Dave on Sayama and watching old footage

[KrisZ]

Being the favorite worker doesn't mean they are the best. I love Jimmy Valiant but he sucked dick in the ring.

[Resident Evil]

Being the favorite worker doesn't mean they are the best. I love Jimmy Valiant but he sucked dick in the ring.

I don't really think you can compare TM to Valiant in that way. Sure, the goals of each were to do the best job they can in the ring for themselves and the fans but they went about it in different ways. And I would also say that if Valiant made you love him, than he wasn't horrible in the ring for you.

 

I This reminds me that Tiger Mask would be like Goldberg during his undefeated run who is another wrestler I feel was tremendously underrated at the time. There are a lot of smiliarities there in how they engrossed the crowd through their stand out wrestling, match construction and how that helped build their aura, undefeated streak and becoming one with their gimmick through their big time stand out physical talents.

[S.L.L.]

Many fans have told me that their favourite wrestler is Tiger Mask.

Current fans? Lapsed fans? Do you just hang with a lot of Real Japan fans? I mean, I imagine the majority of of people who go to Real Japan shows are there mainly to see Tiger Mask. But that's not really a lot of people. "Many", in this case, would seem to be relative.

 

Sayama worked with the TM charactor better than anyone in puroresu history (and I'm not insulting any of the other Tiger Masks, they just had such a high mountain to climb) in order to make it work. Through not only his wrestling but his body language and aura as well.

Explain. Sayama's body language struck me as a pretty clear weak point of his.

 

Some thoughts from when I was watching the 80's NJ set:

 

On Tiger Mask vs. Steven Wright

He does some selling of the leg in this match. It heals immediately when it's time to go back on offense, but he sells until then. But people can communicate a lot of different things with selling - pain, obviously, but also anger, frustration, resolve, fear, and so on and so forth. Tiger Mask's selling seems to be communicating disappointment that he has to sell. Communicates "he just hit me in the leg, so I can't do a spin kick right now :(".

On 4/21/83

And by the way, while all this bottle breaking and referee assaulting in going on, Tiger Mask seems remarkably uninterested. I guess I can't blame him, but you'd think if he was this great wrestler that everyone used to say he was, he might...I dunno...do something to get across the emotional pitch of the fight. Dynamite may not be doing it well, but at least he's trying. Dynamite assaults referees to get to Sayama, and Sayama just stands there picking his nose like nothing is happening. Charisma!

I seem to recall liking his body language in his match with El Canek, though I didn't specifically write about it. Still, mostly seemed like a guy with no mastery of body language.

 

I This reminds me that Tiger Mask would be like Goldberg during his undefeated run who is another wrestler I feel was tremendously underrated at the time. There are a lot of smiliarities there in how they engrossed the crowd through their stand out wrestling, match construction and how that helped build their aura, undefeated streak and becoming one with their gimmick through their big time stand out physical talents.

Um, I don't dispute that Goldberg was underrated in some circles, but he's a guy who wasn't really regarded for using stand-out wrestling to engross the crowd (Largely because he was rarely given the forum to do so....when he was, like the DDP match, he proved he could go), and the engrossing match construction was mostly just squashes. That's why he was underrated in the first place. If he got to do more stuff like the DDP match, people who wrote him off as a simple squash machine might have been forced to reconsider him. That's not what happened. Not sure where you got the idea that it did. He got over by being a big charismatic dude who mowed through opponents. The similarities with Sayama begin and end with them being really over guys with good gimmicks and winning streaks. Warrior has those similarities, too. It takes a little more to impress me. Goldberg had it. The other guys, not so much.

[Guest kowking]

Being the favorite worker doesn't mean they are the best. I love Jimmy Valiant but he sucked dick in the ring.

I don't really think you can compare TM to Valiant in that way. Sure, the goals of each were to do the best job they can in the ring for themselves and the fans but they went about it in different ways. And I would also say that if Valiant made you love him, than he wasn't horrible in the ring for you.

