Credit: Zach Arnold for his contribution
In a professional wrestling industry full of a-holes, John Tenta stood out as one of the good guys. However, there were some individuals who mistook being a good guy as giving a free pass for abuse. John Tenta made sure to stand up for himself, even if it meant embarrassing himself in the process.
Tenta was a successful Sumo wrestler who ended up growing up in Giant Baba’s All Japan system. He ended up leaving for the then-WWF and Baba never forgave him when Tenta would show up for another Japanese promotion. Not just any other promotion, but SWS (Super Wrestle Series). SWS was considered by All Japan fans as the evil “money pro-wrestling” group in the early 90s. Basically, Megane Super (a famous eyeglass company in Japan) was financing a bunch of people in pro-wrestling and decided to get into the act by creating their own wrestling promotion. The business model was simple — if you bought their core business product, you got wrestling tickets as part of the deal. Seemed simple enough, right? SWS banked their hopes on a television deal with upstart cable property WOWOW, which had hopes of becoming the Japanese sports version of HBO. To this day, cable remains an elusive business play in Japan. Network television still rules the roost.
In order to attract anyone of name value, SWS had to spend a lot of cash up front to poach wrestlers from both New Japan & All Japan. It meant that they had to get guys that were veterans or were on their last legs. The promotion’s ace was Gen’ichiro Tenryu, who was Jumbo Tsuruta’s rival in All Japan. Tenryu was a former Sumo wrestler himself and grew up in the All Japan system, so naturally he would have an affinity for John Tenta. Another former Sumo star who SWS tried to build their hopes around was a man named Koji Kitao, famous for having an erratic & violent streak in and out of the ring. Kitao was supposed to be a big babyface.
We know how Tenta was introduced into the WWE ring. He attacked The Ultimate Warrior during a sit-up contest with Dino Bravo. Only the Warrior could find himself in ridiculous skits like this, similar to the curling bar exercise with baby oil involving Rick Rude. Anyhow, we ended up with Tenta & Bravo against Hogan & Warrior. Tenta laid out Hogan on the set of The Brother Love Show by giving him a splash or two, which meant Hogan could go shoot a movie and take time off. Hogan proceeded to blast the hell out of Tenta’s back with a steel chair and the big man still didn’t go down.
Eventually, Tenta would go on to feud with Jake Roberts. However, before that happened, Tenta would work some dates for the SWS promotion. SWS cut a deal with WWE to basically pay them insane cash to send over wrestlers and in most of the encounters, the WWE guys always went over. That killed SWS’s image. However, SWS wanted Hogan, The Road Warriors, and Tenta. The Road Warriors were the main attraction and Hogan helped them with a match against Gen’ichiro Tenryu on December 12th, 1991. SWS thought Hogan would do the job to Tenryu but, of course, he said hell no and it was chaos behind-the-scenes. It would pretty much cripple SWS down the road. Backstabbing and last-minute decision changes by talent would be the overarching story to the quick rise and even quicker fall of SWS.
SWS paired John Tenta and the volatile Koji Kitao together in a battle of the former Sumos. SWS had three shows in March-April 1991 and one of those events was a spot show at Kobe World Hall. At the Tokyo Dome event, Tenta went over on Kitao clean and the fans absolutely cheered him on. Tenta was a babyface to the Japanese fans and Kitao was loved by a few but hated by most intensely. This dynamic quickly played out when they re-matched in Kobe.
The re-match started with both men feeling each other out in stubborn fashion. One of the Japanese television commentators immediately noted that Tenta was treated as a heel in America but as a babyface in Japan. After a test of strength, Tenta tried a waistlock and Kitao eventually got suplexed to the mat. Kitao escaped underneath the ropes and went to the ring announcer’s table to grab a table. The fans were pissed and immediately started cat-calling Kitao. Kitao could be seen talking to former manager KY Wakamatsu at ringside. After a test of strength, Kitao tried for an armbar and Tenta slapped him away. The fans cheered and started a “Tenta! Tenta!” chant. Remember, Kitao was supposed to be the #2 babyface for SWS. It was Kitao & Tenryu who got a win over Demoliton at Wrestlemania 7 in Los Angeles. Anyhow, Kitao tried to slap Tenta and Tenta started pointing to his head, asking him what the hell was wrong. The two men just stared at each other as the poor, helpless referee couldn’t do much to save the impending train wreck. Tenta tried for a tie-up and Kitao started going for some kicks but eventually got Tenta to the corner to try to tie him up. The referee madly jumps in between the two because he is freaking out. The two men continue to stare each other down with each man trying to figure out what the other is about to do. The fans sense what is going on. Kitao starts pairing his index & middle fingers in order to start eye-poking Tenta. Tenta is super-pissed and throws a kick. Tenta starts swearing like a sailor and it was awesome. The fans start another “Tenta! Tenta!” chant. The two men continued to stare each other down, Kitao put his hands on his hips, and the fans promptly booed. Kitao then shoot-kicked the referee. The referee called the for the bell and Tenta, ever the pro, raised his hands up in the air as the winner.
