John Anthony Tenta was a Canadian professional wrestler, known as Earthquake and later Golga in WWF, and in WCW as Avalanche and The Shark.John Tenta was born in Surrey, British Columbia. Named after his father, he was a large baby weighing 11 pounds, 3 ounces at birth.Inspired by professional wrestlers Gene Kiniski and Don Leo Jonathan, Tenta decided to pursue wrestling at age 6.Statistics:
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Ring name(s) Kototenzan (sumo),John Tenta,Earthquake Evans,Canadian Earthquake,Earthquake,Avalanche,The Shark,Golga
Billed height 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Billed weight 462 lb (210 kg)
Born June 22, 1963(1963-06-22) Surrey, British Columbia
Died June 7, 2006 (aged 42) Sanford, Florida
Trained by Giant Baba,Jumbo Tsuruta,Great Kabuki,Terry Gordy,Road Warriors,Dory Funk
Debut 1987
Retired 2004
EARTHQUAKE PICTURES
Initially, Tenta moved to japan to pursue a career in SUMO with the help of former Yokozuna (Highest Ranker in SUMO).Despite doing well as a newcomer he soon quit the sport due to the difficulty of the sumo lifestyle and the toll the hard ring surface was taking on his body. He then signed up with Japanese Pro Wrestling and had a good 18 month stay until he was spotted by americal pro-wrestling promoters.
Tenta joined the WWF full time in September 1989.Tenta was pushed as The Canadian Earthquake and later, simply Earthquake - an unstoppable monster heel who often sent his opponents out on a stretcher after repeatedly hitting them with his sitdown splash. he disappeared once and then returned. He again disappeared from WWF in 1994 after an injury by Yokozuna and Crush.Personal financial difficulties led Tenta to contact World Championship Wrestling. Hulk Hogan, a longtime friend, lobbied to have Tenta come in, and so Tenta broke his WWF contract to join WCW. After a feud with rogers on WCW, Tenta returned to WWF under the name Golga in 1998. This was because he lost a considerable amount of weight so much so that it wouldn't be believable for Tenta to reprise the Earthquake gimmick. This was a short-lived gimmick.
Tenta retired from wrestling in 2004 after it was revealed that he had developed bladder cancer. The first public notice of Tenta's death was posted on WWE.com on June 7, 2006 at approximately 12:30 p.m. EDT, which read:
John "Earthquake" Tenta died this morning, June 7, at the age of 42 after a lengthy battle with bladder cancer. Tenta is survived by his wife and three kids.
Championships and accomplishments:
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All Star Wrestling
* UWA Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times)
NWA All-Star Wrestling
* NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
* PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1990)
Super World of Sports
* SWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Typhoon
World Wrestling Federation
* WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Typhoon
Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
* Worst Tag Team (1998) with Kuurgan
* Worst Feud of the Year (1996) vs. Big Bubba Rogers
Ref: Wiki