 

I This reminds me that Tiger Mask would be like Goldberg during his undefeated run who is another wrestler I feel was tremendously underrated at the time. There are a lot of smiliarities there in how they engrossed the crowd through their stand out wrestling, match construction and how that helped build their aura, undefeated streak and becoming one with their gimmick through their big time stand out physical talents.

 

What?

[smkelly]

Many fans have told me that their favourite wrestler is Tiger Mask.

 

As far as the general public goes, the mask makes him instantly recognisable. I wouldn't say that the gimmick is beloved as such, but then I wouldn't say any Japanese wrestler is beloved at present. I haven't really been following this debate, but there's two things you can't underestimate when it comes to Tiger Mask and that's how popular Sayama is with Japanese wrestling fans and how big it was at the time.

While I'm not on the side of the argument comparing draws in Japan - cause I don't have the knowledge of the gates - similarly, I also am not doubting the significance of the TM/DK series either. I know how important the series was to Junior Heavyweight wrestlers. The series is still influencing young juniors today. I know you weren't singling me or anyone else for that matter out, but I wanted to clarify those two issues.

 

Nevertheless, where my claim to this threads fame is concerned, is about the match quality. When the first match happened, it was revolutionary. Epic would be a good word for it. However, watching the series in today's age, it does not hold up. Some might say that detracts from the importance of the series, but I disagree. Without Night of the Living Dead we would have never had Dawn of the Dead, and without the original Dawn, we would have never had the remake in 2004.

 

This is how I interpret the series:

Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid = Night of the Living Dead

Like the TM/DK series, NOTLD was a masterpiece in its respected field. While it wasn't a 100% film, it nonetheless was revolutionary in more than one particular way. But, as time progressed, the film, like the TM/DK series, started to show its age.

 

It was quietly replaced with:

Jushin Liger vs. Pegasus Kid = Dawn of the Dead

A new canvas to explore new possibilities which were unavailable from the original series. This series holds many similarities, but also improvements in many way. However, just like the original, this series showed its age as brighter and better things appeared not too long after.

 

KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson = Dawn of the Dead (2004)

The modern age has been reached. The movie is scarier than its counterparts and the wrestling is better than its predecessors. In regards to both, they are flashy, edgier, more fluidly paced, but like their older brother and father, they too will be replaced.

 

(Is that a good analogy or it it stupid? I honestly feel guilty comparing NOTLD with TM/DK, but it fits...kind of.)

 

I think a more accurate comparion for Tiger Mask would be Goldberg during his undefeated run who is another wrestler I feel was tremendously underrated at the time. There are a lot of smiliarities there in how they engrossed the crowd through their stand out wrestling, match construction and how that helped build their aura, undefeated streak and becoming one with their gimmick through their big time stand out physical talents.

Okay. You're fucking with us. Right? Right? Oh shit...

[El-P]

You don't want to use the Goldberg analogy. I'm currently rewatching WCW 1998, and Goldberg really wasn't fun to watch most of the time. Squashing a bunch of jobbers only goes so far with me, especially when you do the exact same three moves in every match. It was kinda fun for a while at the beginning, then quickly became extremely boring to me, especially when Goldberg was facing guys like Scott Putski and Barry Darsow, guys who couldn't buy a win on Thunder to save their lives, while he was the WCW champ. Not exactly compelling. Goldberg was interesting only depending on who his opponent was. And still, he couldn't work a lick really, and was lost as soon as something unplanned happen. He had his three or four moves that looked good, and that's it. Smokes and mirrors. The DDP match is a miracle Page got out of his ass because he was good at those sort of things. Raven and the Flock got a good match out of him by making him look like a total monster. But Goldberg really wasn't much of a worker, Warrior in his prime was much better. But Goldie was green as fuck, so maybe with time he would have gotten better. Anyway, the Goldberg analogy, bad.

