John Tenta

John Anthony Tenta, Jr. (June 22, 1963 – June 7, 2006) was a Canadian sumōtori and professional wrestler. He was best known for wrestling with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names, Earthquake and Golga and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring names, Avalanche and The Shark.

John Tenta
Ring name(s)Kototenta, Kototenzan (in sumo)
John Tenta
Earthquake Evans
Canadian Earthquake
Earthquake
Golga
Avalanche
The Shark
Billed height1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Billed weight460 lb (210 kg)
Born(1963-06-22)June 22, 1963
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
DiedJune 7, 2006(2006-06-07) (aged 42)
Sanford, Florida, U.S.
Billed fromVancouver, British Columbia (as Earthquake)
Mount Everett, Washington (as Avalanche)
Great Barrier Reef (as Shark)
Trained byGiant Baba
Jumbo Tsuruta
Great Kabuki
Terry Gordy
Road Warriors
Dory Funk
Debut1987
Retired2004

He was also known for being a sumo wrestler where did quite well but retired from the sport due to the difficulty of the sumo lifestyle, the toll the hard ring surface was taking on his body and the large tattoo of a tiger on his left biceps which in Japan is associated with gangsters. He was born on June 22, 1963 in Surrey, British Columbia and died on June 7, 2006 in Sanford, Florida from bladder cancer.[1][2]

Tenta was shown in the video games, WWF WrestleFest in 1991, WWF Super WrestleMania in 1992, King of Colosseum II in 2004 and as DLC character in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 in 2009.

Championships

Tenta held many championships during his professional wrestling career:

  • All Star Wrestling
    • UWA Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (two times)
  • NWA All-Star Wrestling
    • NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (one time)
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year in 1990.
  • Super World of Sports
    • SWS Tag Team Championship (one time) with Typhoon
  • Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
    • Rookie of the Year in 1987.
  • World Wrestling Federation
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

John Tenta Media

References

  1. "John 'Earthquake' Tenta wrestled around world before death 15 years ago". Retrieved 11 February 2023.[dead link]
  2. "Ex-LSU, WWF wrestler 'Earthquake' dies at 42". ESPN.com. 2006-06-08. Retrieved 2020-05-29.

Other websites