cities throughout the United States in addition to putting his title on the line against Japanese competition. On August 28, Tsuruta added to his growing aura by defeating U.S. representative (and former World champion) Jack Brisco to become the new United National champ and the first-ever U.N. titleholder in All-Japan history. title that the nearly undefeatable Tsuruta held with an ironclad grip was the International Heavyweight championship. He is also a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (1996) and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2015). AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, NWA International Heavyweight Championship, Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jumbo_Tsuruta&oldid=6440127, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License, Outstanding Performance (1975, 1976, 1981). November 1973: Jumbo Tsuruta had several matched with Dory Funk Jr. for the NWA World title.. September 28, 1985 – AWA SuperClash: Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu defeated Harley Race & Bill & Scott Irwin.. Jumbo Tsuruta got the NWA International, PWF, & United National titles unified into the Triple Crown.. Jumbo Tsuruta also got the NWA International and PWF Tag Team titles unified into the World Tag Team titles.. Jumbo Tsuruta was the first Japanese wrestler to win the AWA World Heavyweight Title, first Triple Crown champion.. WWF/AJPW World Tour 1990: Jumbo Tsuruta & Haku defeated Mr. He would lose the title to Rick Martel on May 13, 1984 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bad Fads Museum Yet, in addition to wrestling as part of several very successful teams, Tsuruta also excelled as a singles competitor, and, in terms of perceived stature within A.J.P.W., he was perhaps second only to All-Japan founder Shohei Baba in the eyes of the fans. However, the true reason behind his heel turn was simply to build new young babyfaces to carry on the popularity and tradition of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Additionally, Tsuruta introduced the highly realistic, believable and punishing “strong” style of competition that eventually became synonymous with Shohei Baba’s All Japan Pro Wrestling, thus altering the sport forever in the Land of the Rising Sun. However, the young and athletic Tsuruta managed to avoid being typecast and he actually became quite popular with the Texas fans during his six months in the region. Not surprisingly, he wrestled in main-event title matches against NWA World champions such Dory Funk, Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Harley Race and Ric Flair, competing against essentially every N.W.A. Tomomi Tsuruta (March 25, 1951 – May 13, 2000), better known by his ring name Jumbo Tsuruta, was a professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship, and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, and unifying the three titles. In 1992, he completed the October "Giant Series" tour before disappearing from the company for almost a year. He competed primarily for All Japan Pro Wrestling, though he made appearances in a variety of National Wrestling Alliance territories. Professional Wrestling Online Museum, © Copyright 2020 Adscape International, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
His level of work while still an active, full-time wrestler never declined and if anything, his highest rated work came in the last five years of his career, in his seminal feuds with Genichiro Tenryu and Mitsuharu Misawa.
All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Champion, However, this didn't sustain through his entire career, as there is tape of numerous American matches in the 1980s where the crowd is clearly against Jumbo. In April 2000, he left for Australia, where he had an operation to remove the cancer, while there a kidney donor was found in Manila. He then held the championship for eight months before losing to Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy on June 5, 1990. World Heavyweight champion Dory Funk, Jr. and even took one of the falls from the respected champion during their match-up.