Trivia / Genichiro Tenryu

• Creative Differences: One of the various reasons Tenryu left AJPW was his frustration with what he saw as the complacency of his rival, Jumbo Tsuruta. This came to a head before what would be their final singles match; Tenryu had intended to escalate their rivalry by incorporating blood, but Tsuruta told referee Kyohei Wada to relay the message to "Gen-chan" to take it easy on him that night. Unbeknownst to both of them, though, Tsuruta was only trying to prevent the transmission of the hepatitis virus which, five years earlier, he learned he had been carrying for his entire life. Tenryu later stated that he would have understood had he known the context for Tsuruta's hesitance.
• Dear Negative Reader: Tarzan Yamamoto, chief editor of the Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine, and an important creative consultant behind AJPW's resurgence in the late 80s and 90s, hated Tenryu for leaving AJPW, and performed a huge campaign against SWS, which many people believe (and Yamamoto confirmed in his autobiography) was fueled also by Giant Baba (although Yamamoto claimed that he also disliked Tenryu on a personal level for having accepted an offer that NJPW would have had the pull and pockets to shut down - and indeed did, since Keiji Mutoh was actually the original choice to run SWS, but Seiji Sakaguchi made a call and blocked the signing - but not AJPW). Their enmity went to the point that Tenryu refused to let WAR participate in the 1995 uber-event Bridge of Dreams, a chance no Japanese promotion would have rejected at the time, only because it was promoted by WPW. In fact, and only to spit Yamamoto, Tenryu decided to book an "Anti-Bridge of Dream" WAR event the same night, counting with NJPW guests, a coverage by rival magazine Weekly Gong and a later closed-circuit television screening to ensure he would pull it off.
• Follow the Leader: New Japan, WCW and NOAH all introduced junior heavyweight Tag Team titles in WAR's wake.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Was infamously enemies with Keiji Mutoh, who received the job of AJPW chairman Tenryu had long waited for. Tenryu would end up leaving the company due to this.
  • With Takashi Ishikawa, a former WAR wrestler that left Tenryu to form Tokyo Pro Wrestling in a move that mirrored Tenryu's own SWS's affair. He became one of Tenryu's main enemies, as he attracted Hiromichi Fuyuki away from WAR with money promises. It got to the point that when TPW joined Akio Sato's union of independent promotions, Fighting for Future, Tenryu created his own, Pro Wrestling Alliance, only to oppose them.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: A popular rumor in Japanese tabloids claims that Tenryu had penis enlargement surgery at some point.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Tenryu was invited by Union of Wrestling Forces International to compete in their world tournament in February 1994, but he declined, citing schedule problems.
  • He was approached by Japanese promoters to take part in the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Japan in 1997, as he was reputed to be a tough guy who might do well in Mixed Martial Arts. He would had fought as a WAR representative and his opponent would have been possibly Don Frye. However, negotiations fell apart as both Tenryu and the UFC officers agreed that he was too old to compete in MMA and that Frye was too nasty of an opponent for him. Other WAR wrestlers with MMA experience like Koji Kitao and Koki Kitahara were offered to replace him, but UFC declined, as they did not want to get involved with pro wrestlers without the name value of Tenryu.
  • In August 2002, knowing Tenryu was not very active in pro wrestling around the time, K-1 chairman Kazuyoshi Ishii proposed him to make his MMA debut in the Dynamite!! event, but Tenryu was not interested.