Championship History

IWGP Heavyweight Championship (x4)
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (x8)

Major Tournaments Won

Young Lion Cup (1993)
G1 Climax (2003, 2004, and 2006)
G1 Tag League (1995, 2001, 2003, and 2008)
Real World Tag League (2006 and 2008)

Awards and Recognition

Tokyo Sports Grand Prix:
Fighting Spirit (2004)
Tag Team of the Year (1995, 1996, and 2000)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated:
Highest Rank was #10 Wrestler in the World in 2005

Puroresu Central Awards:
3rd Best Feud of the Year (2008, with Takashi Iizuka)

Wrestling Observer Awards:
Tag Team of the Year (2001 with Kojima)

Notable Matches

June 12th, 1995 with Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto and Junji Hirata
July 20th, 2000 with Kojima vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
August 17th, 2003 vs. Jun Akiyama
November 3rd, 2003 vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
February 20th, 2005 vs. Satoshi Kojima

Other Pictures

Tenzan attacks Nagata with a chair
Tenzan hits a Mongolian Chop
Tenzan with the TTD

Career Recap:

2005 was a rough year in the life of Tenzan.  He opened the year as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, but lost it to Kojima.  He got it back a few months later, but only successfully defended it once before losing it again.  Every time Tenzan fans think he is getting rolling, New Japan pulls the rug out from under him.  As 2005 ended, he won the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Chono and is currently "feuding" with the new booker of New Japan Riki Choshu.

Starting 2006, Tenzan held the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with his mentor Masahiro Chono as part of the Black Japan unit. During the G1 Climax, Tenzan went the entire tournament without losing and won for the 3rd time in four years. This and other issues led to tension between he and Chono and the two became enemies, which naturally led to them being stripped of their Tag Team Championships. They would wrestle on September 24th in a heated matchup, with Tenzan coming out with the victory. On October 9th, Tenzan would lose to Tanahashi and thus would fail to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. After that, Tenzan formed a new stable called Great Bash Heel and fought with Liger in the G1 Tag League. As the year ended, Tenzan's group GBH was feuding with Chono and Nakamura's group as well as the New Japan Sekigun.

As Makabe's stock went up, Tenzan's went down in 2007 as even though Tenzan stayed the leader of GBH, Makabe had the more dominate role in the promotion. Following his usual career pattern, Tenzan got lost in the shuffle and even though he stayed around the main event he never challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He did team with Koshinaka on April 13th in an attempt to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Giant Bernard and Tomko, but they would come up short. In the New Japan Cup, Tenzan defeated Nakamura by forfeit and then lost to Makabe in the next round. In the G1 Climax, he defeated Chono and Makabe but failed to make the semi-finals. After losing to Goto on November 11th, Tenzan would sit out the rest of the year with an injury. It is unknown when he will return.

After starting 2008 injured, Tenzan made his return to New Japan on February 17th. GBH had kicked him out and New Japan Sekigun was slow to accept him, but Iizuka shook his hand and was the first wrestler to trust him again. In the New Japan Cup Tenzan defeated Tomohiro Ishii in the first round the lost to Makabe in the 2nd round. Tenzan and Iizuka began regularly teaming together and challenged Makabe and Yano for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on April 27th. During the match, however, Iizuka came into the ring and put Tenzan in a sleeperhold, turning on his friend and against the New Japan Sekigun for the first time in his career. On July 8th, Tenzan would try to get his revenge on Iizuka in a Lumberjack Death Match, and Tenzan would win with the Anaconda Vice. This was far from the end however as at the G1 Climax after Tenzan defeated Kawada, Iizuka and the rest of GBH interfered, injuring him badly enough that Tenzan was hurt for the rest of the tournament and failed to win any more matches. On October 13th, Iizuka defeated Tenzan in a Chain Death Match, showing that the feud was far from over. In the G1 Tag League Tenzan teamed with Kojima and they would defeat Makabe and Yano in the finals to take home the tournament crown.

Once again Tenzan started the year injured in 2009, this time with an eye injury, and missed his shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On May 3rd he returned and team with Kojima to have a match against Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson to determine the new #1 Contender for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but Tenzan would be pinned, perhaps showing he wasn't fully healed yet. Without any real faction or direction, Tenzan didn't do much in the summer and in the G1 Climax he came in 6th place in his block. Tenzan did not take part in the G1 Tag League and overall it was one of the quietest years in Tenzan's career as past injuries finally caught up with him.

Tenzan missed most of 2010 with an injury (third straight year that he started the year injured), as he continued having trouble completely healing from years of abuse in the ring. He started the year on the shelf and missed all the tournaments during the year. He finally made his return to the ring on December 11th, defeated Gedo. He then defeated Jado the following night, but it didn't take long for his old enemy Takashi Iizuka to again attack him. A match was set at the Tokyo Dome for Tenzan and Iizuka to meet once again, perhaps to finish their feud once and for all.