Eriko Tsuchiya (土屋恵理子, born February 19, 1970) is a Japanese retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

better known by the ring name Shark Tsuchiya (シャーク土屋). She spent most of her career working for

Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their f ...

Professional wrestling career

Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (1989–1998)

Trained by

Tarzan Goto , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled on the independent circuit most of his career. He is best known for his exploding steel cage matches against Atsushi Onita in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling ( ...

in the FMW Dojo, Eriko Tsuchiya debuted on the very first

show on October 6, 1989, losing a four-way match to Witch Warrior, which also saw Miwa Sato and Kumiko Matsuda debut as well. Tsuchiya spent the first year teaming with Matsuda until March 1990, when Yoshika Maedomari debuted, and she began teaming with Maedomari. In March 1992, she defeated Miwa Sato to win her first championship, the

WWA World Women's Championship The WWA World Women's Championship (''Campeonato Mundial Femilin de WWA'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is an inactive professional wrestling women's professional wrestling Championship (professional wrestling), championship promoted by the Mexic ...

, which she held for nearly two months, before losing it to

Megumi Kudo is a Japanese entertainment personality and former professional wrestler. She wrestled under her maiden name for Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, where she became the top star of the Women's Division. Kudo is primarily known for competing in bru ...

. In July 1993, she evolved into an evil hardcore wrestler named Shark Tsuchiya. Adopting the hardcore style reminiscent of

Mr. Pogo was a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his work under the ring name . He helped popularize hardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, W*ING and Big Japan Pro Wrestlin ...

, Tsuchiya quickly became the top female heel of FMW, going through a long-running feud its top female babyface, Megumi Kudo. In November 1995, she regained the WWA World Women's Championship, which is now unified with the Independent World Women's Championship, from Kudo, and held it for a month, before losing both titles to Combat Toyoda. It wouldn't be until March 1997 that she regained the titles from Kudo, only to lose them over a month later to Kudo in her retirement match. Although she would regain the titles in September 1997, defeating

Aja Kong is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by her ring name . She is the founder of the Arsion all-women professional wrestling promotion and has won several championships in both singles and tag team divisions throughout her career, prim ...

in a decision match, FMW abandoned the titles and the Women's division, and Tsuchiya left the company in June 1998.

Independent circuit (1998–2010)

After leaving FMW in 1998, Tsuchiya began wrestling for various promotions as a freelancer, such as

All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) professional wrestling promotion, promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held th ...

JDStar JDStar (also spelt Jd'), was a women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan. In the wake of the joshi puroresu boom of the early 1990s, several different groups opened with distinct approaches. The Jd'Star promotion, with its su ...

, Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, Onita Pro Wrestling,

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

, NEO Ladies, IWA Japan,

JWP Joshi Puroresu , also known as or simply JWP, was a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' (women's professional wrestling) promotion, founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the time of its folding in 2 ...

, Onita FMW, World Entertainment Wrestling,

OZ Academy is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion founded by Mayumi Ozaki. The promotion's full official name is . In addition to the contracted members of the roster, Oz Academy has also employed some of the top free ...

GAEA Japan Gaea Japan (trademarked as GAEA Japan) was a Japanese women's professional wrestling promotion. GAEA's name comes from the Greek mythological goddess of the Earth, Gaea or Gaia. History GAEA was founded in 1995 by Chigusa Nagayo, a professional wr ...

, Wrestling Marvelous Future, and Super FMW.

Hiatus and retirement (2010–present)

Tsuchiya wrestled her final match in August 2010 with Super FMW. In November 2016, she held an official retirement ceremony in Korakuen Hall at an event promoted by FMW.

Personal life

In August 2015, Tsuchiya was diagnosed with

type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that originates when cells that make insulin (beta cells) are destroyed by the immune system. Insulin is a hormone required for the cells to use blood sugar ...

. In October 2015, she was forced to have her right leg amputated below the knee due to gangrene (she originally had three toes removed from her right foot before the final amputation). In May 2016, her right breast was removed due to

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

Championships and accomplishments

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship The is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion CyberFight in its DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) brand. Open to anyone, regardless of gender or DDT employment status, the championship is defended " 24/7", as ...

( 1 time) *

( 4 times) ** FMW Independent World Women's Championship ( 3 times) *''

Tokyo Sports is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1960. See also * Tokyo Sports Film Award * Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards The are Japanese professional wrestling, or ''puroresu'', awards that have been handed out by the ''Tokyo Sports'' mag ...

'' **

Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize The are Japanese professional wrestling, or ''puroresu'', awards that have been handed out by the ''Tokyo Sports'' magazine annually since 1974. The most publicized awards in Japanese professional wrestling, they are recognized by all the major pr ...

(1997)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuchiya, Shark Japanese female professional wrestlers 1970 births 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions Living people People from Nerima FMW Women's Champions