Kototenzan Toshimitsu

Kototenzan Toshimitsu - 琴天山俊光 (born June 22, 1963 - June 7, 2006) was a Canadian professional sumo wrestler from British Columbia. He made his debut in November 1985 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. His highest rank was makushita 43 and he retired in July 1986.

Early Life[]

Screen Shot 2021-01-06 at 9.00.13 PM — John Tenta (c. 1970s)

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. He learned freestyle wrestling at North Surrey Secondary, becoming a Canadian junior champion in 1981. Shortly after his 18th birthday, he finished sixth in the super-heavyweight category at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Vancouver. Tenta won an athletic scholarship to Louisiana State University (LSU), where he competed in NCAA-level collegiate wrestling. At LSU he was nicknamed "Big John" Tenta, lettering on the Tiger varsity wrestling team and participating on the football team. LSU dropped varsity wrestling to comply with Title IX in 1985, forcing Tenta to choose a new sport. Tenta then walked on to the LSU football team, where he played in some junior varsity games as a defensive lineman. He was also known as a "quiet giant" while employed as a bouncer at an LSU college bar, The Bengal. Tenta also played rugby union for the LSU Rugby Club.

Sumo Career[]

Tenta then moved to Japan to pursue a career in sumo after being recruited by a former yokozuna who met Tenta on a trip to Vancouver. In October 1985, he joined a sumo stable, Sadogatake, run by former yokozuna Kotozakura Masakatsu (his stable also produced ozeki Kotooshu Katsunori from Bulgaria). Following tradition, the young sumotori took the shikona name of Kototenta Toshikatsu (琴天太俊克, Koto + Tenta), surname translated as Tenta the Harp.

Beginning the sport at age 22, he entered nearly seven years later than many non-college aspirants. The combination of his size—he already weighed 192 kg (423 lb) at a height of 6' 5.75" (197 cm)—and training as a wrestler were to his advantage in learning and advancing in the sport. The novice won all of his 24 bouts in his eight-month active career, and was later renamed Kototenzan Toshimitsu (琴天山俊光), surname meaning Heavenly Mountain Harp. The novelty of being a rare Westerner Rikishi in the mid-1980s, and the third-ever Caucasian, garnered him press coverage, and he earned the additional nickname of the "Canadian Comet".

Retirement from Sumo[]

Premature Retirement[]

Kototenzan - John Tenta 04 — Kototenzan announced his retirement from sumo (c. 1986)

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. Tenta commented, "Nothing I have ever done – not football, not college wrestling – compares with the kind of physical abuse you inflict on your body in sumo." In addition, the sumo world frowned on the large tattoo of a tiger on his left bicep and, though he covered it during matches, would have required him to remove it via skin graft before moving up to the higher-level competitions. In Japan, tattoos are associated with gangsters, and public display is widely prohibited. Tenta's decision to quit was criticized by his stablemaster, while the head of the Japan Sumo Association Kasugano (the former yokozuna Tochinishiki), said Tenta had become arrogant after his run of consecutive victories. "He thought it would be easy. But there is no job in this world that is harder. It is better for him to leave."

Professional Wrestling Career[]

After leaving sumo, he quickly signed up for puroresu (Japanese pro wrestling) under the tutelage of Shohei "Giant" Baba. He initially wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 1987 to 1989, but later signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1989.

He first portrayed a lumberjack character named Earthquake Evans that was billed as being from the "Northern Yukon Territory" who was managed by Slick. Tenta was later pushed as The Canadian Earthquake – and by WrestleMania VI, simply Earthquake – an unstoppable monster heel who often sent his opponents out on a stretcher after repeatedly hitting them with his sitdown splash.

On April 1, 1991, WWF held a joint show in Kobe with Japanese promotion Super World of Sports called SWS Wrestle Dream. Earthquake appeared to face Koji Kitao, in a battle of two former sumo wrestlers. Kitao and Tenta broke kayfabe by being uncooperative with each other. Kitao didn't sell Earthquake's attacks and shot on him. The match ended when Kitao was disqualified for kicking the referee. After the match, Kitao immediately grabbed a microphone and began telling the audience that wrestling is fake and that Tenta never could really beat him, as other Japanese wrestlers attempted to restrain him. The incident led to Kitao being fired from SWS.

Later in 1991, Earthquake formed a tag team with Typhoon (Tenta's friend, Fred Ottman, who had previously wrestled as Tugboat before turning heel) called The Natural Disasters, managed by Jimmy Hart. He was later released in 1993, but would return to the company for a short stint in 1994. In 1994 a "Raw" match was staged where Tenta was billed as Kototenzan and faced Rodney Anoa'i, a WWF wrestler billed as "Yokozuna" though he had no actual sumo experience. The match was ostensibly under sumo rules,but both men wore bodysuits under their mawashi and after a much longer time than a legitimate sumo match would take,Tenta was declared the winner in an "upset".

Tenta would work for the WWF's rival promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1994-1997, before returning to the WWF as a member of the stable, The Oddities.

Illness and Death[]

Tenta retired from wrestling in 2004 after it was revealed that he had developed bladder cancer and was told he was given a 20% chance to live, assuming he continued with his chemotherapy treatments. During his November 18, 2005 interview on WrestleCrap Radio, Tenta announced that a recent radiation dosage did not go as planned, and had no effect on the tumor. He also announced that multiple tumors had spread to his lungs.

On June 7, 2006, Tenta died of bladder cancer at the age of 42. The first public notice of his death was posted on WWE.com on the same day. On the June 9, 2006, edition of SmackDown, and the June 12, 2006, edition of Raw, WWE showed a bumper that read "RIP 'Earthquake' John Tenta" before each show began.

Fighting Style[]

Kototenzan was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He was fond of employing throwing techniques such as kimarite. Kototenzan was in sumo before kimarite for lower division matches were recorded so it is unknown what his most common kimarite was.