Burning Tiger: The NJPW Tiger Mask Deep (ish) Dive (1981-1983)

[Ma Stump Puller]

Other Deep Dive stuff

Introduction

Tiger Mask has a bit of a iffy reputation depending on who you ask or where: some places he's a sloppy overrated act that could never sell a lick of anything, in other places he's one of the big "events" of wrestling, someone who permanently changed the landscape forever and well beyond his time in a lot of ways. Which one is it? There's no obvious objective answer obviously, but given my interest in the guy I figured I would watch basically every single match possible of his that I could get my hands on, including a lot of random tags.

My only big rule for this was that I would skip the Dynamite Kid matches.....because quite frankly I think virtually every single person has had a chance to talk about them, go over them in chronic detail and whatnot; for me I really just could not be humanly bothered to try to reinvent the wheel or try to go over that series without some of those decades of hype creep in, so I pretty much omitted them from this bar some of the tags they had together. Too much baggage, I suppose, but I also wanted to see how good his run is without these epically hyped up series contributing. Other than that, this is pretty much everything from the start of the Mask shtick all the way to the end, warts and all. Matches will of course be ranked in the same manner as the others I've done, so basically like this-

I'll be ranking these matches on a grade of four standards:

1. Great (fantastic, must watch/MOTY)

2. Good (worth watching, solid)

3. Decent (alright, does the job) 

4. Forgettable (bad/not worth watching)

This is more of a formality so anyone who's skimming these can get a quick synopsis of what to watch and not to watch without having to read through paragraphs or try to guess how good a match is based on other ranking systems. 

As always these will come out in chunks, I'm thinking maybe 6 months each depending on how many there are lol. I'll also probably skip the matches where there's about 3 or 4 minutes intact, because at that point there's no real way you can figure out how good it is unless it's just non-stop action.

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Vs. Black Cat (08.05.1981)

Right after making his amazing debut for NJPW as Tiger Mask, Sayama has a tune-up match with well known undercard Jr Black Cat. Honestly? I thought this was pretty good...for the first few minutes, anyway. Cat is this grumpy bald-headed plain black trunk wearing lad who focuses on just running Mask over, while the latter focuses on getting his usual spots in while also having to contend with being knocked around the ring at points. Cat focuses on a pretty grounded approach with nasty European Uppercuts alongside some pretty fancy stuff to get the job done, but we all know he ain't winning anything here given Mask's presentation; but that doesn't mean he's not gonna throw some dirty old-school shit in to at least give it a good shot. Sayama is mostly good with his spots bar completely botching his usual "backdrop flip into dropkick" bit, falling right on his ass, which Cat immediately covers for by landing a sharp elbow drop afterwards.

Sayama also messes up his usual turnbuckle Tiger Wally Flip as he falls once again but Cat covers by running in and eating a hip toss. I definitely think this was down to more or less one thing: his early mask is pretty dreadful and he spends a good part here fixing it, even having to eat a fall to the outside to adjust the thing, namely because it keeps slipping on his face which I imagine would cause some issues doing high-risk flips. It's a weird design that's closer to the manga series it was inspired from, but also rather cumbersome. Mask tries for a bodyscissors flip and Cat's just like "nah man" and dumps him lol. Sayama does land a nice back suplex but Cat can't keep his shoulders down so they awkwardly roll out. That definitely felt like the intended finish as Mask just quickly snaps on a normal abdominal stretch to get the win abruptly right afterwards.

This starts fun but eventually it seems like Sayama gets a bit too sloppy on his end thanks to his dodgy mask diverting his attention, meaning he just can't get into a good grove here despite his obvious talent and the crowd wanting to cheer him. Cat looked solid for a Jr act at the time with some mean strikes and bombs. That said, purely here for management to test out Mask's capabilities against someone less talented than Kid, and the prognosis was....yes, but fix the mask! This wasn't particularly much worth checking out. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs Chris Adams (12.05.1981)

Another tune-up match for Mask, this time against a very young Chris Adams. Adams was also the apparent inventor of bad Young Bucks thigh-slap super kicks, though his are a bit more subtle and he doesn't overplay them for 20+ minutes. Despite this match only taking place four days later, they've already modified Sayama's mask to be less bulky, looking closer to the design that people generally associate him with. As the two are well known WoS workers they go into more of that kind of pace here than a typical Jr heavyweight showcase, focusing on arm locks, holds, and fancy ways to escape them: Sayama even pulls from his Sammy Lee days with some of his impressive transitions here, including backflipping out of a key lock and effortlessly springing to his feet after a quick small package attempt by Adams.

Of course we get the usual Tiger Mask spots for the time (the fancy kicks, the cross-chop, etc) and they are done very well, despite Adams' floaty selling at points. Adams gets to show off at bits as well, escaping a wheelbarrel position by crawling to the turnbuckle and climbing his body all the way to the top rope before then using the momentum to throw his opponent off; just that classic British Catch shit that looks goofy as anything, but you can appreciate the uniqueness of it here in comparison to everything else. Adams takes over with a throw to the outside, some more super kicks and a (very gentle) scoop slam to the floor. Eventually he tries for a comedic second rope diving headbutt by just leaning himself off the rope than jumping, which gets dodged, naturally. Adams gets knocked around a bit but uses his super kicks to keep distance; even with Sayama catching one, he reverses into a now-classic Enzuigiri counter with his other leg.

The finish is somewhat abrupt as Adams eats a dropkick before Sayama flips over the guy during a back suplex to throw on a early version of his Tiger Suplex-leg clutch variation, which gets the win. This was a pretty fun matchup that had Adams take up a surprising amount with fairly decent work on his end; he's not amazing or anything but he's a very safe and reliable worker that takes some generous bumps here given his youth, so he has more to work with in terms of how much he can throw himself around. Sayama looks better than his last match with Cat and seems a lot more energised, especially with him not needing to fix his mask every two seconds. He gets to show off a bit more versatility as well, throwing in some of that early hold work that'll quickly become a handy tool in his matches and incorporating his ability to work well from underneath. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Chris Adams & Mike Masters (04.06.1981)

This is clipped down to about 9 of the original 14 minute match, and mostly what is cut is interactions without Tiger Mask in the ring, so barely any Fujinami or Adams gets on tape: this is the case with both the official NJPW Tiger Mask collection and other variations. Masters by comparison is a very bland act that Sayama gets to play around, using some British Catch-lite arm spins and holds alongside the usual spots, including his sensational dropkick that gets ludicrous amounts of height from. We do get Fujinami for the end however as he tags in to beat down on Adams with a spinebuster set-up for Sayama to dive in with a top drop crossbody, kinda like a variation on a Hart Attack-style move with the set-up. But yeah, this was a pretty nothing match for what was shown, which was 90% just Tiger Mask being, well, Tiger Mask, only with someone who isn't that interesting a worker and so kinda just is a body to be outsmarted and thrown around. Great spots throughout and Masters plays well as the befuddled gaijin dragged in to battle against someone way out of his league. That said, lots of nothing beyond that and stunk of filler.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs Villano III (24.06.1981)

Yeah, this ruled: I'm kinda gutted these two didn't face off more often (only here and then a quick match later on). Very strongly paced lucha-action and for once it seems like Tiger Mask actually has some competition as the two tend with a mix of holds and high-flying, but it's actually logical and makes sense to the pacing of the match as the two use it to either maintain or change positions as the defender or pusher, rather than merely to speed the match up. They actually built off spots as well: Sayama would get caught by a backwards headscissors early by Villano, for example, and when he'd try for it the next time it would get countered, like it's obviously pretty simple but they build off that simple work to more complex sequences down the line. We also do get more fast-paced stuff as the two seamlessly go from move to flip to move to flip again with ease, with some really innovative work for the time.

Of course there's the slower bits but the two don't sit in holds too much and it's built around pacing to the more back-and-forth sequences eventually. Sayama was in peak condition here, just moving with unreal speed and accuracy in some points here that at some moments just makes his opponent look almost outdated by comparison. Villano very smartly works this into the match by getting progressively more annoyed that this kid is working circles around him, eventually having to work himself up bad to escape a simple arm wrench with a ton of aggressive flipping, which Sayama sarcastically claps afterwards. They get over this rather bravely with a extended Nishimura-style Surfboard spot, with the crowd eating it up when Sayama manages to overpower the guy and the two go into some fancy lucha pins before resetting. They then go into more submissions, namely a cool figure four that they milk with some good Villano selling; him also reversing the hold before then holding himself up with his arms for more leverage was a REALLY small but good spot that I haven't honestly seen done since in such a cool manner.

Seeing the crowd pop for Sayama simply reversing a headlock just shows how well they paced this out given that fact; they aren't just quietly waiting for the next burst of action, this slower-paced, drawn out technique has them engaged as well, perhaps even more in places given the reactions. They go almost non-stop between reversals, arm drags, flips, and some big near falls that the crowd bit for immensely. Sayama gets his spots in, but they don't feel dominating or forced, especially given Villano is a actual threat here and can sneak back in with his own counters at any point. Crowd pop hard for a big apron springboard to the outside which is treated as a actual dangerous move as Villano can't get in afterwards, so Mask wins via count-out which was a expected finish for this time and will happen a lot in these matches. Absolutely check this out if you can; despite it slowing a bit with some holds it never loses that allure of these two just having good chemistry and a natural pace to the spots used as opposed to mindlessly spamming them out. This is a super rare look into Villano's prime and simply put, he became a instant favourite for me from how he worked this match and balanced getting his own shit with making Sayama look like the clear superior. Just so much fun and a shame this isn't more well-known because I'd say this is on bar with the Dynamite Kid stuff if not even more ambitious in places.

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Scorpio (02.08.1981)

Scorpio is another enhancement talent mid-card lucha lad and isn't very good here outside of some cartoonish selling when his attempts to ground Mask fail. He has some moments where it's just him fumbling behind while the crowd awes at Sayama just wrecking his shit with the usual crazy spots and makes a fool out of him over and over. Of course Scorpio is to lose, but he makes sure to make his opponent look pretty great with his fumbling in the process despite his best attempts to keep Mask down on the mat and winded. This would be the first of many B-show "roadblock" matches paced like this. I did think Sayama going for a Indian Deathlock of all things was pretty weird but he made it work given the conditions and he'll make it a regular feature moving from here. Finish has Mask overshoot for a top rope sunset flip, forcing Scorpio to kinda flop after him a bit to get into position.

It's a bit weird as Scorpio seemingly kicks out near the end (and he does to be fair, he gets the shoulders up) but it gets counted anyway. This was a pretty nothing match outside of just making Sayama look good, which, like.....he's already fairly great at already. Scorpio is a decent stooge and bumps well for the better man, but his stooging is a bit too good as there's no tension at all here as a result and you quickly lose interest. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Scorpio II (06.08.1981)

Cut down to six minutes. Scorpio again! He's still not really that good, but his goofy antics keep him a entertaining foil to the young Tiger Mask, a Saturday morning cartoon villain that the hero just easily runs though despite some shortcomings. He's a good stooge, at least, bumping all over the place and pulling some dirty antics to try to stop the inevitable. We get a decent mat-exchange before a pretty cool bit where Scorpio's second rope backwards crossbody is countered into a mid-air dropkick by Sayama before he effortlessly snaps on a Tiger Suplex (one of the first, in fact) before effortlessly bending right back up when he gets the pin. Fine enough for a short outing, these two work pretty decent together and Scorpio bumps good for the lad, which is all you can ask from enhancement talent. This suffers from the same issues as the last match but if you want to see more of the two (for some reason) then this'll satisfy any cravings.

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ El Solitaro vs. Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata (21.08.1981)

This is almost cheating given it's only two minutes, and half of it is a Brazo Oro control-segment with the big highlight being a big backdrop on Solitaro. Plata comes in to add a powerslam, but then Solitaro just....walks off all of the damage quite literally, skipping towards the tag to Mask. Plata tries to keep him under control but a cross-chop and missed dropkick into Butterfly Suplex is enough to pin Plata rather easily. As stated, I'm not a fan of ranking things with so little, and this is a pure example of it, two minutes is nothing.

RANK: ???

 

Vs. Brazo de Oro (28.08.1981)

This is working off the Brazo feud that'll continue for a bit, with about 4 and a half minutes of this intact. Oro definitely fits that "roadblock" format that I discussed with Scoprio prior as Oro spends most of his control segment on the leg of Sayama and basically sitting on it. Of course this doesn't go anywhere and he makes sure to no-sell by landing a Savate kick right afterwards, but still, it's something. There's a entertaining bit of gaff as Oro celebrates Mask catching him out with a hug and raising his hand; of course this turns out to be a ambush as he goes right into a heavy German suplex that gets a 2-count but is then reversed into a headscissors. Oro actually has Mask slightly outpaced here with the usage of a cross-chop and dropkick to keep him unsteady, but his crossbody is countered into a gutbuster, and then into a really gnarly tilt-a-whirl inverse backbreaker from the German suplex position, looked rough in a good way. Even though there's lot of this out there, I still thought it was a entertaining romp that manages to show off what Oro could do when not with his brothers or in tags. Mask doesn't really change course from his usual routine outside of more nasty slams and whatnot in response to Oro's cheeky antics.

RANK: Decent

 

 

W/ Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. El Solitario & Pete Roberts (04.09.1981)

This is actually intact compared to other showings at the time, which is a good thing considering who's involved. Solitario and Mask exchange some holds but it's mostly here to have some of the usual Mask spots and Solitario bumping around for the lad, not really to progress anything. Roberts also adds a lot of British flair to the occasion with a lot of oldie Catch work between them and Fujinami, which if you like then it definitely hits that mark given the two have some slick counters and now how to pace out their stuff well. We also get a good few just fast-paced Jr style sequences where we get move after move in very quick fashion, which despite seeming archaic in comparison to today still have a charm and level of struggle that is missing a lot from more workrate-centred matches.

I also thought Roberts and Sayama especially had good chemistry as they go seamlessly between arm lock transitions, with Sayama showing off that signature showmanship as he outsmarts the vet at his own game; Roberts having some WoS-style pantomime selling as he slams the mat in frustration and gives small yells of surprise when caught out but never overtly goes over the top to make it all about him either. We get a speedy finish as Fuji and everyone else go at full tilt with move after move, with Roberts and co suffering a loss after Solitario's crossbody is taken by the latter instead by mistake, allowing Fuji to land a swift sunset flip for the win.

