Jumbo Tsuruta Tomomi Tsuruta ( March 25 , 1951 - May 13 , 2000 ) better known by his ring name Jumbo Tsuruta , was a professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling for most of his career , and is well known for being the first ever AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion , having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship , the NWA United National Championship , and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship , and unifying the three titles . Early life . Tsuruta participated in many sports , such as swimming , basketball , and sumo while attending Hikawa Senior High School in Yamanashi - shi , Yamanashi Prefecture . Amateur wrestling career . While at Chuo University , he began an amateur wrestling career . He won the All Japan Amateur Wrestling Championship in freestyle and Greco - Roman as a superheavyweight ( at the time , an unlimited class for those weighing over 100 kilograms ) in the years 1971 and 1972 . He also competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich . He finished the Greco - Roman tournament with no wins . Professional wrestling career . Scouted by AJPW promoter Giant Baba , he was sent to the local Amarillo , Texas promotion in the U . S . to train as a pro under Dory Funk Jr . While wrestling in the United States , Tsuruta was the first Japanese wrestler to be cheered by an American crowd , due to his hard work ethic and wrestling ability . The name " Jumbo " was given to him by a fan contest in Japan to replace his given name , which was seen as too feminine . Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu became the first AJPW Unified World Tag Team Champions on June 10 , 1988 . During his 26 - year career , he fought in 3 , 329 matches . Some of his most notable opponents include Stan Hansen , The Destroyer , Bruiser Brody , Genichiro Tenryu , Abdullah the Butcher , Terry Funk , Dory Funk Jr . , Mitsuharu Misawa , Harley Race , Verne Gagne , Jack Brisco , Ric Flair , and Nick Bockwinkel . Tsuruta was the first AJPW Triple Crown Champion ( unifying the Pacific Wrestling Federation , NWA United National , and NWA International Heavyweight titles ) , defeating Stan Hansen on April 18 , 1989 in Tokyo . His level of work while still an active , full - time wrestler never declined and if anything , his highest rated work came in the last five years of his career , in his seminal feuds with Genichiro Tenryu and Mitsuharu Misawa . His skills allowed him to continue as a top line worker into his forties , well past his athletic prime . In the wake of his death , the press called him the strongest wrestler in the history of Japanese wrestling . Tsuruta was arguably the best wrestler in the world during the 1980s . Illness , life after wrestling and death . In the summer of 1992 , he was diagnosed with Hepatitis B and never fully recovered , completing the " October Giant Series " tour before disappearing from the company for almost a year . For the rest of his career , he participated mostly in comedic matches because his health prevented him from working a full physically - demanding schedule . He announced his retirement on February 20 , 1999 and held a ceremony on March 6 , 1999 , after being forced out of his front - office position by Motoko Baba in the aftermath of her husband ' s death . Four days later , he and his family moved to the United States so that he could take an Assistant Professor position at the University of Portland in Oregon . Tsuruta had degree in law and earned his teaching credential in 1994 , later becoming a professor at his old University . His health deteriorated , however , as he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer , which eventually spread to his liver , and by the end of the year he was back in Japan . In April 2000 , he left for Australia , where he had an operation to remove the cancer , while there a kidney donor was found in Manila . Tsuruta died in the National Hospital in the Philippines on May 13 , 2000 , from complications of the kidney transplant . He had 3 sons : Ken , Naoki , and Yuji .