Thoughts on his late wife and remembrance of Antonio Inoki… “What Mr. Pro Wrestling” Tenryu Genichiro said on his sickbed.

Wife of Genichiro Tenryu, who made him “Mr. Pro Wrestling

Tenryu Gen’ichiro’s Wife” (Wani Books), published in September 2022, is a life story written by Makiyo Shimada, who passed away in June of the same year.

As the title of the book says, Makiyo was the wife of professional wrestler Genichiro Tenryu for many years, and was the driving force behind Tenryu’s rise to “Mr. Pro-Wrestling. The book is written from the perspective of Mrs. Makishiro, who supported Tenryu from his first encounter with Genichiro to his rise to the top as a professional wrestler and his retirement.

This book is not only for Tenryu fans, but also provides the backstory of an important event in the history of professional wrestling.

Unfortunately, Makiyo ran out of energy before she could finish the final chapter, and passed away without ever seeing the book completed, but her only daughter, Monna Shimada, took over the final chapter and completed the book, making it a mother-daughter co-authored book. We asked Mr. Genichiro Tenryu himself to talk about the book, which was written from the perspectives of his wife and daughter and their families, as well as his thoughts on his late wife.

Wife’s determination to make Tenryu the best professional wrestler in Japan

I knew that my wife had been interviewed for the book before her death, but when I saw the book in front of me, my outstretched hand slumped and I couldn’t read it for about two months. I couldn’t read the book for about two months.

It wasn’t so much that I was sentimental, but more that I was afraid to read what Makiyo had written, exposing her life to me, and I was afraid to touch her true feelings. Because Makiyo had been so straightforward with me, I was even more perplexed about figuring out how she felt about me,” said Tenryu.

When he finally read the book, some time after its publication, the first thing he recalled was the time when he had just gotten married.

Immediately after we got married, Makishiro said to me, ‘I will make Genichiro Tenryu the best wrestler in Japan. At the time, I was not a good wrestler with no flashy moves. I can never thank her enough for publicly declaring that she would make such a wrestler the best in Japan, and for taking action to achieve that goal.

For example, when we took the Shinkansen as a family, I would ride in the green car alone, and Makiyo would follow me in the regular car with her daughter Monna in her arms. In this way, she always stood up for me.

Pro wrestler Tenryu Genichiro is well known for his legendary drinking spree that involved fans and reporters alike, but he attributes this legend to the efforts of his wife, Makiyo.

She was always helping me out with money so that I could dress well when we went out drinking,” he said.

At the time, I thought I was doing well enough with my own fight money, but later I found out that Makiyo was making ends meet by disposing of her own jewelry and working part-time at her family’s store. When I learned this, I was shocked (laugh).

But Makiyo didn’t show that in the slightest, and she was happy to send me off with money to go out drinking.

In addition to Makiyo’s helpfulness, the book also describes Tenryu’s role as a “tough negotiator” who never backed down from his New Japan Pro-Wrestling counterparts. His negotiating partner was Mr. Katsuji Nagashima, a fierce negotiator who, as Antonio Inoki’s personal sword in his pocket, had devised a series of tricks that caused a stir in the world of pro wrestling.

When I was in the ring with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Mr. Nagashima was in charge of negotiations. I was very proud to see her resolute attitude as Gen’ichiro Tenryu’s wife against New Japan, which was crowded with other “sasen-yama-sen” (a thousand men from all over the world), including Choshu Chikara (a Japanese wrestler).

(Laughs.) In later years, Mr. Nagashima told me, “When it came to negotiating salaries, his wife, who was in charge of accounting, would come out. He was a tough negotiator.

Antonio Inoki’s fainting and dislocation incident with Tenryu

Two months after the publication of “Tenryu Gen’ichiro’s Wife,” which is full of episodes from Makishiro’s life, “The Truly Strong Man I Fought” (Seishun Shinsho) by Gen’ichiro Tenryu was published. This is a book in which Tenryu talks about the many wrestlers he has fought.

In the book, there is a chapter dedicated to Makishiro, “The man who made Tenryu Gen’ichiro the best pro wrestler in Japan.

I requested that chapter to be included in the book. She is the one who created Tenryu Genichiro and the Shimada family. Neither the wrestling business nor the family would have worked out so well if it were just me, a carefree man.

In this book, not only Makishiro’s episodes, but also those of Giant Baba, who led Tenryu to professional wrestling, Jumbo Tsuruta, who created an era in his generation, Mil Mascaras, who was extremely popular in Japan, and Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen, who had fierce battles, are described. These are battles and episodes with wrestlers who shine brilliantly in the history of professional wrestling.

Among them is Antonio Inoki, the fiery fighting spirit who passed away in 2022.

I fought against him twice. I fought Inoki twice, but to put it simply, the great thing about Inoki is that he has good timing, just like in a fight or any other kind of fight.

He is good at closing the gap between fights, and at holding the tip of the sword. When he attacks, he comes at you quickly, and when he retreats, he backs off. His sense of timing was outstanding among the wrestlers I had fought.

In the ring at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 1994, the second time they fought, Tenryu-san learned the true nature of “Killer” Antonio Inoki. He was knocked unconscious by a sleeper hold, one of Inoki’s signature moves, and had his finger dislocated in an attack against the ropes.

Inoki always said that if one of us initiates a move and the other fails to respond, it is the end of the fight, and that is exactly what happened to me. It was a match in which I once again experienced the fear of Antonio Inoki.

In the end, Tenryu-san won by pinfall, making him the only Japanese wrestler to have taken pinfalls from Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki.

In his later years, Mr. Inoki also showed his emaciated appearance during his battle with illness. I felt sad to see him like that, but I knew he was fighting.

Normally, I wouldn’t want to see him like that, but I think it showed his generous side, that he wanted to expose everything and let everyone judge the rest.

Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki

Giant Baba, who led Tenryu into the world of professional wrestling, and Antonio Inoki, who continued to “set up” not only the wrestling world but also the public, are often compared as good opponents, but Tenryu also analyzes their differences as follows.

Inoki understood what he had done to get where he was, so he cherished wrestling. On the other hand, Baba-san, I am sorry to say this, but for all the money he made in wrestling, there was a part of him that neglected wrestling. Baba-san was a man with an American way of thinking, who thought of pro wrestling as show business.

If it weren’t for Mr. Inoki, wrestling in Japan would have ceased to exist at the time of Baba’s death, or would have become something much smaller in scale.

Tenryu Gen’ichiro’s Wife” and “The Truly Strong Man I Fought. These two books will be valuable materials for understanding the history of Japanese pro wrestling through the eyes of “Mr. Pro Wrestling” Tenryu Gen’ichiro. We finally asked him what he thought of these two books.

I don’t particularly want this book to be read by Tenryu fans, wrestling fans, or anyone in particular. I just want anyone to pick up the book, read it, and live a positive life with what they feel.

In particular, “Tenryu Gen’ichiro’s Wife” is a book that Makishiro wrote with her life in her hands. If anyone who reads it can take her words as they come, that would be my true hope.”

Tenryu is currently in the hospital for surgery and rehabilitation due to “myelopathy and spinal canal stenosis associated with subluxation of the atlantoaxial vertebrae. As a fan who was encouraged by Mr. Tenryu’s fierce battle, I would like to wait for Mr. Pro-Wrestling’s comeback while reading these two books as a sign of support.