This had some solid technical work (even if it doesn't go really anywhere, it's still good in isolation) alongside a surprisingly fast pace that would fit even in modern matches just fine. Fuji despite his obviously well-done work felt more or less like a afterthought here to Mask, who astonishes with some amazing spots and works well with both members of the other team who are fine enough in their respective roles and don't feel like afterthoughts. Really fun showing for what it's worth and a fascinating blend of styles.

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Fujinami Vs. Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata (09.09.1981)

The Brazo brothers are entertaining foils for the more straight ace duo of Fujinami and Mask, and this was when they were in decent shape and not grossly over the hill physically like their more known 90's stuff. The match itself is pretty by the numbers; the Brazo brothers have some tricky holds to slap on but let's just face it, they weren't going to win this by a mile. It was interesting seeing Plata actually not be ridiculously overweight here and not be the butt of the joke a la Super Porky, instead being a competent lucha worker with some goofy bumps here and there, including a VERY rare slingshot spot that doesn't end with the guy hitting the ropes or turnbuckle.

The start and some of the middle work mostly clean before we get a funny sequence where the Brazo brothers keep trying to double team Fujinami, only for him to dodge and they end up getting the other brother instead; it's a really early example of their slapstick shtick in full effect and glorious to witness, even if it's fairly common. After this the match structure goes into more of a conventional one as the Brazo lads use interference and skirt the rules to try to keep things grounded, raking at Sayama's mask or biting Fuji. Bar one or two top rope spots (that honestly, didn't look great) they mostly stick to that gameplan.

Admittedly this part of the match is a bit dull as we go into a lot of mostly heatless working holds that don't really mean a whole as well as the occasional explosion of action by the natives. Now the heel work by the Brazo lads was actually pretty smart in places; feigning a snapmare to yank on the mask of Sayama or Oro using the excuse of a abdominal stretch to land some sneaky shots on the groin are good small spots, it's a shame the crowd don't really bite for any of it though and really aren't interested in these two whatsoever, even interested enough to boo. Sayama botches his turnbuckle flip again (noticeably damaging his hand to a unknown extent) but recovers eventually to land a surprisingly good looking Uranage.

Finish seemed very abrupt as Mask quickly lands a German suplex right afterwards and everyone kinda awkwardly looks at each other like this wasn't the finish; maybe it was, but it seemed very much improvised given the lack of build and how sudden it felt. That said, this was a decent match, just that it doesn't have the best crowd for it: not even a prime Tiger Mask seems to get them going much, which is really saying something given the shit he'll have to deal with. Fuji is a fine enough hand and the Brazo bros throw in some decent color as foreign foils, with good heel work. Once again, the crowd is the main issue, as was the bad finish.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Brazo de Plata (17.09.1981)

Yeah this match is a LOT better than the tag they had last week, thanks to a better crowd and more overt antics. The Brazo lads are great at the kind of silly wrestling pantomime that takes surprising amounts of skill to pull off successfully, and this was them way before their popularity prime in the 90's. At first they wrestle clean but Mask just completely dominates Plata though arm work or countering any attempts to take control with his usual sensational spots, giving zero leeway for Plata to even remotely get a sniff in beyond some occasional slow-down holds. I did notice however that he occasionally favoured his hand: the same hand that he had noticeably damaged last week during a botched turnbuckle spot.

This wouldn't mean much usually but Sayama was not a particularly great long-term seller, which makes me think he had something still going on with it at the time. Plata mostly keeps to rest-holds and occasional faster moments if only to shut down his far faster opponent. the Brazo bros quickly resort to dirty antics; these were somewhat comedic, as Oro tries standing in for his brother despite being a good bit smaller and looking completely different with his golden mask and sleeve lol. Of course they try other petty things like a sneak attack off a "hey let's make up" hug, but of course he gets outsmarted again as Sayama is wise to their pretty predictable attempts at cheating and Plata is too stupid to realise Oro tried the same spot already. The second half is a long heat segment by Plata, and while the tension is noticeable from the audience this time Plata's work is a bit lacking, mostly going into working hold into working hold without much rhyme or reason but it builds good enough to a great comeback from Sayama all the way to the finish that it almost gets forgotten despite that fact, with just a lot of speed and hard-hitting agility all coming so fast that you can at times be overwhelmed.

It's a good match in terms of that kind of showcase, but I did think there was a real lack of big offence from Plata, and like many of Sayama's opponents at the time, he doesn't feel like a tangible threat for the prodigy. Maybe that's literally him suffering from success given how wildly fantastic he is bar the selling, but either way you never really buy him in true danger, which does diminish the heat spots given that inevitable conclusion. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Fuji vs. El Solitario & Solar (18.09.1981)

Clipped to six minutes. This is mostly to get over the impending Solar/Mask encounter the week after this as he's the lucha villain of the week, so naturally we start with those two and it's just hold-exchanging, standard lucha stuff with not much urgency added. Solitario takes most of the offence while Mask and co are more 50/50. Solar gets rocked with some kicks and even a cool extended sequence where the two dodge and parry strikes and moves from the other, including Solar dodging a uppercut and escaping a Tiger Suplex, which was not common at that time. Sayama botches his turnbuckle corner Tiger Wall Flip bad, so instead he has to land some equally bad strikes to knock his opponent out of the ring. Everyone brawls, Solar misses a dive and hits his partner instead but it doesn't matter because everyone is too busy throwing bad punches to the chest to care. Nothing match outside of the Solar/Mask interactions, felt very low-effort by everyone involved and a definite product of what happens when you have a lot of talent that just can't be bothered getting the other to better things.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Solar (23.09.1981) 

This is the infamous "bad shoulder " match as Solar seemingly majorly hurt his shoulder during this match and like a big babyface, Sayama immediately works on it alongside everything else. The injury looks like it's caused when Sayama does his signature escape out of the arm wrench with his flips; he slips with the arm wrench pull at the end, and that slip causes Solar's shoulder to be put in a rather uncomfortable position; you can see him immediately shaking it and clearly having issues, but he's still able to move around fine and the two have a good chemistry going between them for a few more minutes until the shoulder seems to get worse as he takes some bumps off it.

Some have tried to say that Solar put on this supposed shoulder injury to try to rationalise losing to Tiger Mask, but I don't see it given how this is still worked; it's not like the bad shoulder is especially worked on during the match, hell it doesn't get touched nearly at all until the very end. Either way, it does somewhat harm the match as Solar has to just outright not do sequences because his shoulder is so bad. You can definitely tell Sayama gets impatient as he prances around and is consistently either looking at the ref like "wtf do I do here?" or getting annoyed because Solar teases just leaving altogether at one point with a count-out tease, which felt weird and not at all planned, especially with all of the Young Lion guys at ringside trying to get him back in. Eventually he just goes "fuck this" and smacks him around with a long series of kicks, some clearly not as worked as others and some aimed right at the bad side. He tries pulling for the shoulder a few times, but Solar just yells and refuses to give him any of it due to the supposed pain. Sayama goes back to kicks, before trying for his usual German for the finish: Solar ain't taking that and immediately goes down to his knees, so instead he just gets stuck with a double wrist lock that Sayama stubbornly applies until Solar submits. 

This was starting to look good, but eventually went ugly after the supposed shoulder injury, even if we do get some nice comedy out of Tiger Mask going from this uber-babyface to grumpy guy kicking a one-armed masked lucha dude and attempting to snap his arm. That's probably worth the watch alone, but the two work good for the first 6 minutes before the injury gets really bad, even if it's nothing particularly mind-blowing. Fun for what it was, but a mess nonetheless.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Masked Hurricane (08.10.1981)

Lol this is some classic carny shit here. "Masked Hurricane" is Bobby Lee, and this is a Mask vs Mask match.....only this is the only match that Lee ever wrestled with the aforementioned moniker up to this very point. Lee is the obvious heel here as he lands a early cheap shot during a handshake. Mask takes over the early halves with some really creative lucha-style submissions, including a half-botch where he does his Tiger Spin spot but Lee falls backwards instead of forwards, which while obviously wasn't planned actually made it look more painful despite it being a simple leg-vice. The two trade holds before Lee bites the hand to escape a Misawa-style head crank.

The two go into some hard chest chops before Lee tries showing off with some successive kip-ups, but ends up eating a big dropkick for his troubles. Lee offers another handshake but it's legit this time. He tries taking Mask down to the mat but ends up caught in a creative heel hook instead. Lee gets bullied as Mask dominates with his usual spots, as well as a bit where he legitimately just spams out about six dropkicks over and over never-ending before catching the guy in a weird modified backbreaker, which Lee screams afterwards. This is also the finish, bizarrely, as he submits to this. Post-match has him unmask and him initially covering up his face before eventually relenting and shaking Sayama's hand after the fact.

As a match this didn't have much tension because Lee literally had no buildup before this and you could tell from the real lack of reaction from the crowd outside of when the spots were being pulled out. I did think this was a alright showing of both men as they got to really wiggle around on the mat and show off a bit. Honestly Lee here felt kinda like the 80's version of Kendo Kashin here what with the handshake shtick, the hand biting, focus on holds and eye raking all being shit you'd expect from him. As a Mask showcase it does the job, and you can see the beginnings of his more mat-based technique here with his focus on leg holds and submissions: obviously none of it is particularly realistic to modern day, but you can see where that would lead him in the UWF and whatnot, and Sayama certainly isn't half-bad at it given his background. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. El Texano (16.10.1981)

Cut by just a minute. Texano is here for a filler lucha of the week foil for Tiger Mask and the two get some nice work done despite the short time. Texano focuses on some really innovative holds, including a sideways Surfboard and a remarkably early usage of what appears to be a STO: way before it was popularised as a wrestling move it seems. Texano slaps on the rough holds until Sayama quickly escapes with a arm wrench and snappy savate kick. What do I like is how the two interact here: yes it comes across as a Mask showcase in places with just how overbearingly innovative Tiger Mask was at this time, but Texano always makes sure to add in some things here and there to show he isn't just a passive idiot gawking at the guy; in a particularly good sequence Mask knocks Texano around with a fancy arm drag out of a backbreaker attempt before pulling for a fast Frankensteiner, but a third attempt at the same counter has Texano put a stop to that with a nasty powerbomb to shut him down.

Sayama sells....for about 10 seconds anyway, before he's back to just doing bonkers high-spots. We do slow down a bit and even see a early UWF Super Tiger emerge as Sayama slaps on a cross armbreaker after Texano kicks out of a pin, albeit it's super lax as per the standards of the time. Texano takes over with a spinebuster, headbutts to the stomach and more mid-section work to prep for his second rope senton (it's actually hold work that builds to something!) but misses. Texano goes all shoot-style with a judo throw and double wrist lock attempt before landing a wicked tilt-a-whirl Tombstone perfectly, shit looked stiff as anything. That gets a near fall and the crowd react pretty well, showing that he's actually looking like a threat as opposed to a lot of other opponents. 

Sayama counters a backdrop into a perfect flip onto his feet, dropkicks, feints a dropkick attempt into a quick cartwheel before getting on his own tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (one of the first of its kind) for the win. This was actually pretty good despite only being 8 minutes, with a strong flavour of submissions and innovative sequences between the pair. Texano is pretty good and incorporates a surprising amount of pseudo-shoot style into the mix, making for a real interesting opposition to Sayama's crazy flips and masterful athleticism. Quite enjoyable romp and one that really showcases a wild mix between Sayama's bonkers atheticism and his more grounded side when facing off with someone talented enough to wrestle him down.

RANK: Good

 

W/ Gran Hamada vs El Signo & Negro Navarro (23.10.1981)

This is cut down to about five minutes, but it's a decent burst of action out of the young Los Misioneros de la Muerte duo as they gang up on a baby-faced Hamada with a double team Snake Eyes onto the steel guardrail to Hamada. He's generally used as the scrappy underdog that gets beat up while Mask is the big boss who knocks around the rudo duo with some good spots outsmarting or outpacing them, with Signo having to use double-team antics to keep him under control. Hamada looks great when he has to dive up and over Tiger Mask during a submission to catch Navarro right on the nose with a crossbody, and his fiery dive to the outside looked good. Despite some resistance Navarro is quickly put down with a springboard corner crossbody and tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for the pin. Nothing special but for what was seen, this was a standard filler lucha tag that got over both sides fairly well despite not really having much time to actually establish any ring-work outside of spots.

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kengo Kimura vs. El Signo & Negro Navarro (30.10.1981) 

This is drastically cut down on the official collection, but you can find the full match with some digging. Kimura is a bit awkward given his sheer height difference to everyone else here but he does fine with the task at hand with a lot of hold-wangling, albeit is mostly here to do the bumping and big selling for the heels. The Los Misioneros de la Muerte duo are decent enough foils, but don't particularly shine when paired up against someone as unique and dynamic as Mask himself, who steals a lot of their thunder with his routine and some big spots; this is of course by design but regardless is somewhat of a general issue when trying to find good foils for the lad. Naturally we get the usual lucha comedy routine where the rudos keep bashing into each other with moves alongside them just bumping all over the place for the guy, especially Navarro who takes a few beatings and stooges a fair bit. La Muerte take over in the middle half, namely bullying Kimura and slamming him into the guardrail.

They do the same to Mask after ganging up on him as well: they pull out a few variations of Snake Eyes, namely on the guardrail itself and on the ropes in a repeat spot to their last match together. Crowd are really hot for him to make a comeback, and when he does they really get loud for the guy: it's only been about 6 months of showings but the Tiger Mask shtick is already well over, helped by the heels just grubbing it up with their dirty antics and some really great bursts of action from Sayama in particular when he's having to get around them. We also interestingly get the heels playing around with his mask a bit, which is a gimmick that won't get incredibly popular until two years later. The finish is abrupt as Kimura lands a piledriver on Signo and then ducks to allow Mask to land a big top rope sunset flip for the win. 

