wrestling]]: At Chou University. He won amateur championships in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling in 1971 and 1972. He went to the Olympics in 1972 but didn't win anything. He also trained in sambo with Victor Koga.

* {{Determinator}}: Tsuruta had actually gone to university as a basketball player, but he realized that his dream to compete in the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames weren't realistic in that sport due to the high chance that the Japanese team would not reach the Olympics proper. He decided to pursue amateur wrestling, since he surmised that there would be far steeper native competition were he to enter UsefulNotes/{{Judo}}. However, the Chuo University wrestling team, led by the future [[Wrestling/FMW Mr. Pogo]], laughed him out of the room, ridiculing his lanky frame and his feminine-sounding name. Undeterred, Tsuruta took up wrestling with the club at the Japan Self Defense Force through their physical training school in Asaka, and despite not being part of the Force proper eventually earned the respect and advice of the coach there (an Olympian himself). Through six hours of daily practice and bodybuilding sessions three times a week, Tsuruta remodeled his physique for wrestling, and the Chuo University team changed their tune when, entering as independent from any team, Tsuruta won bronze at nationals in November 1970.

* {{Determinator}}: Tsuruta had actually gone to university as a basketball player, but he realized that his dream to compete in the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames weren't realistic in that sport due to the high chance that the Japanese team would not reach the Olympics proper. He decided to pursue amateur wrestling, since he surmised that there would be far steeper native competition were he to enter UsefulNotes/Judo. However, the Chuo University wrestling team, led by the future [[Wrestling/FMW Mr. Pogo]], laughed him out of the room, ridiculing his lanky frame and his feminine-sounding name. Undeterred, Tsuruta took up wrestling with the club at the Japan Self Defense Force through their physical training school in Asaka, and despite not being part of the Force proper eventually earned the respect and advice of the coach there (an Olympian himself). Through six hours of daily practice and bodybuilding sessions three times a week, Tsuruta remodeled his physique for wrestling, and the Chuo University team changed their tune when, entering as independent from any team, Tsuruta won bronze at nationals in November 1970.

* Determinator: Tsuruta had actually gone to university as a basketball player, but he realized that his dream to compete in the UsefulNotes/OlympicGames weren't realistic in that sport due to the high chance that the Japanese team would not reach the Olympics proper. He decided to pursue amateur wrestling, since he surmised that there would be far steeper native competition were he to enter UsefulNotes/Judo. However, the Chuo University wrestling team, led by the future [[Wrestling/FMW Mr. Pogo]], laughed him out of the room, ridiculing his lanky frame and his feminine-sounding name. Undeterred, Tsuruta took up wrestling with the club at the Japan Self Defense Force through their physical training school in Asaka, and despite not being part of the Force proper eventually earned the respect and advice of the coach there (an Olympian himself). Through six hours of daily practice and bodybuilding sessions three times a week, Tsuruta remodeled his physique for wrestling, and the Chuo University team changed their tune when, entering as independent from any team, Tsuruta won bronze at nationals in November 1970.

** As far as gaijins went, Wrestling/BruiserBrody would qualify.

* TagTeam: with Yoshiaki Yatsu.

* LightningBruiser: Big, strong, would regularly dish out jumping knees and dropkicks, and was no stranger to diving from the ropes either.

* {{Face}}: He was among the first Japanese wrestlers to get over as a good guy in the United States after World War II. While Wrestling/Rikidozan had technically preceded him by two decades, he had only been booked as a true babyface in the San Francisco area, which had a significant Japanese immigrant population.

* {{Face}}: He may have been the first Japanese wrestler to get over as a good guy in the United States since World War II.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Jumbo received many shots at the [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]] World Heavyweight Championship over a fourteen-year period, the first being against his trainer Wrestling/DoryFunkJr a mere eight weeks after his professional debut, and the last being against Wrestling/RicFlair in 1987. He had been considered as a possible option in the 1970s, but as the NWA became more insular in the 1980s (''especially'' when Wrestling/VinceMcMahon began his territorial expansion), they became unwilling to even allow Wrestling/GiantBaba to purchase a brief one-week reign for Jumbo, as he had previously done three times for himself. The result of this was that, while Jumbo would get a shot at the belt every year or two, he could never pull off the win. This actually came to have a major effect on his reputation, as he would become known as the ''Zensenman'' ("Good Fight Man") in the early 1980s as a result of this.

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/GenichiroTenryu and Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa domestically.

* FinishingMove: [[SuplexFinisher Bridging belly to back suplex]], Powerbomb

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/GenichiroTenryu and Wrestling/Mitsuharu Misawa domestically.

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/GenichiroTenryu

* GameBreakingInjury: When he was diagnosed with Hepatitis B in 1992. This led to him being DemotedToExtra, mostly working comedy matches.

* NamedByDemocracy: While in Amarillo, a fan contest led to him being given the name "Jumbo."

'''Tomomi Tsuruta''' (1951-2000) was a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er who competed from 1973-1999 as '''Jumbo Tsuruta.''' He got his start in the Funk family's promotion in Amarillo, Texas, where he was the first Japanese wrestler to get over as a face in the U.S. He competed primarily for Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling, though he made appearances in a variety of Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance territories. Among his in-ring achievements, he was the inaugural and 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/tc-h.html All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion]], a 7x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/aj-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Champion]], and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html AWA World Heavyweight Champion]]. He was inducted into the ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter]]'' Hall of Fame in 1996.

!!! "Jumbo Tropes":

* TagTeam: with Yoshiaki Yatsu

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Collegiate Wrestling]]: At Chou University. He won amateur championships in freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling in 1971 and 1972. He went to the Olympics in 1972 but didn't win anything.

'''Tomomi Tsuruta''' (1951-2000) was a UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er who competed from 1973-1999 as '''Jumbo Tsuruta.''' He got his start in the Funk family's promotion in Amarillo, Texas, where he was the first Japanese wrestler to get over as a face in the U.S. He competed primarily for Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling, though he made appearances in a variety of Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance territories. Among his in-ring achievements, he was the inaugural and 3x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/tc-h.html All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion]], a 7x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/alljapan/aj-t.html All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Champion]], a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html AWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and he was inducted into the ''[[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Wrestling Observer Newsletter]]'' Hall of Fame in 1996.