[smkelly]

I agree completely and I was a huge Goldberg mark in 98 (what thirteen year old wasn't?). I recently watched the DDP/Goldberg match. I hadn't seen it in years, and even though I still like both guys, it wasn't that good of a match. It was a good Goldberg match, which is saying a lot. It was a formulaic Superman match, which bothers me, but I dug the deadlift Jackhammer at the end.

 

Makes me think - how many good Goldberg matches are there?

[El-P]

I agree completely and I was a huge Goldberg mark in 98 (what thirteen year old wasn't?). I recently watched the DDP/Goldberg match. I hadn't seen it in years, and even though I still like both guys, it wasn't that good of a match. It was a good Goldberg match, which is saying a lot. It was a formulaic Superman match, which bothers me, but I dug the deadlift Jackhammer at the end.

 

Makes me think - how many good Goldberg matches are there?

I'll rewatch Goldberg vs DDP pretty soon. I used to like it a lot, mainly because I was amazed DDP was able to get such a match out of Goldie, I wonder how it aged.

Good Goldie match ? Thus far, I've seen exactly one, and it was thanks to Raven and his bag of tricks. It was not a *good match* moreso than a *good Goldberg match* like you said. The first competitive Goldberg matches against Saturn sucked, Goldie was just lost. You can argue Regal got an interesting match out of Goldberg, but it was more about him not being the most cooperative which made it fun to watch.

I know people pimp Goldberg vs Sid matches, which to me doesn't make any sense. I haven't seen them in ages, but apart from lot pof blood, it was freaking Sid against Goldie. Didn't Sting got a good match out of him at one point ?

[Loss]

There is a Flair match with him on Nitro that is pretty good, but that shouldn't be a surprise, as Flair made a career out of working with guys like Goldberg.

 

Anyway, I think it's important to distinguish Sayama's impact and historical significance from his talent. This thread started on the premise that no one was disputing Tiger Mask's influence or popularity at the time. I have no desire to challenge that myself.

[MikeCampbell]

Jericho vs. Goldberg from Badd Blood (I believe) 2003 was pretty damn good. WAY better than the quickie squash of Jericho they'd have had in 1998.

[Victator]

Saturn/Goldberg at Spring Stampede was good.

[Matt D]

Goldberg vs Jerry Flynn from the 3/26/98 Thunder is the best Goldberg squash.

[Victator]

Jerry Flynn lived off of going close to ten minutes with Goldberg for the rest of his WCW run.

[jdw]

Jericho vs. Goldberg from Badd Blood (I believe) 2003 was pretty damn good. WAY better than the quickie squash of Jericho they'd have had in 1998.

Goldberg of 2003 was quite a different beast from early Goldberg. He was booked to go longer, and one tends to think knew he had to make more of a match with people to go that long.

 

Squash Goldberg was effective, but they really were throw away nothing matches.

 

I think there was a Regal match that people liked, but even it didn't go terribly long.

 

John

[Dooley]

Goldberg-Steiner from Fall Brawl was a lot of fun.

[Jingus]

So do we have anyone who's spent some time in Japan who doesn't believe that Tiger Mask was a huge star? Sometimes a wrestler just becomes an inexplicable popular phenomenon which has nothing to do with what shows they main evented or what gates they drew; think of, say, Jake Roberts for example. The Goldberg comparison sounds like a good one; Bill's window of monstrous superfame was about the same length of time as Sayama's, and Goldberg was rarely in the main event or placed in a position where he could "officially" claim that he drew the house.

 

I know people pimp Goldberg vs Sid matches, which to me doesn't make any sense. I haven't seen them in ages, but apart from lot pof blood, it was freaking Sid against Goldie.

Those matches were all of three minutes long, so I dunno who would pimp them beyond "hey, this wasn't as agonizingly painful as I thought it might be".

 

Didn't Sting got a good match out of him at one point ?