This was fairly by the numbers but there's some good lucha work from La Muerte as they get their brawling heel shtick over, contrasting well with the babyfaces with their smooth and measured ringwork. It's a bit of a shame that they couldn't work as consistent opponents for Tiger Mask given they have much better chemistry than some of his slower opponents. Regardless, I thought this was surprisingly strong for a outing, and really showed already how crazy over Sayama was with the crowd already. Kimura was a decent hand, but didn't really do a whole lot that was memorable outside of the occasional big move; his material in-between felt like classic salad dressing, nothing much to it. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs Gran Hamada (05.11.1981)

Hamada is probably the first act since Villano III that can't just be ran over, especially given he's also a babyface. Unlike Mask's dazzling stuff, Hamada while capable of the same high spots is more inclined to sit on the mat and wear his opponent down with holds, albeit these aren't really sold or build to anything like modern watchers would be inclined to think, it's just general wear-down work. They do a good job of showing Hamada's danger early as he's able to match Mask with flips, but can also just outright power him out of his own when the chance comes around, including just slamming him down early when he tries for a arm wrench. I typically hate stuff like the double dropkick but it works here given Hamada's general abilities can keep pace with his opponent on virtually everything, even seemingly off the cuff moves. 

Now, I can definitely see why people might not be the biggest fans of this; there's a lot of just grabbing onto limbs like arms or legs, but nothing comes of it ultimately and it is a fair part of this....but for me, even though the stuff like the leg work is basically ignored, there's still a great sense of drama as they make the holds into a struggle in and of themselves, how they escape from them but also try to push for offence right afterwards. Like small stuff like Mask closing his legs during a sun-set to hurt Hamada and break the hold or doing a full arch to escape a headscissors and reverse into a bow and arrow by turning it inside out; that's the kind of work I like to see, just small elements that add to a bigger presentation. They also get meaner over time, starting with conventional holds and soon escalating to angry slaps and big strikes. Hamada is the better of the two when it comes to communicating aggression: you can tell when he starts to take shit seriously, how he goes from trying to outwork Mask to just landing big bombs without much care before trying to cool off and stick to the gameplan of mat-work, but he can't resist throwing some stiff ass chops sometimes. He bumps incredibly for his opponent as well, just making him look like a world-ender with some of the big bumps he'd take from a regular roundhouse or whatever.

There's some bits where the two just kinda fumble a bit or don't look great, but those are few and far between and frankly don't really detract from the match itself given it's all about one-upmanship and a slow increasing of the moves until it reaches the peak. Hamada has his own range of tricks as does Mask to put the other way, but they manage to shake off everything the other has until Hamada has to fully go full-tilt with dives, one though the ropes and then a failed one from the top rope that Mask dodges, allowing him to get back in the ring before Hamada can for the win. Now I'll be honest: Hamada here as a wrestler has the better selling, and he has the better holds at this moment and time; he also gets over the kind of internal drive to show he can beat this big shot at his own game, and you almost believe that from how well he does throughout this, being able to take on Mask in every comparison that counts and then some. Even though Sayama isn't selling anything for a sustained amount of time, the drama presented here is more than enough to make up for that. "ahead of its time" is a overused phrase, but outside of the slower moments this really felt like a pure example of that, what with the big spot sequences paired with engaging storytelling though those spots. Arguably one of the few times I can honestly say Tiger Mask wasn't the bigger deal in a match!

RANK: Great

 

W/ Fuji Vs. El Canek & Super Maquina (01.12.1981)

Shown in full. This is to hype up Canek for a upcoming singles match against Mask, so the focus is on them here. Super Maquina immediately sticks out with his big American Football outfit, kinda looking like WCW Norman Smiley lol. You get what he's going for here; he's a bigger and taller dude than Mask and co, so he can just pick up and hurl the guy into different holds and the like; Mask needs to flip and move around to get a good edge, to unsteady the guy. Canek and Fuji have about the same dynamic, with them working a more conventional format as they exchange working holds and some good counters. Fuji gets the chance to show off with big running headscissors takedowns and even a Dragon Screw to both lads when they charge in, which was a fairly cool spot. Canek gets in finally with Mask after Maquina gets dominated with Mask's flippy shit, and he has a funny bit where he's just miming a bouncing ball and kicking it, obviously in reference to Sayama and his flippy shit.

Indeed he does manage to get this done somewhat by getting good height with a military press and squishing him with a running elbow, as well as literally swinging him around in a choke. Canek and co get into more heel antics with distractions, eye raking, etc, but it never gets over the top or overbearing like the Brazo bros or whatever. Canek gets in a great running neckbreaker alongside Fuji throwing out some good fundamentals and actually selling, with Mask getting in at the last few minutes to fight Canek again, but the lad runs away after getting caught up in another burst of crazy high-flying from Sayama. Maquina tries to clean up but gets beat up with kicks and a awesome double team spot where Fuji goes for a slingshot while Mask lands a top rope crossbody. Fuji lands a quick brainbuster to finish this up, post-match has Canek threaten the two to lead into the aforementioned singles.

This was a good bit of fun despite the limitations at the time; selling and the concept of a hot tag don't really exist here, so some might be bugged out by that. I thought personally that this was pretty solid for a random undercard, with Canek and co having a unique powerhouse contrast to Fuji and co's flippy workrate. Quite well put together and Tiger Mask as always is a treat to watch around this time, with Fuji getting to show off more as well rather than stay in the sidelines with mostly set-up work or selling to build for a Mask hot-tag. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. El Canek (08.12.1981)

Mask comes in with Young Lions holding him up and getting flowers but Canek runs out and slams his head onto the turnbuckle when he tries to get in. Sayama shockingly actually sells the attack quite well, with Canek cocky while Mask is hunched over and clearly hurting, staying away from him for a bit when the match starts to recover. The next part is either genius or Sayama botching: he keeps trying for his hip toss counter where he lands on his feet and lands a arm drag, but he just can't do it despite trying a few times, which could have been his attempt to sell the bad arm. He does land his handspring splash and cross chop though, so maybe just a botch after-all. 

Canek uses strikes and wear-down holds, including a Cobra Clutch, which was pretty cool to see. You start to see more kick-based offence from Mask here as he throws a body shot before landing one from the apron. While this looked cool, it seemed to fuck his foot here as he starts hoppling around when he gets into the ring. He seems to eventually shake this off but it does mean more sitting in holds as a result. It got the crowd going though with chants, especially when he gets stuck in a Gory Special: so it did work ultimately. Mask eventually throws out more kicks and snaps out a figure-four. This follows into more leg work out of a Tiger Spin into a Indian Deathlock, but the lads botch a attempt at a bow and arrow. They do manage throw out a lovely Mexican Stretch though so fair play.

They pick up the pace well in the last few minutes as Sayama starts throwing out the big bombs, including a nasty Butterfly and back suplex. An attempt at a cradle pin is countered by Canek smartly back into his Cobra Clutch, which wears down Mask long enough to throw out a impressive military press gutbuster for a near fall. He throws out a second with a elbow drop for the same result. A third? Countered, but Canek still gets a running neckbreaker for another near fall. Finish has Sayama dodge a big crossbody from Canek before going for his signature Tiger Feint, then quickly bounding off the top rope for a huge crossbody to the floor in a pretty epic spot. He tries for another, but Canek catches and slams him to the mat. He can't get back in due to the lad holding onto his foot, causing a double count out.

This was expected: El Canek has a rep for politicking so he certainly wasn't losing or looking bad here at all. That said, this was a solid match where the holds made sense and you can see the gears of Sayama's Tiger Mask persona working as he throws out his soon to be infamous big kicks, as well as early versions of some future spots. He's great here, actually selling a fair bit and really bumping for Canek's big bombs. Canek obviously doesn't really sell a whole lot for the younger lad, but he's undeniably got his role down pat as a lucha powerhouse who can just muscle people around, even if his actual range is somewhat limited and more or less propped up by his opponent flying around for him. Finish sucked, but I enjoyed this nonetheless. 

RANK: Good

 

===========

That's the end of the first part and also of 1981; next up is 1982, in which the Tiger quickly becomes one of the biggest acts in NJPW.....will he have the opponents to match, or more lucha filler?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

Part 2

===========

W/ Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Abdullah The Butcher, Baby Face & Dynamite Kid (08.01.1982)

It does say a lot that Sayama has went from a undercard lad to now showing up with the bigger draws for this special beginning of year scrum. This does have some good bits out of him as he gets to show off against Baby Face, but the main focus is obviously on the Inoki/Abby feud and so this match just devolves into lots of brawling and cheap shots out of the heel camp. Of course Fuji is the guy who has to eat the most offence given Inoki and Mask certainly aren't, so he's in that really inevitable third-wheel position of having to feed and bump for the bigger acts. He still gets in his licks with him and Kid especially having some real scrappy moments with lots of legit aggression behind them, angry slaps and snappy takedowns. There's some decent heel work as the trio have to use some dirty chokes and double teaming to handle the more dangerous threats; it's definitely a Abby-paced match in that the whole thing looks to be in danger of falling apart at any moment, lots of basic ring-work with the occasional bit where things calm down.

Baby Face is earmarked as the weak link very early on, and it doesn't take long for the Jr lads to take him down for a pinfall after a lovely Fuji slingshot into Tiger Mask top rope crossbody for a break-up, before everyone brawls; Abby and co are too busy trying to get to Inoki to stop Baby Face getting pinned off a subsequent brainbuster, as well as Kid being blasted with kicks by Mask and sent to the outside. Abby also dumps Inoki into chairs but he inevitably doesn't bother selling it much, leading into the second fall after a minute break. The heels take over with the typical heel-cut off sthick, lots of strikes, lots of dirty shit. We get a brief glance at Abby vs Tiger Mask, which while obviously weird as a matchup is....honestly something I'd be morbidly interested in seeing, especially so when Mask is hurling huge kicks and shit and Abby is just no-selling and shaking him off like a absolute monster until Inoki joins in for a double dropkick; super fun bit, probably the highlight out of all of this. The match falls apart after this as Abby brings in SD Jones and Bad News Allen to attack Inoki with a guardrail, ending this in a inevitable DQ. 

This was pretty much just a regular house-show style NJPW main event, with the only differences being the Jr heavyweights having more of a spotlight despite still being second fiddle to Inoki and co: everyone came in for a bit to do their usual stuff, no one really shone much at all outside of small previews of feuds between the three. I will say that Kid was obviously the best workrate wise out of the three, but Baby Face is enjoyable as he's just this dorky rudo who can't get much done himself and needs his partners to back up him basically all the time, he bumps cartoonish at points and is generally rather entertaining. Everyone else basically did next to nothing; I think Inoki especially did very little outside of some strikes and a dropkick, sold maybe for a minute or so but other than that, nothing. Mask and Fuji are a good pair but don't get a ton to shine with bar the ending spots respectfully. All in all, a pretty forgettable match but if you want a scrappy showing with some random teams put together then this'll fit the bill.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Halcon 78 (10.01.1982)

Halcon is known as one of Sayama's less impressive foils during his NJPW run, more or less sent to job to him endlessly in pretty non-descript matchups. This is their first encounter together. It's definitely one of those "sit in holds" matches for the most part, which is disappointing. Not to say that it is bad or anything; Halcon is surprisingly decent when it comes to working a roadblock-lite style against any flippy stuff and making it at least interesting; but it isn't immensely engaging given it leads to no real endgame. Halcon throws out some Fujiwara armbars alongside double wrist locks, and Sayama matches his pace with a nice Catch Carvat and a pretty damn good Uranage. Halcon goes into more goofy strikes as he lands weird chops that just doesn't look very good at all. Mask bumps well for them but you can really tell how bad they look regardless.

Some moments of this feel just disjointed as Halcon throws Mask out of the ring....does nothing and then he comes back in like 10 seconds later with no fanfare, or when Halcon randomly goes for two backdrops in a row because Sayama has to counter the second to do his fancy backflip and dropkick spot. Halcon starts randomly going heel as he throws out some chokes and brawls outside; Halcon seems to attempt to scoop slam him onto the mat but Sayama's basically like "doesn't work for me brother" so they awkwardly drop the spot and go back. He sells...for about 10 seconds before just going in and instantly recovering to snap on a full Nelson. Halcon counts well into a good head/arm lock so I guess it's ok. He tries for a weird backwards facing crossbody that obviously misses. Mask lands a springboard during a sequence that is equally as awkward lol.

Last third is a bit strange as they start to not really cooperate or get generally clunky with the other for a minute or so: the rest of the match was mostly smooth if a bit shaky in places, but this felt especially sloppy for some reason. Eventually they get better as Mask slaps on a early usage of a Crossface Chickenwing but it goes nowhere, it's just here as a rest hold. Finish is not the most conventional as Halcon runs away from a dive, gets in and immediately gets hit with shots before Halcon does a terrible delayed tumble to sell before he just gets back up and stands still, then gets caught in a German suplex for the pin. This had the usual Tiger Mask big spots in but the work outside of that was rather poor in places: Halcon isn't very good here and struggles to pace things in a natural way, leading to a lot of really stiff sequences that feel artificial. Maybe it's the language difference, maybe he's just not good in general. Either way I didn't like this very much at all outside of the occasional ok-looking sequence, way too many lulls combined with a real lack of chemistry.

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid (22.01.1982)

This of course has one of the earliest Bret appearances on the record; remarkably young here at 25 years old. He's teaming with Dynamite given they already had history together down in Stampede. Hoshino looks young as well but he's actually a 20+ year vet who's just about to reach his 40's: he'll go on to be the manager of Makai Club in a campy role much later on in his career and have a weird banger with Gedo in his 60's, watch that shit. Anyway, he's competent in the ring and combines some good comedy with occasional nice spots here and there; he's a solid enough worker given what he's given with in terms of who he's paired up against and works fine as a good hand in these conditions. Naturally the real reason this match exists is to get over the impending Kid/Mask WWF title match just six days later, so they get some heated exchanges.

