John Tenta

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Grimmas]

Not me who nominated, just for the record.

 

My 100 spot is going to be for a guy like a Sabu, Big Boss Man or Tenta. So yeah, he has a shot. One of the best fat guy wrestlers of all-time. He does all the little things perfectly.

 

He flexes after a power move, even without muscles. All time great elbow drop and powerslam. He throws a dropkick. He is a master of wobbly selling.

 

The great matches aren't there, but his performances are freaking great.

[Timbo Slice]

I've watched more Tenta recently because of Steven and he's always been a favorite of mine. I legitimately think the Hogan SummerSlam match is a Top 3 or Top 5 Hogan match ever. Really talented, underrated wrestler saddled with cheap gimmicks. Consideration isn't bad at all here. I think he's got a good shot at sneaking in at 100 or 99.

[Grimmas]

So yeah, Tenta is a lock for my list. If not 100% on merit, he is in that 95-100 spot which goes to my favourite workers who may not be quite top 100 quality.

I stand by Tenta being the perfect fat man wrestler. Talk about playing a role, Tenta is an expert. Not to mention the amazing drop kick. I want to watch some more WCW-era Tenta before Mania, to maybe get him into 94 which puts him fairly onto my list.

[Grimmas]

A wrestler who played their role PERFECTLY. Every move they made in a match was exactly what a big man monster would do. Very smart in that aspect.

Plus, some killer offense stuff like his amazing powerslam, one of the best elbow drops, and the rare killer dropkick.

One of the wrestlers I most enjoy watching, because it may not be an all time great match, but you will enjoy it and see a true artist at work. Tenta may move up from my #100 last time.

[Matt D]

I've been watching all AJPW 89 and I'd say that Tenta "gets it" by that year, though he didn't nearly so much in 88. I think it's actually a missed opportunity that they didn't heat up the Baba vs Abby match by doing an Abby vs Tenta match as a set up. There is a tag and the interaction between the two is good. He was pretty underutilized that year from what they could have done.

[NotJayTabb]

The king of the wobble sell, made his opponents look like stars just by getting him off his feet. I've recently gotten a 2-disc Tenta comp from the IVP patreon, so I'll be giving him a fair crack.

[Ma Stump Puller]

From what scattered footage remains of his later career, there's definitely a lot worth mentioning, surprisingly. His VERY late AJPW matches (the last of his career, in fact) have him be a relatively solid hand in that he can work with virtually anyone in the ring and still give the goods: he'd even leaned out a bit at this point and as a result could move faster than you'd think in the ring. Guy bumps like a trooper as well: in one match in particular he has to eat a rough Doomsday Device from Muto and co and does so with no issues whatsoever. In the dregs of early Pro-Love AJPW, he might've have been one of the brighter spots in terms of being a consistently solid hand in tag matches, even if his age and impending physical issues did make him a fairly weak singles performer.

I also recently did a mini Deep Dive into his WAR showings and he's actually pretty fun. He gets to work with a super versatile cast of ex-WWF guys and he shines in all of his outings, from getting a super green Renegade (yes, THAT Renegade lol) to a actually decent match to giving Warlord maybe his best match ever in a uber underrated big man showdown. Not a lot out there but enough to add to his case. I'll make a short list of suggestions (highlighted bold are the must-watches)

Vs. Haku (WAR 14.02.1993)

Vs. Rio of The Jungle (WAR 05.03.1993)

W/ Haku vs. The Barbarian & Tony Halme (WAR 17.06.1993)

W/ Stan Lane vs. Ultimo Dragon & Mil Mascaras (WAR 11.10.1993)

Vs. Warlord (WAR 15.12.1993)

W/ Gigantes vs. Arashi & Nobutaka Araya (AJPW 16.02.2003)

W/ Gigantes & George Hines vs. Keiji Muto, Arashi & Nobutaka Araya (AJPW 06.07.2003)

W/ Robbie Brookside & George Hines vs. Hiroshi Hase, Masayuki Kono & Shigeo Okumura (AJPW 19.07.2003)

You could also easily add in his two UWF-I outings just for the visuals of him scrapping with Vader and Albright alone, but he makes those matches a ton of fun to watch alongside the sheer visuals of the whole thing.