Thursday, June 8, 2006

Ex-LSU, WWF wrestler 'Earthquake' dies at 42

 

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Associated Press

 

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former LSU wrestler John Tenta, known professionally as "Earthquake" while competing in the World Wrestling Federation, has died at the age of 42, the school said Thursday.

 

Tenta, who lettered for the Tigers in the early 1980s when wrestling was a nationally renowned varsity sport at LSU, died after a lengthy battle with bladder cancer.

 

"Big John," as he was known at LSU, also participated in football for the Tigers.

 

Born in Surrey, British Columbia, he weighed 11 pounds, 3 ounces at birth. Recently he measured 6-foot-6 and weighed in at over 400 pounds, LSU said.

 

After leaving LSU, Tenta briefly took up sumo wrestling in Japan before going into pro wrestling. He joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1989 and gained fame as "Earthquake" as he feuded with Hulk Hogan.

 

Tenta performed for both World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling throughout the 1990s.

 

In recent years he had lived in Florida. He is survived by his wife and three children.

 

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R.I.P. Thoughts? Memories?

This happened two months ago.