Bret mostly just follows Kid's lead and works basically as his shadow, even incorporating his own headbutts into the mix. While he's certainly not a bad wrestler, he has a long way to go before he even starts reaching his 90's peak as he's rather non-descript and doesn't really have anything to put to the table outside of a limitation of Dynamite Kid without any of the big athletic spots or technical skill to go along with it, and he does have his moments where his youth shines though with some awkwardly done moves, especially with Mask as they lumber around a bit (like he moves way too fast for the rebound cross chop, so Sayama gets no momentum off it because by the time he comes off the ropes, Bret is basically in breathing space-tier close to him). Kid and Mask obviously have the best exchanges here, bounding effortlessly between bit to bit; even if Sayama seems slightly off in places like he's waiting for a cue to go to the next sequence. They work a good narrative as Mask outmatches Kid in-ring, so he has to take things to the outside and use Bret to wear down the guy, pulling out cheap antics to avoid having to scrap fairly. This is put over super strong by him happily bullying Hoshino but literally running for the tag when Mask comes in to face off, it's real simple but works great. 

There's some definite dodgy Sayama selling as he eats a big beatdown from both men on top of a Bret piledriver, but all it takes is Hoshino breaking up the pin for him to suddenly spring to life with a savate kick, even if he does stagger around a bit afterwards this is pretty much ignored when he hurls out a huge dropkick and just tags in to his partner. The lead-in to the finish has Bret get knocked around and cheat with some choking, doing a wonderfully safe apron suplex to the outside for a quick brawl. Despite his best efforts to control the match, eventually he goes for one too many bombs as his suplex is countered into a inverse Frankensteiner, which Mask then throws in some slaps to get him into a Victory Star pin for the finish. This was actually pretty good for what was essentially just a tease for bigger matchups to come: the MVP by far is Dynamite Kid, perfectly balancing great work with equal gusto as well; he's just such a grumpy bastard where he's just having a moan at the ref, always throwing cheap shots when he can sneak one in, yelling all the time, it's so much fun. Bret as stated does fine but you can feel the inexperience badly off him despite not having any huge botches. Hoshino is a treat for what he has to do, which is fairly little outside of occasional big bumping and his few spots that he has, he's fine for the role given and gives good color to Sayama when he shows up to save the day with his usual big bombastic sequences....even if he's in more danger than usual to get over the two potential title stealers. solid stuff, definitely worth a watch.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Bret Hart (05.02.1982)

You know those matches where it features a wrestler before they becomes famous and you think "wow, no wonder they got where they ended up" yeah this wasn't one of those lol. Bret admittedly had a fair bit of nepotism from his father's rep which got him gigs that he honestly shouldn't have gotten, which isn't a dig at anything but it does rub off badly here in my opinion. Not to say he was bad himself, but he certainly wasn't "title contender" levels either. Bret works a very generic Gaijin heel style that's not very fitting of him at all, though he does do it as cleanly as you would imagine a Bret foreign heel performance to look like. I did like Sayama getting some attitude in response with some skirting of the rules, some delayed rope breaks, etc, never fully going overboard but not taking any shit either. 

The main issue is that the crowd never truly bites into the match, never truly sees Bret as a actual genuine contender who could steal the title away from Tiger Mask; sure, you get occasional crowd chants for him, but there's never a big burst of heat anywhere here to justify the slow (and believe me, this is SLOW.) pace. Bret has always been a good seller and he in turn really gets over Mask's usual limb work great with his pained screams and whatnot, it's just that his arsenal of moves here are rather bad for a supposed top Jr contender: I get he's a heel, but we've already had multiple lucha wrestlers work the same heel dynamic far better despite having a bigger set of moves to fall back on, as well as obviously Dynamite Kid just outright doing Bret's job better. The action was completely carried by his opponent in that department. The match for me felt listless, never really kicking off proper and always playing it safe with a stop/start pace to it, whenever it got interesting we'd go back to sitting in holds or punch/kick shit.

It gets better around about 20 minutes in (which is really saying something about a Bret/Mask match lol) as Sayama hurls out more risky dives, including a great bit where he hops from the apron to the top rope in a instant to land a dropkick when Bret tries running off the ropes to knock him off. The finish has him just land a Butterfly Suplex afterwards for the win, which did feel abrupt despite the big spot before it. But yeah, Bret isn't a bad worker but he is NOWHERE near a position where he can lead a match even halfway: had we gotten 90's Bret here this could've been really quite something, but sadly what we get is a lower-tier version of Sayama's formulaic "roadblock" matches, which he does very good with still despite the conditions, but never really goes into full gear as a result because of the nature of such match structures. Bret just doesn't feel very inclined as a Jr heavyweight, at least not in comparison to someone as lofty as Sayama. Having a mean punch and good fundamentals will only get you so far. Those curious in Bret's early days might get good quality out of this, but for me it would be squeezing blood from a stone. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Baby Face (09.02.1982)

Cut by a minute: this is the case with both official compilations that I sourced for this. Baby Face is one of the more well-known lucha guys around this time, having some terrific matches with a young Gran Hamada. I liked him at the start getting annoyed by a Mask chant before the two go into some quick starting exchanges, which felt tense and well put together. His mat work is mostly focused around working on the legs to unsteady his opponent but he ends up getting knocked around himself after getting countered. A lot of this is most definitely "roadblock" formatted as Mask will escape, throw out some big moves before Face catches up or takes advantage of a counter and slaps on more holds.

Not to say the action gets good in places, but that style definitely seems to dominate proceedings. Face mixes it up with some hard slams and occasional dirty work, in particular neat bit where he escapes a cross armbreaker by biting Sayama's leg. Face takes over with some dodges of Sayama's attempts to get the advantage with dives, which he bumps amazingly for when they connect. Face tries for his own dive (which is a terrible top rope splash that doesn't even get close to hitting the mark) which thankfully Sayama just dodges outright rather than try to sell. Bit of a weird bit where Mask tries for a spot (I think the one used for the Bret/Kid finish, reverse Frankensteiner into Victory Star) but kinda flubs the landing, resulting in the two exchanging some improv pin attempts. Face gets a near fall with a good backdrop before Mask gets in with a savate kick and a ok-looking Tiger Feint into baseball slide to the outside. Finish is abrupt as he lands his own backdrop into a Tiger Suplex for the win.

This was nowhere near the better matches Face had with Hamada and did feel a bit stilted at points. It's definitely one of Sayama's more grounded affairs, which while he does good enough in typically he's not really adept at it like he will be in the UWF and whatnot. Baby Face has a unique style of alternating between big slams and good submissions, so he does decent enough as a foil here despite the two never really clicking completely; there's definitely a few bits where you can tell they haven't quite figured out what to do next, and there's definitely a styles clash between the two thematically. Alright defence but not particularly great. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kengo Kimura, Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Baby Face, Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid (11.02.1982)

.....this DRAGGED so much here. This was almost 25 minutes long and it wasn't a quick 25 either. It starts off with a hot start as Mask shows off some usual spots with Baby Face before the heels all get their chance to work him over, but then they just keep going and going with the same formula for way, way too long. Fujinami looked good when it was his turn to knock around the heels but for me this just felt like a longer version of the Kid/Bret tag only without the smoothness of that match and addition of filler segments between the usual stuff you'd come to expect, like random outside brawls and lulls. I guess there's some positives here like the aforementioned start and Fuji's work, even Kid and Bret doing the forward lunge into the turnbuckle is charming enough but there's a lot of stuff that's just there. The heels get the first fall on Kimura with a piledriver and diving headbutt from Kid, and of course that leads into the second fall as they all hone in on the guy. 

Now as much as I like Kimura, he's not someone you can build a match around, and certainly not this early into his career when he's a plain Jr heavyweight with nothing really going for him. Outside of Bret and Kid fumbling with a double headbutt and hitting themselves by accident as a comedy spot, this entire bit is just a whole lot of...well, nothing. His eventual comeback is also just bad as well, he does a weird corner back kick that barely hits Bret and that allows him to tag in Fuji. This next bit gets a bit better as the lads start some more energised work, including Kid taking a monkey flip from Mask off the outside via the guardrail, which was pretty bonkers to see at the time. The second fall ends with Baby Face getting caught with a second rope superplex from Kimura, who had finally recovered just enough to get the pin. 

The last five minutes is basically just a repeat of the above, with Kimura having to sell and bump as the heel trio cut him off again. I will say that the crowd loved Tiger eventually getting in and corner Kid before he blasts him with a savate kick mid-dropkick, the proceeding beatdown is decent enough but way too overdue, the fact they keep this going with Fuji as well is ridiculous. THEN Kengo gets in and gets predictively double-teamed again! The lead-in for the finish protects the heels by having Kid miss his diving headbutt to interrupt a Fuji pin, so he hits Bret instead. Fuji gets a quick brainbuster in to finally put this match to a end despite Baby Face breaking it up. This felt like a match paced for essentially kids given the simplistic and repetitive structure, surprise surprise; most of the crowd sounded like children lol. I guess it worked for them given the solid reactions but for me this felt badly inflated and just boring most of the time. No one here was terrible (in fact I'd say most of the performances are fine for what they are, Baby Face is such a treat with his nonsense) but this just kept going and going and going with the same structure, no deviations to be seen. I'm fine with long matches, just not when the match itself essentially repeats the same formula three times over. This screamed of B-tier house show. 

RANK: Forgettable 

 

Vs. Black Man (12.03.1982)

Tremendous stuff. Black Man looks like black suit Spider-Man a few years before the concept would be a thing, especially with the similar mask and whatnot. Unlike many of Sayama's opponents who feel more or less like filler villains you'd see show up in a silly kids TV series and then fade into obscurity, Black Man both acts and feels like a actual definitive challenge: someone who can tangibly go toe-to-toe against him both on the mat and in terms of lucha sequences. Seriously, the stuff these two were pulling would be considered impressive today, let alone 40 years ago in a federation that had mostly kept things safe in terms of the Jr division. I know you can describe a lot of Sayama's big matches like this but this was pretty up there.

I felt like Sayama also seriously started to step up his grappling work as well, moving into more of his UWF-style with double wrist locks and cross armbreakers, as well as the classic Gotch-special in the side mount headscissors. Of course we still get his signature amazing high-flying work, but he noticeably is making his holds and counters more smarter, like pulling for a heel hook while stuck in a figure-four, using his forearm blade to peel Black away onto his back and the like. The spots are also here but they make sense, being used to push a advantage or counter the other person in doing so, it's not just "hey let's just start jumping around" or anything like that. Mask mostly focuses on Black Man's arm and leg with tons of working holds, and some of their interactions on the mat as they combine lucha with technical stuff are pretty damn good; of course it doesn't go anywhere beyond just being there for offence given they don't have any big submissions between them but it isn't bad by any means. I was shocked how much of this actually took place grounded yet the match doesn't suffer for it whatsoever. 

The last few minutes go full spot mode as Man flies to the outside with a senton, tries to follow up with a pair of shoulder presses before Mask counters into a really big backdrop to the outside (Black Man keeps a straight back all the way to the end of the move, it's pretty incredible looking) before landing a dive of his own. When he recovers, he lands a big cross chop as well as a good rolling inverted cradle. Black Man tries for one himself, but it gets countered into a big German suplex for the win. Really good match, especially for something that in actuality only lasted 12 minutes; what the two manage to accomplish in that time is pretty great: Black Man is a worthy rival to Tiger Mask, at times even doing better with some of his big bumps and whatnot. Sayama in turn gets to fully show off his best aspects: the result is a very well put together match, and definitely one to search out if you want a great example of a Tiger Mask match actually being interesting on the mat equally as much as on their feet. 

RANK: Great 

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Black Man & Colosso Colosetti (19.03.1982)

Mask and Black Man get to have more interactions and they are, as expected, the best pairing here, even if they do repeat some of their spots and sequences from their singles match together. We get some good work between the four overall but it never goes overboard or overtly super impressive, but just about everything here was done smoothly, and Black Man is again a treat with his incredibly modern lucha style while also getting over both of the natives with big bumps of his own. Colosetti is the obvious odd one out: he's good at the comedy segments and is fine as a prat-falling heel but his segments are virtually all just that, his actual offence is very basic and uninspired, lots of clubs to the back and whatnot. I did like the theme of him and Black Man just having zero chemistry and continually hitting the other guy by accident, they did a lot with that dynamic despite it usually being fairly groan-worthy when committed to as a continuous bit. The crowd basically just came to see Tiger Mask do his stuff, and he does indeed do his stuff all here tremendously well with next to no botches.

He's over as anything and it's easy to see how even at this point he was starting to creep into someone who could potentially rival the heavyweight lads in terms of popularity. The finish is abrupt as Black Man gets hit with a backbreaker that Sayama holds until he taps out; bit weird and out of blue considering right afterwards he grabs Black Man in a front face lock for a few seconds before dropping it. This felt like some serious miscommunication on their behalf, maybe Black Man didn't want to keep going or he didn't want to get pinned clean again and Sayama seen red (as he tends to do given, well, he's a bit of a diva) and tried shooting on him, either way it does drag the match down a bit given how anti-climatic it is. But yeah, alright stuff if you can get into the style.

 RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Colosso Colosetti (26.03.1982)

Perfectly fine showcase match for Mask to get his shit in against someone who doesn't mind getting knocked around. Colosetti is far taller than his usual opponents and he wrestles a more grounded, strike-heavy rudo to make Sayama's eventual comeback look better. He stomps around with clubs and knees, throwing Mask into the barricade outside and whatnot, keeping control until his opponent counters a belly to belly into a arm drag mid-run and a dropkick to send him outside. Sayama follows up with a iffy Tiger Feint that he doesn't get much momentum with. We get more brawling on the outside until they get back in.

A butterfly suplex and a flying body block gets him the pin in next to no time at all. As shown by how little highlights there was to mention this was a nothing match with some nice spots but it was obvious everyone was taking a break here. It's a standard filler match with no real stakes or heat, but it shows off Tiger Mask just enough that you can't really complain about it beyond it being, well, a standard filler match.

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Don Muraco, Masked Superstar & Steve Wright (30.03.1982)

Sadly only 5 minutes of this is on tape, which is a shame given this was used as build-up for the Wright/Mask rematch from the start of the month. Mask teaming with Inoki is a sure-fire sign of how over the lad was at this point despite only a year with the gimmick. Muraco and Superstar are here basically to bump and feed for Sayama while the real interactions come from him and Wright, which as expected are good but nowhere near as good as their future singles outing. I was bugged about Wright just no selling a dropkick and a butterfly suplex and immediately jumping into his own shit, didn't feel very natural at all and kinda indicative of how selfish he could be in terms of just getting his own shit in despite how bad it makes the other person look, which has been reflected by more than a few people. 

