Analyzing Rumored WWE Hall of Famer Genichiro Tenryu's Case for Induction

Genichiro Tenryu is a surprising name to come up in talks of WWE Hall of Fame induction.

It's not a name many WWE fans recognize. After all, he only wrestled in a handful of matches for the company.

Fans of Japanese wrestling will use the words "legend" and "all-time great" to describe him. Fans not familiar with his work for All Japan Pro Wrestling and WAR will respond to the idea of him entering the Hall with "Who?" 

Mr. Puroresu, though, has a solid case to join Antonio Inoki as the only other Japanese wrestler to receive a Hall of Fame nod.

WWE may be thinking the same thing. Per PWInsider, A representative for WWE Japan intimated that Tenryu "could be in line for the WWE Hall of Fame 'soon.'"

This news follows his recent decision to walk away from the ring. Tenryu only recently (at age 65) announced his official retirement, per Wrestling Observer:

Will the next stage of his career bring him to the United States to be fitted for a WWE Hall of Fame ring? The answer depends on how much one values a candidate's work outside the company. The bulk of Tenryu's success came in Japan.

The Basic Case

Tenryu was one of Japan's top stars in the '80s and '90s and later had another peak in the '00s, battling the country's best wrestlers. His resume is brimming with clashes opposite all-time greats, including Riki Choshu, Keiji Mutoh and Toshiaki Kawada.

His feud with Jumbo Tsuruta in 1989 remains one of wrestling's best. They composed a number of classics together, most notably their title bout on June 5 of that year.  

That bout won the Tokyo Sports Match of the Year award, per Puro Love. Tenryu also pulled in the same award a total of seven more times.

By the time he hung up his boots, he had won the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times and added the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for good measure.

Those accomplishments were enough to get him into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996, the inaugural class.

The biggest issue with all of those career highlights, though, is that they happened in Japan. What Tenryu has makes more sense as a potential Hall of Famer than some of the men he fought in all those classic battles—his ties to WWE.

WWE Connection

Although he never had a sustained run with WWE, Tenryu appeared on some prominent shows for the company.

He was a part of both the 1993 and 1994 Royal Rumble matches. At WrestleMania VII, he and Koji Kitao teamed up to face Demolition. 

When WWE traveled to Japan in the early '90s, Tenryu took on major stars, as noted on CageMatch.net. He faced Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Yokozuna and Ric Flair at a number of house shows.

That's the story WWE can tell during his Hall of Fame video. Rather than having to explain how great he was elsewhere, the company can play up his meetings with WWE's elite.

It's not as if WWE would have Savage and company square off against Japan's scrubs.

The Non-WWE Precedent

Even with those crossover events on his resume, Tenryu was far more accomplished at AJPW and later Pro Wrestling Noah than he was with WWE. He wouldn't be the first man with a mostly non-WWE resume to join the Hall of Fame, though.

His career has some overlap with those Hall of Famers who earned their spots outside of WWE.

Inoki, Verne Gagne, Carlos Colon, Nick Bockwinkel and Gorgeous George are already in. Inoki, Gagne and Colon all earned induction partly as promoters and pioneers. Each man ran their own promotions, all of which are key to the history of wrestling.

Tenryu's impact on that front isn't as great as that trio, but he did make his mark on the business by founding Super World of Sports and later WAR, which ran for eight years.

Neither company can compare to Gagne's American Wrestling Association or Colon's World Wrestling Council, but the former had a working relationship with WWE. SWS welcomed several WWE stars including Ted DiBiase, Flair, Undertaker and Hogan. 

WWE certainly won't be wrong to induct Tenryu as both a famed in-ring performer and as a promoter; it just won't be a choice that wows the majority of fans.

The diehard, puroresu-loving slice of the fanbase will be pumped about the choice. They may, however, wonder why someone like Giant Baba wouldn't get in first. Baba founded and ran AJPW for years. His fame as a performer surpasses Tenryu.

Baba has his own direct connection to WWE as well. He once teamed with Andre the Giant and battled Bruno Sammartino in 1964.

Tenryu's story with the company is more exciting to tell, as there is a longer list of big names involved and a WrestleMania included. It's one that has him likely to follow Inoki into WWE immortality despite being an obscure figure to many.