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

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

better known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Shark Tsuchiya (シャーク土屋). She spent most of her career working for

Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) 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 fir ...

Professional wrestling career

Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (1989–1998)

Trained by Tarzan Goto 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, 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 ...

. In July 1993, she evolved into an evil hardcore wrestler named Shark Tsuchiya. Adopting the hardcore style reminiscent of Mr. Pogo, 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 in a decision match, FMW abandoned the titles and the Women's division, and Tsuchiya left the company in June 1998.

Various Promotions (1998–2010)

After leaving FMW in 1998, Tsuchiya began wrestling for various promotions as a freelancer, such as All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling,

JDStar JDStar (also spelt Jd') was a women's professional wrestling promotion based in Tokyo, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on th ...

Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, also known as LLPW and currently as LLPW-X, is a Japanese independent women's professional wrestling promotion founded in 1992 by Rumi Kazama and Shinobu Kandori. History Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling split in 19 ...

, Onita Pro Wrestling,

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was even ...

, NEO Ladies, IWA Japan,

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

, 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 f ...

, GAEA Japan, 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 is a sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a capacity of approximat ...

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 occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...

. In October 2015, she was forced to have her right leg amputated below the knee due to

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

(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 a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

Championships and accomplishments

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

** Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship ( 1 time) *

** WWA World Women's Championship ( 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 References External links

* http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp Official website 1960 establishments in Japan Da ...

'' ** Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize (1997)

References

External links

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