Wright leads the charge for the lesser goons to take over with interference, namely a nice triple backbreaker from Superstar. Of course the lower-card lads eventually let it slip though their fingers after Wright hits Muraco with a dropkick, allowing Fujinami to slip in with a top rope knee drop to take the win off the trio. Obviously the clipping does hurt the judging immensely, but I felt like this was a fairly average showing from everyone seen, with a rare look at a early Demolition Ax in the Superstar moniker. Filler tag all in all.

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kengo Kimura Vs. Black Man & Steve Wright (31.03.1982)

Clipped by 4 minutes, mostly between Kimura and Black Man. MUCH better than the trios they had yesterday, helped by the fat being trimmed off and getting a more simplistic structure. Wright and Mask get to show off as they exchange cartwheels and some struggle in holds, with the two showing off their impressive athleticism; Wright is a classical British Catch worker so you get to see that aspect in all of its glory here alongside Sayama, who is familiar with the style from his WoS work and he makes sure to a get over just how dynamic Wright is in terms of being this really tricky wrestler that he can't really get a grip on, good stuff between the two there.

Wright also feels more cooperative as he bumps around for a dropkick to the outside and also sells a sleeper by Mask for a good amount of time, trying to knock him off with throws, arm drags, and even a full-on airplane spin, but all of them fail to get the job done against his determined foe. We cut to an amazing sequence between Sayama and Black Man as they just go full tilt, consistently moving between all sorts of flips and spots for about a full minute and a half before Mask tags in Kimura. He gets in and does some decent looking moves before they go into the finish, which has dramatically Mask leap over his partner with a crossbody to Wright, Kimura knocks him out with a dropkick while Mask snaps on a Tiger Suplex for the win.

If you want more Steve Wright in your life then this'll definitely fill that void slightly, but I don't think its anything that really stood out immensely well despite the work between him and Sayama being really solid. Black Man also looks as good as usual, but the clipping does hurt Kengo Kimura especially here given nearly all of his involvement was taken out: that being said this was formatted around getting the Mask/Wright title match over in the first place so I imagine he didn't do a ton in the first place. Either way, lot of fun. 

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Steve Wright (01.04.1982)

This is a match that obviously people know is bloody brilliant, so I won't waste a lot of time trying to describe it as such bar the basics and what I feel like are legit issues with this. Wright feels much like his opponent where he's a guy who just stands out in everything I've seen of him: he's far ahead of his time and maybe a bit further than even that given just how advanced his style truly is, combining effortless atheticism with incredible mat-technique. He really exposes Sayama in places here by just how bonkers he takes this mix of styles into play and how that goes into the match itself as Wright effortlessly breaks down Tiger Mask's usual shtick and forces him on the defensive for most of the match. This actually makes the bits where Mask can escape and land his usual big spots far more impactful because of that very fact as opposed to just running over his opponent with them.

Wright hones in on the leg of Mask with a bunch of different submissions, each having to be individually either fought out of or escaped with a rope break. Much like the Black Man match there's a ton of downtime on the mat; also much like that match that downtime is remarkably good and not dragged out much whatsoever. They also call back to their tag match together by having the extended sleeper spot, only Wright is the one applying it as opposed to the last time. Sure Wright eats up a lot of time with his own shit, but when he has to bump and sell, he does so pretty well (like he leaps huge for a Butterfly Suplex, and does a incredible Rock-Stunner bump for a dropkick) it's just that he won't make himself look overtly weak, so any sustained offence will inevitably be countered by him. As stated, this makes Sayama's later big flow of offence seem all the more desperate, to the point that even Wright teasing a full Mexican Stretch gets the crowd pretty heated. 

I will say there are some clear flaws in this match though: for one, there's not really any big pacing to be found. It's just sorta these two doing a lot of grappling, things pick up a bit, back to standard grappling again. There's no escalation of the stakes, Wright never feels like he's truly trying to turn up the heat here at all, in fact near the end he's just going for standard headlock takeovers and opening Catch sequences instead of, you know, trying to win the match? At least Sayama starts doing more big stuff to try to even the odds, Wright is just content to play around. It adds to the match sure, but it does harm the intensity a fair bit. The other big issue is the crowd: they really weren't feeling this one and I know, they do pick up big in certain places, but while they were clearly impressed they never felt like they did for the Hamada or Black Man matches, never got loud for a sustained amount of time. The match abruptly ending on a fallaway slam (???) by Mask on top of that just felt weird given it obviously wasn't something he did much of ever, but it did at least fit the theme of Sayama having virtually no real answers to Wright's manic grappling. This is definitely still a top-notch showing, but for me it's not the best out of everything I've seen so far, and Wright for me gets way too comfortable showing off despite it looking smooth as butter. 

RANK: Great

 

Vs Black Tiger (21.04.1982)

The first encounter between Tiger Mask vs his infamous Manga heel counterpart, but curiously NOT the first time they've ever faced off. Mark Rocco (the lad behind the mask) had worked with Sayama back in WoS (they had a few matches together but these aren't on Cagematch because WoS matches seem to be their Kryptonite) so the two already had a good familiarity with the other. This match had a fairly simple structure: Tiger Mask brought his high-flying stuff to the table as per standard, but Black Tiger keeps finding ways to drag this out with brawling and occasional spots when needed. He slams Sayama's head into the turnbuckle post early on, and that effects him throughout the match: yep, that's right, Sayama actually sells something for longer than 10 seconds, amazing! Black Tiger in turn focuses on working on the head with strikes and holds, with some dirty shit, namely him consistently hammering in on the back of the head with punches, elbows, all that stuff. This tangibly paid off as when Mask would get a counter or get control back, he'd have to recover for a bit and that kept biting him in the ass as he'd quickly get gobbled up again. This wasn't stupid overdramatic selling either, just simply having Sayama kinda stumble and pause after big pushes was all that was needed, and it really worked to get over how it effected him over the course of the match.

I think the crowd were a bit confused here; most Tiger Mask matches up to this point were him going 50/50 with his opponent, incredible athleticism and whatnot, or just him gobbling them up with the latter. Here....Black Tiger just continuously dominates for most of this, with occasional pockets of resistance. Simply put, they aren't used to this kind degree of asskicking. He adds onto this with a nasty Tombstone and just choking the guy out, which gets the lad coughing and spluttering. The two kinda botch a Tombstone counter but eventually recover well. Sayama tries for a diving headbutt afterwards but misses, that alongside a brainbuster puts him well out of commission. He pulls for a German, Tiger Mask counters but eats a low blow for his troubles. The guy is admittedly pissed after this, dropping Black Tiger onto the ropes before just completely losing his composure, slamming the guy into the turnbuckle post before just consistently dropping elbows and knee drops on him off the apron, not even caring about getting back in the ring to win the match inevitably ending in a double count out.

This wasn't a amazing match in terms of workrate and the crowd definitely sucked ass, but it is a CRITICAL element of their rivalry as it shows the danger of Black Tiger straight off the bat as well as the effect he has on the usually stoic masked babyface, making him resort to pure manic fury in response to his dirty cheating. There's a lack of flips here, sure, but I think they did well with what they were trying to convey here and for once the holds and strikes tangibly add up to something in the long run. Rocco's Black Tiger is definitely not for everyone given how differently he wrestles as opposed to unmasked, but I got into this well and understood that it wasn't about a battle of equals, but more a battle of different styles: Black Tiger didn't need to outwork Tiger Mask, he just needed to cheat endlessly lol.  

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Gran Hamada Vs. Les Thornton & Perro Aguayo (30.04.1982)

This is built to get Thornton over for his title shot against Tiger Mask, so obviously the structure of this is stewed towards those two.....this'll still be a thing, but not quite in the way they intended it to be, I imagine. Hamada spends a while bumping and selling for the two before Mask comes in and lands a very small assist before tagging out. Thornton is annoyed and demands he come back in, but Sayama is too weakened due to his taped up right leg (considering he'd take a break of absence right after this match and vacate his titles, I think it's safe to say he was legitimately injured: this is only the beginning of a long feud with his knees) and when he gets in at last, they (carefully) work over his bad leg. I thought they made good work of that limitation by having the two go to town on said leg with the best looking stuff possible while also adding drama by having Hamada have to carry the load against two aggressive heels, and he steps up to the mark great here; loved him pulling off Tiger Mask spots to make up for the fact that the other guy couldn't do them, as well as combining his own more grounded style into things, really interesting combination. 

Aguayo is a good heel as well with his animated facial expressions and manic brawling. I liked the heel duo pulling off old-school antics like switching partners while the ref wasn't looking and the ref just having it in for Hamada whenever he'd try to protest about the cheating or try to tag in was fantastic because the heels would get in to do even MORE nonsense, making the crowd bite hard to see the babyfaces get their due eventually. Eventually Sayama gets in a last-second Enzuigiri with his good leg and we get a solid hot tag from Hamada, who just goes ape-shit with forearms and strikes rather than big flippy stuff. The heel duo try to get him set up for a dive by Aquayo, but he misses and hits his opponent instead. Hamada lands a dive himself, but with Mask injured Aguayo just slaps on a sleeper and waits for the count-out. This was actually pretty good for a regular tag, namely because with Mask injured the dynamics wildly change; Hamada is no longer just the sidekick, he's having to do essentially everything, babysitting his injured partner while the heel duo just do everything in their power to flip the scales further. 

Thornton was fine; he's supposed to be a good hand but I didn't see anything to suggest as such from here, just some reasonable heel work and good uppercuts. Aguayo is just so much fun as a eccentric rudo though, his brawling is messy but you can tell he knows what he's doing despite that, gets some big heel heat here with his obnoxious shit. Him with Hamada work really well together, and it's no wonder that the latter would keep bringing Aguayo back for subsequent matches way after the fact. But yeah, a fun match and a breeze to go though. 

RANK: Good

 

W/ Osamu Kido Vs. Carlos Jose Estrada & Jose Gonzales (21.05.1982)

Sayama's second match back after his big injury, and it's more or less another tune-up match for his upcoming title bout: this is the first televised debut of his orange variation of the outfit. This isn't too remarkable outside of having noted scumbag extraordinaire Jose Gonzales (AKA Invader #1) here. Jose Estrada is a bog-standard jobber heel and he obviously doesn't get much of a look-in as Kido works around him easily. Gonzales is also pretty nothing in-ring and a lot of this is just the two bumbling around and making Tiger Mask look good. I thought this was essentially just pantomime for a lot of it: the heel jobbers would bicker, Mask/Kido would outsmart them, they'd complain or argue, he'd do it again, blah blah blah....yeah I get why these matches exist and this certainly isn't "bad" at what it is doing, but it's very uninteresting. I did like Sayama kicking Estrada in the back and him thinking it was Gonzales that did it, that was a engaging bit in a match that frankly had little to bite on.

Kido is competent but noticeably middling in control segments. The heel jobbers come undone as Gonzales misses his dive and hits his partner by mistake (sound familiar?) allowing the NJPW natives to get the win with a crossbody and back suplex from Kido. Utterly boring 10 minutes with nothing worth your time unless you like your matches to be paced like 80's WWF D-tier shows, and even then you'd probably get something more than this. Gonzales is a pretty weak wrestler and Estrada is a generic undercard jobber. Sayama looked fine alongside Kido but they noticeably kept things very basic. Immensely skippable.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs Les Thornton (25.05.1982)

Thornton is the NWA Jr champ (five times in fact! ) and Mask is challenging. Thornton had a good rep at the time as one of the more hard-working Jr heavyweights who pretty much won gold wherever he went and someone who compensated for his height with strong workrate. Anyway, the match itself is....well I would say it's disappointing if you view it from a certain angle. You may come into this expecting another Tiger Mask/Steve Wright level of performance given both men come from that British Catch school of wrestling, but this is nowhere near that level of quality, coming across more as a more B-show showcase as Mask spends a good few minutes here doing spots based around his usual formula: do big fancy spot or counter, spring around a bit, opponent stares with googly eyes and goes "damn he's quick" repeat with occasional working hold. Then Thornton goes instead into working ways to slap on a headscissors for a while until Mask counters into a Indian Deathlock but Thornton just kinda no sells afterwards and gets back on the offensive anyway, so that whole bit was kinda pointless. 

He throws Mask into the turnbuckle post and then a nice apron suplex/scoop slam for a near fall. After a backbreaker he's working more on the back of Mask now and does so until he awkwardly delay-bumps for a arm drag counter. I did like the psychology of Thornton consistently attempting for pins while in a cradle and slowing things down, but the match outside of some good sequences never gets properly going; you can tell that from the rather slow pace as well as the crowd not really being that interested here at all given that fact. Mask slaps on a long headlock before Thornton counters again and takes control. Mask uses his agility with cartwheels and flips to get the match back in his favour, which he does well at despite Thornton botching a bump for his big cartwheel crossbody and Sayama having to REALLY wiggle around for his Tombstone, not even able to get him in correct position properly before just doing the move anyway.

That's the finish as well! No real build-up, just Sayama abruptly winning off some regular offence. This match had two good workers in it, but they just didn't click here very well: lots of sitting in holds, not a lot of progression. Thornton felt really bog-standard for a opponent, some good mat-based stuff but very non-descript at the same time with nothing much going for him, didn't really try to stand out for the crowd or put in much effort bar some tricky technical stuff, which I still appreciate but you need more than that to be engaging; especially if you spend most of the match moving at a slow tempo. Sayama puts in a decent performance but didn't really get much to work with here so does suffer slightly as he tends to go into auto-pilot when he's not challenged a whole lot. Mechanically it's not that bad, but it was just the case of bad chemistry that bogged this down. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs Black Tiger II (26.05.1982)

Black Tiger has the vacated WWF Jr belt after using his dirty antics to beat Gran Hamada in next to no time, now the prodigal son returns for his other title that he never lost proper. The two have a few really energetic early exchanges as they go between holds and flips, with neither getting the advantage. Black uses his more brawling stuff to slow Sayama down into holds to balance things in that regard, but unlike last time where his tactics were shocking and unexpected, this time he isn't so lucky as he gets outsmarted more as his opponent is more than ready to face off. I think the two balance that out well, even if Rocco is a bit sloppy when it comes to the more workrate-paced segments and his selling does get goofy in places where he's just flying all over the place.