Yeah, Sid/Sting at Road Wild 99 was perfectly tolerable (aside from the weird finish, which basically had Sid shrug off several Stinger Splashes as if he was getting hit by Nerf). Sid was always capable of having decent matches in the right circumstances.

[Dylan Waco]

Sid v. Goldberg at Havoc was a lot longer than 3 minutes and is the match people pimp - because it was a good match.

[Jingus]

Sid v. Goldberg at Havoc was a lot longer than 3 minutes and is the match people pimp - because it was a good match.

Just rewatched that one, and you're right, it's longer than I remembered. It was seven minutes. And that's including a jump-start at the beginning, and one minuted devoted to a camel clutch. As a match, it's no better than average. If it weren't for all the blood, nobody would remember this one at all. And the fact that all the other matches on that card were so godawful probably didn't hurt its reputation either.

[smkelly]

Goldberg-Steiner from Fall Brawl was a lot of fun.

Many have pimped that match, and while I was one of them when the match took place, but that was then. I watched this some time ago (might need a re-watch), and disliked the excessiveness of the "lead" pipe usage. I mean, Scotty teed off on Goldberg in similar fashion to The Rock bashing in Mankind's head with a chair in their I Quit match. WCW didn't know how to book the two of them against each other in my opinion - it was like NJ in the 90s having all of those huge gaijins facing each other. Obviously, Goldberg/Steiner was better than most of those matches, but it could have been much better if booked and wrestled differently. As I said though, I need to re-watch it.

 

Sid v. Goldberg at Havoc was a lot longer than 3 minutes and is the match people pimp - because it was a good match.

Bill Goldberg TKO Sid Vicious (7:11). You're right, it is 100% longer

[jdw]

Sid v. Goldberg at Havoc was a lot longer than 3 minutes and is the match people pimp - because it was a good match.

Just rewatched that one, and you're right, it's longer than I remembered. It was seven minutes. And that's including a jump-start at the beginning, and one minuted devoted to a camel clutch. As a match, it's no better than average. If it weren't for all the blood, nobody would remember this one at all. And the fact that all the other matches on that card were so godawful probably didn't hurt its reputation either.

 

For reference:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql4YEwJ6n4k

 

There are some nice things in there, at times balance out by cringey:

 

Cringe: Sid standing up rather and being "forced up" to set up the fall away spot

Good: the fall away spot with Sid on Goldberg's shoulders is a good visual

 

Good: Goldberg's punches and Sid's surprisingly decent selling of most of the blows

Cringe: Sid's terrible punches trying to fire back

 

Good: brawling around the ring early

Cringe: more than normal daylight with the three shots Sid takes into the ring steps

 

I'm not a fan of Sid planting his skull into the metal to make it look good... but his hands and arms were positioned to block the metal, so he could at least have gotten his head to the back of his hands and arms.

 

Cringe: toss into the corner, Goldberg waiting around for Sid to get that he's suppose to come up, Sid finally getting he's suppose to come out and runs into Goldber's clothesline somewhere around the nipples.

 

That's not even mentioning the Sid initially seemed to *not* want to get tossed from the opposite corner into the far one for the move.

 

After a nice elbow for a pin attempt, it seems like Goldberg has run out of things to do that don't involve the run to the finish. He sort of meanders in to punch, then sorta thinks a headbutt might work (which sorta does in an awkward way), then gets distracted by Sid's blood on his palm, sort of looks to where he thinks the ref might be but really is several steps back... and it's a kind of "He fucker, the finish is a Ref Stop Due To Blood so maybe you might want to, er... well... where was I?"

