After making two dark-match appearances under his real name in March 1989, Earthquake joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in September 1989. In his first match after signing on, a dark match on September 21, 1989, he portrayed a lumberjack character named Earthquake Evans that was billed as being from the "Northern Yukon Territory" who was managed by Slick, and defeated Paul Roma. Earthquake then made his WWF television debut on the November 11, 1989, edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, where he was planted in the audience as a normal spectator at the taping held in Wheeling, West Virginia. During an in-ring interview with Gene Okerlund, Dino Bravo challenged The Ultimate Warrior to a strength competition. In order to demonstrate, Bravo and manager Jimmy Hart suggested that they pick a random audience member to come into the ring and sit on the backs of Bravo and the Ultimate Warrior as they did push-ups to see who could do the most. The Ultimate Warrior agreed, and Hart, after pretending to look around the audience, centered his attention on the very large Earthquake who was sitting in the audience in casual clothing and appearing surprised. He came down into the ring, identified himself as "John from West Virginia" and proceeded to sit on Bravo's back as he did a set of push-ups. During the Ultimate Warrior's set, however, Earthquake leapt down onto the prone Ultimate Warrior using a seated senton that was adapted to be his signature move. Bravo and Earthquake then beat and unleashed multiple big splashes on the prone Warrior. Both then celebrated as Earthquake was inaugurated into the WWF as a heel with Hart as his manager. He was pushed as The Canadian Earthquake — and by WrestleMania VI, simply Earthquake — an unstoppable monster heel who often sent his opponents out on a stretcher after repeatedly hitting them with his sitdown splash.
Earthquake's first pay-per-view appearance was when he replaced Barry Windham on Randy Savage's team at the 1989 Survivor Series. Earthquake eliminated Hercules and survived the match, along with Savage and Dino Bravo. He made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania VI, defeating Hercules.
His career peaked when he entered a feud with Hulk Hogan. The feud exploded in May 1990, when Earthquake snuck up on Hogan from behind during a segment of The Brother Love Show (on WWF Superstars of Wrestling) and repeatedly crushed Hogan's ribs with his "Earthquake splash." Eventually, Hogan recovered and gained revenge on Earthquake and defeated him in a series of matches across the country, starting with Hogan's countout victory at SummerSlam 1990. Hogan and Earthquake were the final two participants in the 1991 Royal Rumble, with Hogan getting the victory.
After his stint with Hogan, Earthquake attained another WrestleMania victory, defeating former Hart stable mate Greg Valentine at WrestleMania VII.
After WrestleMania VII, Earthquake instigated a feud with Jake "the Snake" Roberts, when in their match that aired on WWF Superstars of Wrestling, he "squashed" Damien with his Earthquake splashes; Earthquake had tied up Roberts in the ropes before going on his rampage. Later, Earthquake participated in a skit on WWF Prime Time Wrestling where he cooked "Quakeburgers" on a grill and served them to co-hosts Vince McMahon, Bobby Heenan, and Lord Alfred Hayes; later, Earthquake revealed that the meat was ground from Damien's carcass. Heenan had already eaten three or four of the Burgers and Hayes was curious about the meat. Earthquake mentioned the animal from which the meat was taken rhymed with quake and Hayes said they were snake burgers. Hayes got sick and nearly threw up. Vince was angry over this and knocked the tray out of Earthquake's hands which knocked all the burgers onto the floor. Roberts and Earthquake feuded throughout most of late-spring and into the summer.
Later in 1991, Earthquake formed a tag team with Typhoon called The Natural Disasters, managed by Jimmy Hart. Initially a heel tag team, the duo feuded with the Legion of Doom over the WWF World Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. Later, the Disasters turned face when Jimmy Hart betrayed them and joined forces with Money Inc., a team composed of Irwin R. Schyster and Ted DiBiase; Money Inc. had just won the tag titles from the Legion of Doom, and at WrestleMania VIII, they defeated Money Inc. by count-out but did not win the titles. Although Earthquake and Typhoon eventually won the tag titles (and defeated the Beverly Brothers at the 1992 SummerSlam pay-per-view to retain the titles), it wasn't long before Money Inc. regained the belts.
Earthquake left the WWF in January 1993 after losing via count-out to Bam Bam Bigelow the night after the Royal Rumble.
He returned to the WWF in January 1994 when he assisted Bret Hart in a match with Shawn Michaels by countering Diesel's interference. He defeated Adam Bomb in a quick squash match at WrestleMania X. He then engaged in a short feud with Yokozuna, with whom he had a sumo match on Raw. Earthquake won the sumo match.