Matches where the match keeps coin flipping between the two can be hard to do, but I think this is effectively deployed as the crowd are hot for Black Tiger's heat segments and get loud when he eventually gets outmatched with big spots. I also liked Sayama toying with his babyface persona as he would occasionally hint at skirting the rules but never go over the edge; just small hints at his anger pouring out from his usual uber-babyface superhero persona. I thought the Black Tiger cut-offs were done pretty effectively; some like the painful Taue-lite suplex throw into the ropes or him just booting the shit out of Sayama mid leap like he was nothing were old-school but rather brutal at the same time and really pinned down the wide difference in styles between the two. Obviously this pacing isn't going to be for everyone, but I think they made a concerted attempt to make it dynamic and interesting, with little touches like Black trying for pins a lot while in certain holds to wear down the other man, as well as the undercurrent of him being desperate to keep control by any petty means necessary. 

All of this as a result got the crowd incredibly eager to cheer, even for stuff like a knee drop or Butterfly Suplex. Good apron work as they tease Black Tiger winning again by countout after correctly predicting a Tiger Feint and dodging the dive afterwards, as well as a near fall off a apron brainbuster. They repeat sequences from the last match as Black lands a low blow to counter a suplex counter, but this time Sayama is able to survive long enough to dodge a top rope back elbow, which Rocco sells like he was shot, shit was great. Mask lands his own Tombstone and a sensational moonsault (which was his first time using it, if I recall) for the pin. I thought this was pretty great! Paced real well for the two, lots of action, really built up the bombs for the end and the crowd was hot as anything, especially with the false finish teases. Sure the middle segment is a bit slow in places, but we get some decent action out of it and the two were really on their A-game here as most of it came off seamlessly. All in all, a super solid match and one of the best of the year so far. I get the Black Tiger hate but trust me, this is the PEAK of his work here and immensely enjoyable.

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Ultraman (18.06.1982)

Ultraman? Yep, NJPW tried getting lightning twice in a bottle by having Mask feud with another franchise mascot in the form of, well, Ultraman. This one is legally distinct though, being a random lucha guy who had the name for a long while. Why isn't this mentioned more given how bonkers a concept it is? Well, the matches weren't particularly good, for one. A lot of this is just the two wangling for working holds and then sitting in them. True, Tiger Mask pulls out the usual tricks, but Ultraman really doesn't seem like a equal in any way, as proven by the fact that he quickly defaults to trying to be a roadblock rather than meeting Sayama pace for pace. It says a lot when I'm halfway into this and the main big thing Ultraman did was a very slow and very contrived top rope arm drag that his opponent just easily kips up in the first place. Sayama feels like he's in autopilot most of the time as he barely sells anything, mostly because there's barely anything to really sell in the first place. 

Ultraman also has a REALLY basic moveset, going as far as to just repeat moves a few times to pad things out more. There's a bizarre moment where he goes for two neckbreakers in a row before landing a dropkick while Mask is on the mat....for some reason? Then he'd do another when he was standing up just because. There's a real lack of chemistry between the two despite Mask's best attempts to lead like he has done with many other acts of similar calibre. Ultraman also felt like he had bad cardio here as he's heavy breathing by the halfway point and takes multiple outside breathers. This is such the case that he can't even float over for a Tiger DDT, legitimately banging his head off the mat. Ultraman's big move is a superkick, he ends up hitting his opponent stiff in the throat with it, which causes Sayama to gag and cough afterwards. They noticeably have a chat at this point as Ultraman awkwardly holds for a long pin as the ref also moves in to talk things over. We get the debut of the Space Flying Tiger Drop as Mask impressively cartwheels and flips to a dive outside, which was awesome if a bit annoying that such a historically big move would come out of a match like this. 

He lands a brainbuster, Ultraman hits a back suplex that he botches somehow so that his opponent doesn't even get hit by it, he kinda...overextends too much on his end. Ultraman thinks "damn, gotta do something big" and goes for a corner crossbody; sounds simple, right? We've seen this numerous times before as a spot with Mask either doing it or selling for the thing. Anyway, he completely misses the landing and Sayama refuses to help him after realising how bad a botch it was mid-flight so he just flops to the ground like a piece of crap. Sayama's exasperated shrug to the ref with his hands is priceless, worth the watch alone. He thankfully works on his feet and ends the match quick with a German suplex despite Ultraman trying to kick out and no selling afterwards. Sayama wags his finger almost to mock the guy for trying. But yeah, this was a ambitious project that just didn't pay off whatsoever. Ultraman is not terrible, but he's hopeless in this more high-paced lucha style and his lack of cardio means that things fall apart after the big Mask spot. Ultraman would still have some matches afterwards but this is the end of his NJPW tours after this one, no shocker why. A mess of a match but real entertaining + cool spots at points make this a fun watch if you are game for some nonsense. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. El Polaco & Ultraman (25.06.1982)

Polaco will have a singles match with Mask soon enough, and Ultraman will get his rematch despite his shoddy performance last time. Sayama has NO respect for Ultraman, this clips right into him socking the lad with a stiff roundhouse and slap. We get a early botch as Polaco can't clear the distance between him and Mask hitting a dropkick quick enough, so he ends up flopping on top of him lol. They make for that with some cool spots as Mask uses his Tiger Feint to counter a Irish Whip into a running elbow, good stuff. Fujinami is mostly fine but nothing really sticks out for him here bar the standard mat-work. Ultraman again is a weird worker that just doesn't seem to gel at all with the pair; he does two neckbreakers to Fujinami, he hits one back but Ultraman no sells and rises before him? It's a interesting logic, to say the least.

Mask gets in a good hot tag and beats down Polaco for a bit before he takes over with strikes and a weird Tiger Driver set-up, only he falls into a submission in that position instead; it's certainly unique if a bit baffling. Fujinami gets in to land some hard slaps before leaving, Mask runs down the guy with a cartwheel crossbody before Fuji again shows up to slap some more. The finish was pretty good as Fuji goes for his fancy Prawn roll-up while Sayama sensationally flings over the guy for a big cross chop and dive to the outside. Fuji finishes off Polaco with a brainbuster.

Basically the usual Mask/Fuji tag pairings, and it's fine as per usual albeit dragged down a bit due to Ultraman stumbling his way around here, but he's basically given zero legitimacy as the two lads just beat him up for most of their interactions. Polaco is a decent rudo of the week for the pair to run over, he does his job well and can actually tangibly work reliably without having big issues, so he holds this down as best as he can. That said, I really wouldn't be bothered with this, it adds nothing to Mask's resume or really anyone else involved, for that matter. 

RANK: Forgettable

===========

Well that's it for the first 6 months of 1982! Will Tiger Mask be able to handle the return of some old foes from 1981? Will he handle the rampage of Black Tiger and the emergence of the mysterious Tiger Hunter? Will Ultraman actually have a good match for once? Idk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[G. Badger]

Awesome to see you revisiting Tiger Mask! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw his non-DK matches. Not everything was amazing but there are some really fantastic battles that don't get the attention they deserve. I don't think I saw the Villano III from '81...might have to search for that. Really nice in depth reviews as well. 

[Ma Stump Puller]

Part 3

===========

Vs. El Polaco (02.07.1982)

This definitely isn't one of Sayama's better "roadblock" formatted matches but I think it's not as bad as some existing matches already covered. Sure, definitely a B-show performance and a chance for Mask to slow down in the lead to his match with Ultraman, but Polaco works in some tricky transitions: he doesn't, say, slap on a side headlock Dory-style for multiple minutes, he actively makes an attempt to mix things up and slow down Mask in a environment he's not massively impressive in. They also balance the more fast-paced stuff in quite well, of course Tiger Mask just astounds casually even in these very minimalistic matches. They get over WHY Polaco is so keen to keep things slowed in the middle as he just gets ran down with flips to the outside. Polaco isn't particularly "good" as a wrestler but he plays his role as clunky rudo just fine even if his range is rather limited. The crowd was fairly invested with chants and whatnot even if it was obvious who was winning.

Good lead into the finish, which is a admittedly weird one as the ref calls this off despite no pin being counted. The best suggestion I can give is to add some drama to the Ultraman/Mask title bout by having Polaco be seemingly injured by the Tiger Suplex....shame that doesn't come into play whatsoever in the actual match itself but still. While this is a slow match and built around that fact, it works as a lead-in for the Ultraman rematch and gives the audience a conventional match with some nice bits thrown in here and there. That said.....it's still pretty slow and Polaco is not really close to being a particularly strong counterweight to Tiger Mask, so discretion will vary between this being decent or just not worth the watch. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Ultraman II (06.07.1982)

The return of Ultraman! This time the two do noticeably better, namely because both men have run the B-show gauntlet and gotten a better chemistry as opposed to right at the start. That being said, Ultraman is still leagues below Sayama and it utterly bears stating that because this was almost all carried spot-wise by his opponent. Ultraman brings some decent arm work and the occasional nice spot but he's still a really weird performer that Sayama consistently has to either tangibly make more effort to look presentable or just look stupid for going along with his bad offence. Ultraman also socks him with a Enzuigiri that legitimately hits him fairly hard as he immediately just lays down and awkwardly waits. A lot of this is just typical B-show Tiger Mask formula, occasional big spots with a lot of hold-hugging.

Things pick up in the last few minutes with a outside dive and some more complex sequences. They also repeat the top rope crossbody spot that was horribly botched last time, only they get it right here by having Mask instead dropkick him mid-air instead of trying to catch the guy. Of course they still fuck it up because Mask goes for one himself and Ultraman doesn't catch him whatsoever so he ends up falling onto his knee instead, which must've hurt bad.

Ultraman goes for a neckbreaker and gets countered into a German suplex for the win. All in all, the pair of Ultraman matches are a perfect example of how chemistry can be improved with practise and patience, but nevertheless I just don't think the two work very well with the other, and Ultraman is a pretty poor worker; he would've been fine maybe a decade or so ago where the pace was a lot less strenuous but at this point his work is so antiquated, he just doesn't fit well here at all even with a prime Sayama throwing himself around. But yeah, this spells the end of the short lived Tiger Mask/Ultraman feud, thankfully. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Kengo Kimura Vs. Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid (16.07.1982)

With these four working a match you expect good things, and that's what we get here. This was a pretty heated affair that had trunk pulling and a whole batch of just scrappy shit, including a great fish out of water spot with Kimura and Kid as they battle hold to hold. The dynamic is that Bret is essentially the sidekick to Dynamite, so he's a weak link that needs the more experienced partner to balance the books. Bret also seems more confident here; even though he's nowhere near as good as the real main players, he can still function as a B-role which fits him a lot better than when he was pushing for the title solo. Kid here is just fantastic: dude takes insane bumps, dishes them back out, and his aggression is so authentic, even small things like a scoop slam and his signature snappy headbutts ooze bad intentions, it's something you don't really see much these days.

Kimura is what he usually always is, he's a #2 guy that can go competently and occasionally flashes moments of brilliance but it's just that, flashes. Things get wild in the middle as Dynamite does a Tombstone on the outside and we get more tense sequences, but there's not really a build towards anything beyond hyping up Kid/Mask for their singles about a week later so the two typically go back and forth with no real winner. Kimura is the lad bumping for most of this as he pulls off occasional hope spots before the two isolate him. Kimura's "comeback" is more or less just him sloppily running to his tag corner with whatever he has left, which I felt added some good tension here as he was spent as opposed to trying to get some random shit in before doing so. I thought there was a bit too much of a overuse of piledrivers as Kid gets hit with TWO in a row + Kimura top rope knee drop and still can't be pinned, which felt off. I guess it made sense given the heels kept using interference to stay in the game. 

They finally lose control after Kid hits Bret with a dropkick by accident, Mask lands a big crossbody dive to the outside, the lads eat it but then they just dump him with a slam anyway lol. He's out, Kimura tries to fight back with some fiery underdog offence but Kid holds his legs at the top rope, allowing Bret to recover. Bret then does the same by holding Kimura's lower section down so Kid can hit a mean diving headbutt for the win. Not a great watch if you are going into this looking for Kid/Mask interactions that you couldn't get in their singles series, but this was generally a solid tag with lots of smart psychology and plentiful workrate by its lonesome to keep you sated. I'm still not convinced about early Bret being much of a fit but this was his best showing so far.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Bret Hart II (30.07.1982)

This suffers from the same issues that the last Bret title match did, namely that Bret is 

A. Not a credible challenger in the slightest

B. Not inclined to a Jr style of wrestling

Both of which drags this down a fair notch. The wrestling itself is not bad at all given who is involved bar the occasional bit where Bret's inexperience means he flubs a spot or just shakes off offence way too quickly, but the issue is that said wrestling is rather heatless, and lacked any tangible tension to be found. Bret's offence just seems like he's doing stuff so that Sayama can counter into his more fancy work rather than being his own tangible style. That's not a bad thing by itself but it does reduce this to more or less the crowd waiting for the stuff they want to see rather than actually getting invested into the match itself and who wins. Seeing Bret do undercard heel pratfalls and extended rest holds just felt....wrong as well, like something against nature. 