 

No, seriously... it's that sorta awkward. Goldberg doesn't seem to to know that if you're working a Ref Stop Possibility Storyline you need to be Theatrical in how you're playing to the blood and to the Ref so that Everyone In The Building knows what you're up to and the storyline. Goldberg does some rabbit punches to the cut... then wanders off aimlessly when the ref ever so slightly touches him and while the ref barely moves in to check Sid and frankly looks more concerned about Sid letting go of the ropes and fighting than whether he's bleeding a ton. It's a really good example of two really limited wrestlers not knowin how to work something, and not exactly a sharp knife as the ref.

 

Sid with some boots that Goldberg sells strange as if he wants to no sell them but doesn't do it well... until he no sells them.

 

There is a much better clothesline, with Sid taking one of his higher end (for him) bumps off it: actually quite nice. More of the Cringe/Good back-and-forth nature of the match.

 

Goldberg sort of stalks Sid into the corner... slighty clubber... is Sid no selling to tease a comeback... well he does rake the eyes... Goldberg sorta/kinda sells it before deciding he doesn't want to while Sid leans in the corner. Yeah...

 

A much better headbutt, which lets Sid sit his ass down on the bottom rope for deep breathers. Goldberg *palms* the cut... which is a new one for me. Doesn't punch, doesn't twist his knuckles in it, doesn't rake it, doesn't work his fingers into it... palms it. I... yeah...

 

Ref sorta wakes up and move in to check Sid, but not really in classic old school theatrical fashion... christ, the ref might be the worst worker in this match, and that saying something.

 

Sid pops up, had a steely stare down with Goldberg, wails away on Goldberg's back... before blowing up, leaning back on the ropes and signaling to Goldberg that it's his turn. No seriously... it's that obvious that he's trying to get Goldberg's bent over attention that it's his turn.

 

Goldberg with some cool elbows to the back of Sid's neck and shoulders to damage the cut. No... seriously... I'm not shitting you. The first cool downward elbow is aimed generally at the forehead but goes sailing over the back of the head downward and hits... not a fucking thing before swinging around and sorta tapping Sid's right shoulder... maybe. The second one goes sailing over and hits the base of Sid's neck/upperback. It's like a pair of great theatrical strikes... that happen to be right infront of the camera and end up looking back.

 

Ref decides to check Sid, and if there's one thing that Sid has shown in his career it's Fighting Spirit so he's not giving up...

 

Okay, Sid's been a quitting pussy his entire career, but go with me.

 

I think Sid's had enough and the ref isn't getting the picture that he's really tired, so after letting the ref know that he's okay, he instantly stumbles out of the corner down onto his knees looking for someplace to rest his head... which is damn near in Goldberg's crotch.

 

Goldberg seems to sense that Sid is quitting on the match, hold Sid's head and looks at the ref who gets the picture that Sid has quit... about the quickest raise of the arm, tease / non-tease of a blood stoppage that you'll ever see (since they weren't teasing) and calls for the bell since Sid is quitting.

 

I love Sid being unable to make up his mind whether he's a quitter or not post match: waiving to Goldberg that he wants more, then falling to his knees in the aisle, then needing Steiner's help back up the aisle, then suddenly being perfectly fine and wanting a piece of Goldberg, and going way back towards the ring... then realizing that he's really a quitter at heart and slinks away from Goldberg... wait... I better remember to sell this so I don't look at much like a quitter.

 

I'm not even talking about the pre-match beatdown of Goldberg where the Wolfpack just staggers off.

 

I'm not saying it's a horrible match. The blood at least keeps the attention going. But it's pretty clear that the three of them don't know how to work a good dramatic blood finish, and stick with:

 

* Sid bleeds a lot

* Goldberg does stuff to the head

* we sort of plod along

* we run out of stuff to do in that way

* we don't know how to sell it well, be the opponent in such a match, or be the ref in such a match

* eventually the ref will stop it

 

The first two things are actually decent/good: Sid does bleed a lot relative to 90s WCW matches (and even most 90s WWF matches). And until he sort of runs out of things to do and loses interest, Goldberg does a decent at at time good job smacking the head.

