Genichiro Tenryu

Born

1950-02-02

Birthplace

Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan

Biography

Genichiro Shimada (嶋田 源一郎, Shimada Gen'ichirō), better known as Genichiro Tenryu (天龍 源一郎, Tenryū Gen'ichirō) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was his shikona. He had two stints with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he spent the majority of his career while also promoting Super World of Sports (SWS), Wrestle Association R (WAR) and Tenryu Project. At the time of his retirement, professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer wrote that "one could make a strong case [that Tenryu was] between the fourth and sixth biggest native star" in the history of Japanese professional wrestling. He is a 5 times professional wrestling world champion.