Earthquake was scheduled to face Owen Hart in a King of the Ring qualifying match. However, during a May 14, 1994 house show in San Jose, California, Earthquake had been injured by Yokozuna and Crush. Footage of Yokozuna hitting a Banzai Drop at the show was televised before the qualifying match to explain his absence in which Doink the Clown was his replacement. He again disappeared from WWF thereafter and left the company soon after.
Earthquake joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994, was introduced as Avalanche and was a member of Kevin Sullivan's The Three Faces of Fear. He later aligned with Big Bubba Rogers and feuded with Sting and Randy Savage. At Clash of the Champions XXIX, Avalanche, The Butcher and Kevin Sullivan lost to Hulk Hogan, Sting and Dave Sullivan in a six-man tag team match with Mr. T as the special referee. At Starrcade, Avalanche lost to Sting by disqualification. At SuperBrawl V, Avalanche and Big Bubba Rogers lost to Sting and Randy Savage when Sting pinned Avalanche. At Uncensored, Avalanche lost to Randy Savage by disqualification. At Clash of the Champions XXX, Avalanche lost to Sting with The Guardian Angel as the special guest referee.
Avalanche returned under the ring name The Shark and joined the Dungeon of Doom faction. At Fall Brawl, The Shark teamed with other members of The Dungeon of Doom: Kamala, The Zodiac and Meng with The Taskmaster) to face The Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting) in a WarGames match where they lost. On the October 9, 1995, edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Shark lost to Sting in a match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. On the November 20 episode of Nitro, Shark lost to Scott Norton. Shark competed in the World War 3 (a 60-man battle royal in three different rings) for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Randy Savage.
He eventually left the Dungeon of Doom and wrestled under his real name, John Tenta, after delivering a promo about the many other names and gimmicks he'd been forced into in the past. On the May 27 episode of Nitro, Tenta lost to The Giant in a match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 3 episode of Nitro, Tenta defeated Big Bubba by count-out. At the 1996 Great American Bash, he defeated Big Bubba Rogers; after the match Tenta cut Rogers' goatee off with a pair of scissors. On the June 17 episode of Nitro, Tenta defeated Big Bubba. On the July 1, 1996 edition of Nitro, Tenta got another shot at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against The Giant, but failed to win the title. At Bash at the Beach 1996, Tenta defeated Big Bubba in a Carson City Silver Dollar match.
Following a match with the Dungeon of Doom's Giant, Big Bubba Rogers, who had just joined the Dungeon, shaved half of Tenta's head. The two went on to feud against one another, with Rogers shaving off Tenta's beard as well after Tenta lost another match to The Giant. On the September 9 episode of Nitro, Tenta defeated Randy Savage by count-out. On the March 3, 1997, edition of Nitro, Tenta joined Roddy Piper as a member of his "family." The angle was quickly dropped and Piper instead joined forces with the Four Horsemen, dropping the members of his "family." Tenta left WCW in early 1997.
Tenta resurfaced in the WWF on the May 25, 1998, episode of Raw is War under the name Golga. He wrestled under a mask as one of the Oddities. At SummerSlam, The Oddities defeated Kaientai (Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, Mens Teioh and Sho Funaki) in a handicap match. On the September 5 edition of Raw, The Oddities defeated the L.O.D. and Droz in a six-man tag team match, on the September 12 edition of Raw, The Oddities faced The Disciples of Apocalypse, which ended in a no contest when the top ring rope fell off. On the October 4 edition of Heat, The Oddities defeated The Headbangers. On the October 17 edition of Shotgun Saturday Night, Golga and Kurrgan defeated Too Much. On the October 18 edition of Heat, The Oddities defeated Los Boricuas (Jose Estrada, Miguel Pérez, Jr. and Jesus Castillo). On the October 25 edition of Heat, Golga lost to Jeff Jarrett. On the October 26 edition of Raw, The Oddities and the Insane Clown Posse lost to Kaientai in an eight-man tag team match by disqualification when ICP shoved the referee. On the November 16 edition of Raw, The Oddities lost to D-Generation X (the New Age Outlaws and X-Pac). On the November 23 edition of Raw, The Oddities were defeated by The Headbangers when the Insane Clown Posse turned on them. At Rock Bottom: In Your House, The Oddities (Golga and Kurrgan) lost to The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher). At the 1999 Royal Rumble, Golga competed in the Royal Rumble match, entering at number three, but was quickly eliminated by Steve Austin. The Oddities disappeared in the beginning of 1999, with all members released soon after.
He did, however, return to the WWF as Earthquake for a pair of appearances in 2001. In April, he competed in the twenty-man gimmick battle royal match at WrestleMania X-Seven in a losing effort, while in December he defeated Tank Meloche in a dark match prior to a taping of WWF SmackDown.
On June 7, 2006, Earthquake passed away.