 

But by the time of the downward elbows, he's lost it. Sid had long since lost it. And the ref never had it on reffing a blood match.

 

It's a match that has some nice stuff ("Those are nice punches by Goldy and Sid is actually selling them well"), the expected awkwardness, and some really bad stuff. Maybe expectations were lower.

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

Many fans have told me that their favourite wrestler is Tiger Mask.

Current fans? Lapsed fans? Do you just hang with a lot of Real Japan fans? I mean, I imagine the majority of of people who go to Real Japan shows are there mainly to see Tiger Mask. But that's not really a lot of people. "Many", in this case, would seem to be relative.

Well, when I say many obviously it's not *that* many, but Tiger Mask is a fairly standard answer to this sort of question. Most of the people I speak to are (or were) Showa era fans because that was the height of wrestling's popularity in Japan. Most of them are basing their opinion on their memories of the Tiger Mask phenomenon. I doubt that many of them have reappraised the matches. It's a bit like the 1980s WWF boom in the sense that friends of mine can still recall the names of "Ravishing" Rick Rude or Jake "the Snake" Roberts regardless of how big a draw those guys were because of how massive the exposure was. I think it's a mistake to say that Shinya Hashimoto sold out X amount of Tokyo Dome shows hence he was a ginormous pro-wrestling star when in fact wrestling's exposure was perhaps a third what it was during Sayama's run, as well as the fact that selling out the Tokyo Dome is an impressive feat for pro-wrestling but not an uncommon occurence for the Dome in general. In 1996, Mariah Carey sold out 150,000 tickets in three hours. In 1998, she sold out 200,000 tickets in under an hour. Janet Jackson sold the place out in seven minutes in 1990. In 2009, the popular idol group KAT-TUN sold out 440,000 tickets in a single day. That ought to give you some idea where wrestling fits into in the overall picture.

 

And as for the Real Japan thing, I don't think there's anyone who could seriously draw right now. Not even Inoki or Baba could draw a proper crowd. It's a bit like arguing that Hogan wasn't a big deal once upon a time because he can't help TNA's bottom line.

[Ditch]

That reminds me of something. I always got the sense like promotions had a harder time selling out Sumo Hall and Nippon Budokan in the '80s than they did in the '90s, despite having much better TV slots. Why?

[jdw]

My thought at the time, and something we talked with folks in Japan about, was that the fanbase shifted towards more 20-something aged fans who had money to spend in an era of increased consumer spending vs savings. The shows that I went to had the majority of fans in that age group, with fewer older fans and kids that you'd see in camera shots of the 80s (and earlier).

 

This is a little similar to what we saw in the Monday Night Wars era in the US: while the promotions still had kids and families coming, there was a pretty clear shift to where it was massively more popular with late teens into their twenties than we'd seen in the Rock 'n' Wrasslin era.

 

That fan base (in terms of the age group) in both the US and in Japan kind of moved on from the peak era.

 

AJW transitioned from teeniebopper/girls fan base to a lot of guys going to the shows I went to... the majority. That was a chunk of the growth of the promotion after it went into decline when the Crush Girls era ended. The "boom" was drawing in guys, whereas guys in the 80s wouldn't have gone to AJW to that degree. And the guys were in the same age group as the majority of guys going to AJPW and NJPW and all the other different promotions that I saw shows of.

 

I was there in 1995 and 1996, which was probably "post boom" or more just as the boom was starting to come off the peak. Pretty much everyone but New Japan had hit their peak, with the possible exception of RINGS as Tamura + Death of UWFi gave them a good run for a year or so. That said, I did see pretty good sized house shows for the promotions that were pretty representative of what their Tokyo fanbase was at the time.

 

John

[Resident Evil]

Being the favorite worker doesn't mean they are the best. I love Jimmy Valiant but he sucked dick in the ring.

I don't really think you can compare TM to Valiant in that way. Sure, the goals of each were to do the best job they can in the ring for themselves and the fans but they went about it in different ways. And I would also say that if Valiant made you love him, than he wasn't horrible in the ring for you.

