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29-700: The championship was represented by four different belts from 1987 to 2021. The fourth and last generation belt was introduced in March 2008. The title formed what was unofficially called the "New Japan Triple Crown " ( 新日本トリプルクラウン , Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun ) along with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and the NEVER Openweight Championship . An early version of this championship

58-1018: A brief stint in Jim Crockett Promotions , his push began in earnest when Jumbo Tsuruta pursued the NWA International heavyweight title, now the main title in the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship . 1984 saw Tenryu winning the NWA United National title, now also part of the Triple Crown, as well as the NWA International tag team title with Tsuruta. Their combination was called "Kakuryu" ( 鶴 = kaku = tsuru (the "tsuru" in Tsuruta) + 龍 = ryū in Tenryū). The team feuded with Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu , who were

87-590: A few matches, but as it declined rapidly, he switched back and forth aimlessly between New Japan and All Japan. In 2005, he entered Noah, and began feuds with Misawa, Kenta Kobashi , and other wrestlers he knew from his first All Japan stint, as well as new faces he's never met in the ring before, such as Jun Akiyama . Tenryu has also been with the Hustle promotion and was a part of the main heel group led by Generalissimo Takada . During this time, he teamed with Toshiaki Kawada mainly. At Hustle Aid 2007, however, Tenryu

116-547: A match he had promoted not taking place, and was a key factor in All Japan Pro Wrestling's ultimate withdrawal from the NWA. This also resulted in the six man championship being vacated and abandoned until 1991, when it was temporarily resurrected as a World Championship Wrestling championship. In April 1990, Tenryu left All Japan Pro Wrestling to form Super World of Sports (SWS). He wrestled his first match for

145-575: A multipromotional "Retirement Road" tour, including matches in Kyushu Pro-Wrestling , DDT , BJW , Wrestle-1 and Pro Wrestling Freedoms . On November 15, Tenryu was defeated by Okada in his retirement match. Tokyo Sports named Tenryu's retirement match the 2015 Match of the Year. Tenryu appears as a gang member in the 2017 video game Yakuza Kiwami 2 , alongside Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami. Tenryu

174-597: A new champion, while Lesnar kept the physical belt. He signed with Antonio Inoki 's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) in 2007, and lost the championship to Kurt Angle on the promotion's inaugural event. Angle later lost the belt in a unification match to the NJPW-recognized champion Shinsuke Nakamura in 2008. On January 5, 2020, Tetsuya Naito won the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. Both titles kept their individual history, but were defended at

203-451: Is a Japanese retired 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 . He

232-431: Is widely considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. 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. As a sumo wrestler, Tenryu was ranked as a sekitori for 27 tournaments, 16 of them in

261-592: The G1 Climax , winner Kazuchika Okada asked for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt to be awarded to him for winning the G1 instead of the typical briefcase and contract for an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 16 . On October 25 at Road to Power Struggle, Okada's request was approved and he appeared with the championship; despite holding the championship belt, Okada

290-587: The IWGP Tag Team Championship from Team Wolf, Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan . In December 1999, Tenryu made history as the first native to win the top two distinctions of professional wrestling in Japan (All Japan's Triple Crown and New Japan's IWGP Heavyweight title) by beating Mutoh for the IWGP title. (The first man to win both titles was Big Van Vader , an American.) In 2000, following

319-507: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 933535305 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:52:42 GMT Genichiro Tenryu Genichiro Shimada ( 嶋田 源一郎 , Shimada Gen'ichirō , born February 2, 1950) , better known as Genichiro Tenryu ( 天龍 源一郎 , Tenryū Gen'ichirō )

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348-481: The World Tag Team Championship as well. 1989 was Tenryu's banner year. Tsuruta became the first Triple Crown champion on April 18 of that year, and just two days later Tenryu became his first challenger. The Tsuruta-Tenryu series that ensued set the standard for all Triple Crown matches and feuds to follow. When Tenryu won the belts on June 5, the match was so spectacular it was deemed Match of

377-560: The Year by major Japanese publications. The same year saw him finally pin his mentor Baba, albeit in a tag match - but still a major success for a Japanese wrestler. Only Mitsuharu Misawa would duplicate this feat. In addition, Tenryu was chosen to be one-third of the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions with the Road Warriors after the Road Warriors turned heel against their former co-holder of

406-630: The group upon his debut in 1988. Tenryu and Hara feuded with Tsuruta and his new partner Yatsu over the Pacific Wrestling Federation World tag team titles and later with their replacement, the World Tag Team Championship (a combination of the PWF World and NWA International tag belts). Hara was kicked out of the promotion in late 1988, and Tenryu replaced him with Stan Hansen , with whom he held

435-410: The history of the championship, several wrestlers were forced to relinquish the title due to an inability to participate in title defenses. When a wrestler had been injured or unable to compete for other reasons, tournaments were held to determine the new champion. In 2006, Brock Lesnar was stripped of the title for refusing to defend it, claiming he was owed money by NJPW. The company went on to crown

464-659: The leaders in an "invasion" angle by the Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, an All Japan satellite made up of former New Japan Pro-Wrestling talent. In 1987, following the departure of the Japan Pro talent, Kakuryu broke up after losing the tag team titles to The Road Warriors , which led to Tenryu forming his own stable, " Revolution ", with former International Pro Wrestling wrestlers Ashura Hara and Hiromichi Fuyuki , as well as All Japan rookies Toshiaki Kawada , and Yoshinari Ogawa ; Tatsumi Kitahara would join