We do get some decent bits as Bret's backbreaker and piledriver are pitch-perfect, as are his punches, and of course Sayama's eventual comebacks are done mostly as smooth as butter, but simply having good-looking moves does not a good match make, and this never really kicked off third gear anyway. They try to add some elements of tension with Bret cheating with some choking and then Mask uncharacteristically starts choking him back, but that goes nowhere. There's a very distinct part of the match that basically spells out exactly the problem with it where Bret is just endlessly landing big moves for pins over and over for at least a minute and a half; the crowd don't bite whatsoever for any of his attempts, but then Sayama doing a goofy handstand after a apron Hotshot into a dive to the outside gets them going by itself. The finish is especially weak as Dynamite Kid tries to interfere, him and Bret bump heads by mistake and Mask takes advantage with a quick German suplex for the three. It kinda protects Bret while making him look like a goof at the same time, it's a weird situation. Like the last match together, I just don't feel early Bret at all. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Kengo Kimura, Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid & Greg Valentine (31.07.1982)

This is recorded in full, a rarity at the time for matches like these. We start off with some competent feeling out sequences, with the foreign trio using a lot of strikes and scrappy stuff in comparison to the more pure wrestlers on the NJPW side. Valentine is definitely a required taste but if you like his more refined, old-school pacing then you'll definitely get something out of here with his sharp elbows and big slams, he's a surprisingly good fit for NJPW's style at the time. They repeat the Kimura spot from the 16th tag by having him get beat down before just running to the corner to hot tag Tiger Mask, as well as Kid tagging out as soon as he comes in. Of course Bret is the one to take the majority of the beatings from the trio given he's by far the less experienced (and the best seller, to be fair). They all take turns working the leg for a bit before Kid gets in to land some dirty headbutts to even the score. The middle admittedly is rather heatless as everyone kinda just gets in, bumps a bit, tags out, repeat etc.

There's not really any attempt to push much apart from the other trio working the leg of Kimura after Valentine counters a side-headlock with a great delayed shin breaker. Bret doesn't have the experience to keep the limb work going, so he accidently ends up letting Kimura go during the leg work. The crowd only really gets going when Sayama returns to land lots of mean kicks to Bret alongside a cross chop. Crowd bites for a Kid near fall as he goes for a mean Tombstone on Mask. Fuji and co both land big backdrops on Kid because he can bump for them well (though seeing HOW well he takes them and the height, you do start to realise why his back troubles would get as bad as they would) but Bret gets in to land a dirty closed fist on Kimura to knock him to the outside. Kid lands a nasty apron knee drop to Kimura as well as just hurling the fucker over the guardrail, which costs them the first fall by DQ.

The heels use this to their advantage as Kimura is still the legal man, meaning Valentine is just free to hunt for his bad leg; despite some close calls he's able to eventually get a tap with a figure four for their first fall. They beat down on him afterwards until Kid goes for a single leg Boston Crab and gets wrecked with a running kick by Mask, leading to a Fuji hot tag which he does fairly well. The finish comes tremendously quick as Mask lands a dive though the ropes, Fuji gets the win on Bret with a backdrop/Enzuigiri for the win. This was basically a standard house show tag, and while it wasn't the most bonkers spot-wise, it's a smartly worked match with certain things to enjoy about it, especially given everyone involved knows how to work pretty well at this point. Nothing to brag but I'd say this is alright for what it is.

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid (03.08.1982)

Another tag between these four, another decent showing. They work the usual spots with Tiger Mask here against Bret; it's all up to standard, it's nothing you haven't seen either. Hoshino gets scoop slammed onto the mat but then basically no sells to run the ropes and go for a sunset flip. I thought it was weird seeing Hoshino just outright out-wrestle Kid overtly but hey, it got a decent pop for what was mostly arm work and a running headbutt. Kid gets Mask outside for a disgusting scoop slam where he just drops Sayama mid-move on the outside, the splat noise made is shiver-worthy.

Hoshino helps Mask get into the ring to avoid a count out, but also spends a while getting worked over by Kid and co. Bret is nowhere near as competent, but there's a good spot here where Mask teases getting the hot tag after tripping him over, only for Bret to spin around and catch his legs just at the right moment to cut him off; simple, but effective at getting over the heels trying their hardest to keep control. Sayama's selling is actually fairly good in this control segment however of course he quickly snaps out of it for the actual hot tag, which is just the two doing backdrops to Kid again lol. At least we get to see Hoshino work a backbreaker as a submission? The match kinda hits a lull at the second half as they just reset and go back to heels working on top, only with Hoshino instead. Mask gets in for some of his usual spots, Kid backfires when he tries to knock around Hoshino on the outside when he gets thrown right up and over the guardrail for a messy bump.

Sayama jumps for a (barely recorded) top rope dive to the outside and gives Kid a beating for his troubles, landing scrappy elbows and hurling him around with gusto. Bret tries to take him solo but quickly gets rolled up and over during a apron suplex for the win. Acceptable tag that mostly is bar the course, but there's some really nasty bumps here and they make a good job of hyping up Kid/Mask battling it out once again for the title as the two get ugly with the other in scenes we won't quite see until later in the year with Sayama's new major feud. Bret and Hoshino were fine for what they were doing here but I never was particularly impressed by either, they just kinda exist. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Tatsumi Fujinami Vs. Black Tiger & Pete Roberts (27.08.1982)

This is designed to get Black Tiger some heat for his upcoming title shot two days later. Pete Roberts and co have a unique dynamic where Roberts, a old-fashioned British gent, doesn't approve of his partner's heel antics and tries to keep things clean with his ye oldie British Catch work. Sayama is OVER like shit here, as soon as he's tagged in there's big chants and the crowd explode for him outmanning both men with his sensational spots, we are definitely getting to the peak of his popularity. Eventually Black manages to get the advantage with hair pulling with Fuji and throws in some snappy back elbows. Roberts and co have some more solid mat work; again it's going to be a matter of taste, but considering I mark out for Osamu Nishimura copying this shit bit for bit decades later I was probably going to like it and yeah, this was fairly good as it actually balanced some showmanship instead of just being a dry "let's grab holds" segment as the two battle for control. 

We get a nice small bit where Black Tiger cheats with the tag rope and the ref notices, causing him to have a small tantrum and freak out to the amusement of the crowd. He tries to take over from Mask again, gets outsmarted after his second piledriver is reversed into one on him instead. Mask also works with Roberts in a surfboard spot before refusing to entertain him anymore and casually flips to escape it with ease. Black Tiger gets in for some illegal interference with closed fists. This happens a few times until he is dumped over the top rope to the outside and Roberts soon joins him after Fuji makes him go flying in the usual "run around the ring to escape the hammerlock" bit. He's still full of gas as he runs back in to hit Fuji with a knee to the head inevitably getting countered with a O'Connor Roll with a bridge for the quick pin.

This was a competent build-based tag: I was worried the two Tigers wouldn't have heat after their pretty conclusive match just a few months ago, but they manage to get some of that back here and you want to see the two scrap again after seeing their limited interactions, even if Rocco's shtick isn't for everyone. Roberts is a solid hand alongside Fuji just being solid in general: of course Sayama is on form even if this is one of his less intensive affairs workrate wise, more about re-establishing the stakes than showing off. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Black Tiger III (29.08.1982)

Sadly the only recording of this in existence is a tinny 80's tier fancam of the match itself, which does make viewing a bit difficult if you have motion sickness or generally don't like watching matches in 144p quality lol. This is kinda how you'd imagine a battle between the two would exist in-within the house show format: there's a lot of that classic Tiger Mask "x does a move, y flips and escapes, staredown/reset, repeat" shenanigans for about the first 8 minutes or so. It's fun enough given it's a prime Sayama showing off with bonkers near perfect timing and spots, but it's not particularly interesting, alongside a lot of just holding arms and limbs.

I think the main problem with the match is that it feels....uninspired, you know? Like it's just the two being careful, landing some perfectly alright back and forths alongside the standard arm work, but there's none of the chaotic stuff you got from the last two singles between the two, where it felt like the match could just explode with violence at any point. It almost feels.....neutral, like the two have made up almost and this is just a exhibition for the crowd. It gets a bit exciting as Black pulls for a top rope knee drop, but misses and sells his knee afterwards. They don't do anything with that and instead Sayama gets to be a cocky shit by laying down on the middle rope and relaxing. Black takes some mean bumps on his head and neck throughout with a stiff Tiger DDT and a missed top rope back elbow both causing some issues. That doesn't really excuse the fact that this is more or less a less tightly paced version of their singles match from before, only with way less tension and no real value to it given that fact.

It picks up near the end as Black lands a dive to the outside and a superplex that does cause the crowd to bite slightly for a upset win. The finish comes when Black crossbodies the two to the outside, they brawl until Tiger reverses a piledriver into his own and gets into the ring for the count out win. Sayama sells he's like near death, but I didn't quite buy that here given the lackadaisical pacing and him just casually relaxing mid-match. Again, these two had a way better match a few months ago with a ton more heat and workrate: this by comparison feels like a touring version, which is fine, but it didn't really get going until the very end. The two still have something between them: by comparison to the last two matches this felt like a downgrade. If you are really wanting a more snappy look-in between these two then I guess this works as a lean version of that. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Villano III II (03.09.1982) 

It's a bit of a shame that Villano has went from being a seriously dangerous threat from their match last year to the shortest lasting title contender at just seven minutes (a bit is shaved off this but it doesn't appear to be much at all) because the two really clicked the last time round. We start off with a botch as they try for the deadlift backslide spot but they mess up and awkwardly hold each other for a bit. They make up for that with a good back and forth as Sayama cycles though his signature stuff. Villano pulls out a Stump Puller (of all things? ) but gets reversed and Sayama takes over with some beautiful arm drag takeovers and a Savate kick to send the guy outside.

There's some weird miscommunications throughout: both men will stand around at times not expecting stuff to happen until it actually happens, and Sayama has to noticeably pace himself slower and do some weird pauses to get around this issue, even neglecting his Tiger Wall Flip spot on the turnbuckle in favour of a weird running hug instead. Villano also feels a lot more lethargic than last year: maybe he's just working more of a traditional rudo this time but at the same time he is a bit iffy, albeit never gets overtly bad. Sayama milks a vicious slam off a reverse Frankensteiner attempt good enough to get a big crowd chant, as well as Villano taunting.

He counters a throw into the air with a amazing pair of flying headscissors before his opponent no sells, gets his back suplex countered into a German instead for the quick win. I mean this isn't amazing but as a pure and raw showcase of Tiger Mask magic, it's terrific and nearly perfect bar the communication issues. Sucks that Villano has to be reduced to just being fodder but hey, he did alright with what he was given and was on the ball admittedly when he had to match the fast pace with his own, even if it was obvious that the language barrier was a tangible issue between the two. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Pete Roberts (10.9.1982)

There's a GREAT bit to start this off as Black Tiger gets in and starts brawling with Sayama, and both him and Roberts decide "fuck it" and team up to get rid of the scamp and have a good, clean fight between the two despite their differences. As you might expect this is the closest to a Sammy Lee WoS performance as Tiger Mask that you're going to get as a lot of this is paced behind creative technical work and counters as they stick mostly to the mat. They pace out the actual crazy athletic spots well with a lot of just good Catch mat-work that you'd never really see these days because those fundamentals aren't taught or used very often outside of the occasional Yoshinari Ogawa schooling. Like they actually make stuff like hammerlocks, headscissors, and tests of strength mean something to the match and to the audience.

While I love the usual Sayama formula with the crazy flips and kicks (and believe me, they are here as well) these kind of matches force him to work less off what he can do in his sleep in favour of a more grounded, reasonable format where he has to utilise more than just that. As a result, his opponent actually seems like a tangible threat here as Sayama sells and gets manhandled at points by Roberts' arm work, having to really scratch and claw around him to get the definitive edge. Not quite Steve Wright levels, but enough that the crowd at least semi-buys Roberts as a threat. 

The finish is partly borrowed from their prior tag match as Mask escapes a hammerlock by sending Roberts flying to the outside, he gets in and tries for a sunset but gets a near fall before his backbreaker attempt is countered into a O'Connor Roll w/ bridge for the win. This was a neatly paced match that for 15 minutes never really dragged any despite having a lot of holds, namely because the two worked actual tangibly agency so it felt like they were actually struggling to survive and get in their own work here without giving too much leverage to the other. Roberts especially excels in such a format, and I thought he had some really good old-school stuff while using some occasional fancy atheticism to even the odds. Not a conventional Tiger Mask match, but all the better for it ultimately.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Chris Adams II (17.09.1982)

We get the return of Chris Adams here for another decent match with Tiger Mask. The two do have some iffy moments (especially with a goofy Tiger Spin early on that was badly botched on both ends, Adams for some reason just can't take that move right) but for the most part is pretty competent. We start off with some nice acrobatics by both to escape arm wrenches before Adams uses some questionable tactics (namely throwing Mask out of the ring and slamming his head on the ring post) to get a edge. Sayama does well to get over the work done to him before exploding with kicks, ending with a signature savate to knock Adams to the outside.

Probably the main highlight of this match is Adams stealing Mask's "back dropkick to escape Surfboard" spot only he's a bit too lanky to get it right, so he slightly botches it by kicking Sayama right in the face, which causes him to bleed from his mouth. The lads do a decent job working off this as Adams focuses in on the head with closed fists and his signature superkick. He goes for a diving headbutt but misses, allowing his opponent to take over with a big dropkick and reckless dive to the outside, which lands pretty much perfectly.

Finish comes soon after with a apron brainbuster and a top rope moonsault. This was fairly by the numbers for Tiger Mask B-show matches, Adams is a competent opponent albeit fodder at the end of the day. Nothing really stuck out for me and I definitely felt like their match from last year was more exciting, albeit this did slow down after the dropkick spot (which is understandable given the conditions). 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Black Tiger & Villano III (19.09.1982)

This is a build match designed to get Black Tiger over for his incoming title shot against Tiger Mask. As such, he gets extended time to beatdown on Hoshino here and avoids interacting with the champ bar some small encounters here and there. Villano also does a fair bit of bumping for the pair as he bumps and flips all over the place for the face duo. Sayama is insanely over here, like even just a little back and forth with his evil counterpart gets huge chants: like it isn't far out of the norm now but Jr heavyweights getting better and louder chants than heavyweights was rather unheard of at this point and time.

Most of this is pretty standard, there's a fun spot in the middle where Hoshino does the Andre lean spot into the ropes and Black Tiger eggs the crowd on for a dropkick, but it misses as Hishino escapes and he bounces off the ropes in a comedic manner. In terms of chemistry Tiger Mask and Villano have some real good lucha sequences, mostly seemless outside of the occasional slower move but still really well put together and "clean" if that makes any sense, there's no feel of it being fake or overtly planned out and felt more reflective of their 1981 showing in terms of how it was paced out. The middle half goes into the heels taking over with, well, heel work, with some outside brawling and a low blow to Tiger Mask to keep him under control.