 

I This reminds me that Tiger Mask would be like Goldberg during his undefeated run who is another wrestler I feel was tremendously underrated at the time. There are a lot of smiliarities there in how they engrossed the crowd through their stand out wrestling, match construction and how that helped build their aura, undefeated streak and becoming one with their gimmick through their big time stand out physical talents.

 

K, To elaborate a little bit on tis.

 

 

I don't usually like to make general statements over a wrestler's work over a period of time because each match is different and I'd rather take a look at each match instead of a whole bunch because I am not a fan of blanket statements. That being said, Sayama knew how to blend with the charactor. His matches were in an era where people were less concerned about smark analysis and more about the atheltic compettitive exhibition that was being displayed what Sayama did worked. Getting lost in the moment. You look at TM and he is a larger than life superhero from the very well known manga and TV series(s). He stands out right away due to his costume and his mask so you automatically know he's gotta be special. You are expecting this. Than you watch him wrestle and in an era (and he would still be able to do this today if he teleported in time) he blows you away. Completely blows you out of the water.

 

I have talked a few times about how wrestlers who are so good and better than the rest of the roster that often you have a hard time buying them losing in the ring. See Eddie Guerrero or Chris Benoit. You will see them lose and think a guy who works that hard and that well would never go down that easy. Tiger Mask was in that category. In the junior class, you could never ever buy someone beating him because when wrestling is looked at a kayfabe sense ("and this was much easier to do in Japan at the time) it just doesn't make sense for him to lose. Sayama knew though to reach the next level though in invinciblity perception he would have to add on to that and he did. If you watch his matches you will see him at times do the dancing bit around the ring. PURE BLEEPING GENIUS. Right away, it tells his opponent and the fans that he is unorthodox, dangerous, confident, capable of anyhting and at any time. Than as his opponent will try to come in he will purposely miss a spin kick (I'm not sure what you call it) giving off the impressions that I just mentioned. Than a scared DK since we're talking about DK vs TM will smartly point and complain to the reff about how unfair it is. About how unfair this freak of nature is.

Than we look at some of the move selection. The spot where he has opponent in his turnbuckle and than runs up his opponent and flips backwards to land on his feet (and I mark out every single time for it) also falls into this catergory. Bonus points if his confused opponent shows desparation which I have sseen DK do which only feeds into TM's aura. Than you look at the SPEED which is of upmost importance as well. When you combine all sorts of stuff like this along with all the other jaw droping stuff he does it makes for the viewer thinking he is watching the best wrestler that ever lived. As a booker you have to run with it and not look back. If you don't, you're insane.

 

Also, if you look at Tiger Mask's matches from an overall kayfabe sense, the construction in them never fails to give off the impression that his opponents have trouble with him and he is the better wrestler. And truly, it can not be any other way for the most part because he was on such an obvioulsy higher level. Everything here is all important in building up the perception he gives to the audience.

 

So you go with the exception of one DQ loss have Sayama have an invincibility streak. Now we see this unbelievably incredible superstar who everyone buys into defeat everyone. With his talent and his proven undefeated track record he is now a legend. Everyone is wondering who can beat him. It is extremely compelling (and helps make 4/21/83 the match it is). Everything just blends together to make Sayama da man. No wait, DA TIGER MASK. Now people even play Tekken games partly due to him.

 

As far as Goldberg goes, I liked the construction of his squash matches and thought they helped pop the crowd which in turn helped Goldberg be the mega star he was. If the squash matches were more random, than Goldberg wouldn't be quite as popular. Same thing with Tiger Mask.

Goldberg also worked with his charisma, his physical talents, the short match squashes and his undefeted streak to help build his perception and popularity. He blended everything together well just like TM did.

[Log]

Now people even play Tekken games partly due to him.

That's a stretch.