493-1161: The nascent promotion in September 1990, teaming with Takashi Ishikawa as "Revolution" to defeat Dojo Geki ( Isao Takagi and Yoshiaki Yatsu ). In 1991, as part of a working agreement between Super World of Sports and the World Wrestling Federation , Tenryu appeared at WrestleMania VII , where he teamed with Koji Kitao to defeat Demolition . Tenryu wrestled his final match for SWS in June 1992, teaming with Ashura Hara and Último Dragón to defeat Jerry Estrada , King Haku , and The Great Kabuki . After Super World of Sports collapsed in June 1992, Tenryu, aided by Masatomo Takei (brother of his wife Makiyo) formed Wrestling and Romance (WAR). WAR became his base from where he would take on top wrestlers from other promotions, such as Atsushi Onita , Nobuhiko Takada , The Great Muta , Shinya Hashimoto and Masahiro Chono , all of whom he defeated. He also traded victories with Tatsumi Fujinami and Antonio Inoki , thus becoming

522-658: The near-collapse of All Japan due to the Pro Wrestling Noah split, Tenryu closed WAR and rejoined All Japan, eager to test his mettle against the remaining ace , his former disciple Kawada. Tenryu beat Kawada in the subsequent tournament for the vacant Triple Crown, winning the belts for a second time. In his second stay in All Japan, he would capture the belts a third time and also the World Tag Team Championship with former WAR– UWFI feud rival Yoji Anjo . In 2003, he joined Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling for

551-773: The only Japanese wrestler to defeat both Inoki and Baba by pinfall. Tenryu made brief returns to the World Wrestling Federation at the 1993 Royal Rumble and 1994 Royal Rumble ; in the latter he made it to the final five but was eliminated by eventual co-winners Lex Luger and Bret Hart . An angle had he and The Great Kabuki hired as mercenaries by Yokozuna 's manager, Mr. Fuji , to attack The Undertaker and prevent him from winning. In 1998, as WAR went into decline, Tenryu began an earnest comeback, this time in New Japan. He first joined Heisei Ishingun , allied with its leader Shiro Koshinaka , and they won

580-553: The same time. Sometimes, they were called "Double Championship". One year after Naito's victory, Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced the unification of both titles, deactivating the Intercontinental title and forming the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. On March 4, 2021, the Double Champion Kota Ibushi defeated El Desperado to unify and retire both titles. On October 21, 2021, after winning

609-564: The sumo world at the young age of 26 in September 1976. Scouted by Giant Baba , the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) owner, Tenryu was sent to Amarillo, Texas to be trained by Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk , and debuted in Texas in 1976, against Ted DiBiase . After returning to Japan, he stayed in the undercard until about 1982 when he began to get a slight push in that year's Champion Carnival tournament. In 1983, following

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638-842: The title 12 times, more defenses than any other title holder. Kensuke Sasaki 's fourth reign of 16 days is the shortest in the title's history. Over his five reigns, Okada successfully defended the title 30 times, the most of any champion. Big Van Vader's first and third reigns, Salman Hashimikov's only reign, Riki Choshu 's first reign, Tatsumi Fujinami 's third and fifth reigns, Masahiro Chono 's only reign, Genichiro Tenryu 's only reign, Scott Norton 's second reign, Hiroyoshi Tenzan 's first and third reigns, Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign, Kazuyuki Fujita 's third reign, Manabu Nakanishi 's only reign, Hiroshi Tanahashi 's eighth reign, and Jay White 's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses at zero. Triple Crown (professional wrestling) Too Many Requests If you report this error to

667-413: The title, Dusty Rhodes . However, the relationship between All Japan Pro Wrestling and the NWA was significantly strained when Tenryu and the Road Warriors were scheduled to compete in a match Baba had advertised to his Japanese audience, but American booking decisions prevented the match from taking place. This created an uncomfortable situation where Giant Baba had to apologize to his Japanese audience for

696-458: The title, with Vader being the first American champion, Hashimikov being the only Soviet-born champion, Omega is the only Canadian champion and White the only New Zealand champion. Antonio Inoki was the first champion in the title's history. Hiroshi Tanahashi held the record for most reigns with eight. Kazuchika Okada held the record for the longest reign in the title's history at 720 days during his fourth reign, over which he successfully defended

725-560: The top makuuchi division. His highest rank was maegashira 1. Upon the death of his stablemaster at Nishonoseki stable he wanted to join former stablemate Daikirin 's newly established Oshiogawa stable, which had just broken off from Nishonoseki, but the Japan Sumo Association insisted he stay at Nishonoseki whose new stablemaster, Kongō , he did not get along with. He finished one more tournament, and even though his career still showed promise, he decided to leave

754-459: The year. Tenryu held a press conference two days later to confirm the report, announcing that his retirement event would be taking place in November and would feature participation from All Japan, New Japan and Noah. On August 16, Tenryu made a surprise return to New Japan, having a confrontation with Kazuchika Okada to set up his retirement match on November 15. In the meantime, he embarked on

783-448: Was defeated by Razor Ramon HG and joined the main face group led by Razor Ramon HG, Hustle Army. In December 2009, following the folding of Hustle, Tenryu began running his own Tenryu Project promotion. He continued to make forays into other promotions, remaining active even past age 60. On February 7, 2015, it was reported that Tenryu had decided to retire from professional wrestling with his final match scheduled to take place later in

812-643: Was introduced in 1983 for the winner ( Hulk Hogan ) of the IWGP League 1983 . Since then, the championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year. A new IWGP Heavyweight Championship arrived only in 1987, replacing the old version. The 1987 version was defended regularly and was the top championship of NJPW until the introduction of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in 2021. Throughout

841-439: Was not recognized as the official IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the belt is still considered deactivated. There were seventy three reigns shared among thirty-one wrestlers with ten vacancies . Title changes happen at NJPW-promoted events. Big Van Vader , Salman Hashimikov , Scott Norton , Bob Sapp , Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles , Kenny Omega and Jay White were the eight non-Japanese wrestlers (billed as gaijin ) to have held

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