10 Wrestlers Who Remained Great Past 45
6. Genichiro Tenryu
At 49 years old, Mr Puroresu became only the second man (after Big Van Vader) to win both the All Japan Triple Crown and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in December 1999. Often regarded as one of the biggest and most talked about legends in all of Japanese wrestling, the former sumo remained a hard hitting main event draw into his 50s.
His blistering battles with the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Katsuyori Shibata and Kenta Kobashi have to be seen to be believed. Wrestling with the vigour of a man half his age, Tenryu did not lose a step nor any of the physical menace that had made him such a credible main event act.
By the time of his retirement in 2015, age had finally begun to catch up with the then 65 year old Tenryu. Undeterred, he wrestled New Japan leading man Kazuchika Okada in a bruising battle so hyped up it was even screened in cinemas in Japan.
With a four decade career complete, Tenryu’s star power never left him. He remained a vital Japanese star well past an age where most wrestlers would’ve hung up the tights.