This control segment is bleh, a lot of bad no selling (Villano takes TWO piledrivers in succession from both men but gets up and is fine in about 15 seconds) and the action being fairly meh. The finish is just Sayama landing a crossbody and a gutwrench backbreaker for the win on Villano. There's some good moments here but this definitely felt house-showy just how it was formatted, even if the action was better than average. No real stakes being thrown in here alongside everyone taking it fairly easy makes this a pretty nothing showing; if you want more Villano/Mask interactions then this'll definitely do the job. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Black Tiger IV (21.09.1982)

This is clipped down in both versions of the Tiger Mask NJPW collection that I'm using to about 10 minutes, and seems to be the case with the original television broadcast of the match as well. They work off the last matches by having Black Tiger escape the dreaded moonsault that ended him the last time, as well as landing his top rope back elbow unlike the last time. He is more confident here as he wears down the champ with his usual brawling style. Some Sayama botches also unintentionally add to this as he's fatigued and struggling to pull off his usual hope spots to save the day, having to focus more on his kicks, which were slowly crawling into his matches more and more as he got confident in firing them off and became more interested in kickboxing ventures outside of wrestling. He tries for a diving headbutt (I think? ) but Black dodges and Sayama falls knees first, with them bouncing off the mat; not the usual kind of bump where they just bang off the side of the shin or the usual bump he takes, it's a full on direct hit and it looks like it hurts like a motherfucker because he's just stuck in that position for a while. The lads noticeably adjust what they are doing for it as they fail a scoop slam and Mask gets thrown out of the ring for a breather. 

We get a figure-four that is almost immediately rolled into the ropes and onto the outside, albeit Sayama refuses to take a bump on his crappy knees and he just slowly stands up and then falls down again. We get a apron gutbuster to the ring by Black Tiger, which was awesome. We get a repeat spot as Mask counters around a German and flips over but gets caught with a low blow. He tries for a brainbuster, but Tiger Mask counters into a quick rolling O'Connor Roll for the pin. This was shaping up to be a pretty solid outing until the knee spot, where things very noticeably slowed: Sayama has already had a bad history with knee troubles, and this was to continue to plague his career as already stated. 

That being said, it added some drama into things as we had a more grounded affair that did manage to be somewhat engaging in its own way. However the crowd themselves never bit into Black Tiger winning, especially after a streak of losses: the fire for their feud is nowhere near the peak in the middle of the year even if they still cheer positively about the match itself. That being said; this felt stunted and a bit dull overall, with no real big showings to entice people to watch this over their far better first two matches. Sayama would work some extra shows after this but would noticeably take a break for a few weeks to recover. A disappointing step backwards in their feud though not completely the fault of the two involved.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Marty Jones (08.10.1982)

Marty already knows Mask well from (presumably) his WoS stint, so the two scrap it out here in another grounded Tiger Mask showing. I wouldn't be lying in that I thought their UWF match from two years later is flat-out superior in terms of just how well it was worked. Jones adds in a small unique flair with his consistent pulling of the mask for leverage, as well as just flinging Sayama around here like a 80's Joshi-squash match. The two did have some miscommunication in places where Jones would either not be in position or kinda fumble when trying to find stuff to do next, but it isn't massively noticeable bar one or two points during the whole thing.

I know Marty Jones has a ton of love in certain circles, but he just didn't really fit in much here, feeling like a relic from the 70's with his very slow, pedantic punch/kick sequences, a very basic moveset consisting of not particularly dynamic moves...like maybe he's great in the WoS style and I'm missing a lot (which given I did watch a bit of his stuff beyond this, it seems like there was definitely a lot missed) he didn't impress here, even if he does land a somewhat random top rope senton for a near fall. It feels like Jones is just here to fill the role of yet another scrappy Gaijin baddie rather than as a definitive opponent, and as such we get a very muted version of what he can do here. 

The finish is particularly just there as Jones flings Sayama out of the ring a few times for big bumps before he just abruptly wins with a sunset flip when Marty tries to get him back into the ring. We get some ice packs on the leg post-match as well, which was weird as Jones hadn't worked it over at all; maybe this was Sayama's leg injuries flaring up again? It seemed possible given this was his first match back after a break off, presumably because of those same injuries. Idk, this match just felt really weak for me, Jones and Sayama don't meld well in the ring and have a really slow and dull affair with nothing of much interest whatsoever. At least with the B-tier lucha guys we got something good in terms of hold-wangling, this was just creatively void and felt like a template for a Black Tiger match, only replaced with Marty instead. 

 

W/ Osamu Kido Vs. Johnny Londos & Les Thornton (15.10.1982)

This is predictively another house-show formatted match, but not too bad all things considered. Londos looked ancient for someone who was only 43 here. As you might expect from the individuals involved, this match is a LOT of just holds, transitions into holds, or milking the crowd with minimal actual work. The work itself isn't bad certainly; there's a lost art in being able to work holds in a match and keep the attention of the crowd in doing so, especially these days. Of course we get the usual Sayama big spots and the foreign lads looking bad in the process, it's all done well but nothing you can't see elsewhere.

Kido and co bring a real Gotch-influence into this with their focus on athletic showcases of getting around tricky holds and whatnot. They seem to be building Les/Mask again (which would make sense given the frequency of repeat matches) but due to a incident between the pair on their 22/10 singles match where Sayama would legitimately stiff Les with a roundhouse to the back of the neck and essentially kick the shit out of him after he no-sold the finish, this didn't seem to lead anywhere: Les goes back to jobbing for the rest of the tour and then never returns to NJPW. Notice how that whole story was far more interesting than this match? Says a lot. Londos plays a good stooge against Sayama, bumping a ton while playing the bewildered Gaijin role perfectly fine. 

His ring-work is fine, albeit his psychology is lacking: he takes Kido out of his own tag corner to right next to Mask for no reason for a backbreaker, which screws him over just seconds later as Kido inevitably tags in his partner right next to him. He does make up for that with a lovely headscissors transition into a cross armbreaker, as well as a Goldberg-style swinging neckbreaker. The finish is just the lads speedrunning as Sayama drops a top rope crossbody and Tombstone to pin Londos. This wasn't bad, but it's very slow and not particularly exciting stuff. I like more mat-based matches but this just felt like the lads wanted to pad this out because it was a B-show, with only really Sayama putting in any effort to make this a enjoyable experience for the crowd. Les was meh again and Londos was a fun addition, shame we don't see him again. Kido is really kinda plain and unexciting, a good wrestler sure but tremendously dry. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Les Thornton II (22.10.1982)

I already covered this match here, so no need repeating myself.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (26.10.1982)

The Kobayashi feud starts now! He's been a little shit for the past while, attacking Tiger Mask and being generally just being a huge annoyance, now he gets a title match and the chance to finally put his skills to the test. Now what I love about this first off is the rawness of it: Sayama isn't going for fancy tricks or trying to show up his opponent here like he would normally, he's immediately wrestling him to the mat, taking the back mount, hurling elbows, etc. These two aren't playing here, they just want to hurt the other. Of course we still get those athletic spots that look great between the pair (especially as Sayama is not able to just seamlessly power though Kobayashi and gets actually out-gunned a few times when they go into the faster-paced sequences) but it is all to build to mat-work as the two try to really wangle the other. It feels really frantic in places as Kobayashi is very freestyle, throwing all sorts of kicks and strikes when the opportunity arises; sometimes it's a kick, sometimes it's just a headbutt, basically whatever he can get in. Not everything looks good per-se, but it functions well for what this is trying to communicate.

What works about it is how the sense of franticness, and how the two have to really dig deep in their respective arsenals to get the lead. There's some elements wherein things are iffy: I feel like Kobayashi is a league or so below Sayama in terms of raw atheticism, which really hurts him in some of the exchanges. Unlike Dynamite Kid, his stuff is a bit more herky jerky by comparison and not as refined. He's still quite good mind you, but the gap exists and is tangible between the two. Some of the transitions are a bit off as well, like Kobayashi will no sell some stuff but then be right down after some relatively light counters, including kicking out of a diving headbutt at a fast 1 count, which was dodgy even by these two's standards. The finish is also classically screwy as well as despite the two landing dives and teasing Mask losing the match, he manages to get in only for Kobayashi to get him in the corner, mess with his mask and kick him repeatedly, which causes the ref to DQ the lad after he shoves him in turn.

This isn't bad but definitely feels like the, well, feeling out match for the two as they get used to their (very over! ) dynamic. Kobayashi is a great heel and Sayama in turn amps up the intensity to match the challenge, resulting in a more free-flow match with less complex lucha spots and more logical scrappy sequences to get over the two's respective styles. It's not their best match by a fair mile, however. It's still fairly strong for what its worth and like the first Black Tiger showing, it's more here to set up the dynamic for the general audience so they can then go full tilt the next time, which they most definitely will.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi II (04.11.1982)

This match kicked ass. This starts amazingly as Mask does his usual top rope entrance before immediately bouncing off there for a dropkick and a insane dive to the outside while still having the title belt on! Great establishing of the stakes here: Sayama is pissed and is hunting for blood after the beatdown the last time. It's interesting how despite being the heel here, Kobayashi gets a immediate starting chant when he goes for a goofy high kick; sure he's the bad guy, but the crowd respect his guts to at least give him that and cheer him on at points, which is bizarre for someone who's a clear heel.

But yeah, the crowd is bonkers loud for this even for just a basic sleeper getting applied and Mask doing his signature gag-sell. What I thought was really fascinating about this was the amount of pseudo-shoot style we got out of this: lots of UWF style submissions, some kickboxing between the two as they paced around and threw coordinated shots, etc. Like they don't just use a cross armbreaker for a rest hold like we've seen aplenty in more lucha-inspired showings, it's a legitimate match-breaker that the two have to struggle with each other to escape. We also get some really smooth sequences between the two that go more fast-paced naturally, and those are really well done to transition into or out of the more grounded work; it doesn't just feel awkwardly stuck in for the sake of it, they actually work it into the two by incorporating respective key locks and arm drags into the whole thing. There's a especially good bit where Mask flings off the second rope in the corner for a arm drag up and over Kobayashi which he then immediately transitions into a key lock, was slick as anything. 

If you aren't a fan of extended hold wangling then this probably won't be for you, but for me it really was the meat of the drama and the crowd loved it. Eventually Kobayashi powers out of a key lock by just picking up his opponent a la Gotch/Inoki and having the two tumble to the outside in a surprisingly safe bump. Mask lands a piledriver after stopping Kobayashi from messing with his mask, but they very smartly build off the last match by having Sayama do a fake-out diving headbutt, instead doing a forward roll (this would be the first of a good few times he uses this as more wrestlers would dodge his diving headbutt) but still gets caught with a gut kick and Fisherman's Suplex for a very close near fall. 

The finish is slightly abrupt by having Kobasyashi slam his opponent to the outside after dodging a dive before then just losing it and famously ripping Sayama's mask right off, so he loses via DQ again. The two have a brawl despite the exposed mask and Kobayashi basically gets his comeuppance with a beatdown; this would basically write off Sayama for a bit as he would be in the US for a short stint in the WWF. This is a pretty direct upgrade over their last match: the stakes are bigger, the crowd is louder, and the two really push full-gear with some really fast and dynamic work, but also balance that out with surprisingly compelling holds, which is the clincher in terms of how these two get over the differences between them as Mask is clean while Kobayashi yanks and bites and is generally a dirty player. Kobasyashi is arguably the best at dragging out all aspects of Sayama's Tiger Mask and getting him out of just doing spots over and over, allowing for a more hate-filled match that really feels ahead of its time. You could stick this on today and people would still think it was a solid outing. 

RANK: Great

 

Tiger in WWF: A Short History

So basically Sayama would spend all of November and the start of December in the WWF, mostly wrestling jobbers and defending his Jr Heavyweight title. Given he only had about half a dozen matches televised, we might as well fit it in here as well. 

 

Vs. Mac Rivera (16.11.1982)

This is a overt squash match that barely goes past one minute. The only real novelty is the actual squash itself, alongside the fact that Vince gets to go nuts on commentary as he legitimately is lost for words in places from Mask's fancy spots. There's some awkwardness stemming from Rivera kinda struggling to keep pace but it mostly goes off without any issues, and Mask squashes Rivera with a (mostly missed) moonsault for the win. If you like squash matches then I think there's something maybe here, but honestly you can find much, much better, even on this same tour.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Curt Hennig (17.11.1982) 

This was a dark match but the wrestling gods smiled on this day so the footage for said dark match is available. Now obviously we all know the man Hennig will become, but at this point he's a very young 24 year old with only a year of experience, probably the earliest existing full match of the lad. One might think this would again be a squash, but thankfully these two actually have a semi-competitive match. Obviously he's a bit green in places but he's mostly pretty smooth, and gets over the danger of Tiger Mask's sensational offence as well as you would imagine, scrambling for the ropes a few times but always maintaining a good babyface underdog charm as he keeps the match clean. 

Sayama himself gives Hennig a good bit of leg-room to show off and even get on the offensive a few times with holds, which is practically what this entire match consists of basically outside of a few scoop slams and a good dropkick by Hennig himself. That said, it's a surprisingly strong outing that has a ton of enjoyable yet simple mat-work between the two that was dynamic and never went too far into hold-hugging. The finish keeps this simplisity by having Hennig's third scoop slam be countered into a rolling Victory Star pin, which manages to cost him the match. This was good enough to get a pretty uninterested and fairly rough-sounding crowd to a big applause at the end, especially with the post-match as the two show some legitimate respect for the other with a handshake. All in all, a surprisingly strong sprint that didn't go that long despite the entire thing being mat-based: even this early on you can clearly see Hennig has something special as his work is incredibly smooth, and he bumps and sells tremendously well for his opponent, who in turn gets to show off his usual big spots and some occasional counters we don't usually see out of him. Might be a bit much for praise but I did think this was legitimately the best match of the tour, or at least drawn with another we'll cover as well. All in all, definitely seek this one out.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Jose Estrada (22.11.1982)

Jose is just a enhancement talent lad for Sayama to run over basically as we've already seen him in action back in NJPW; and run over he does by going though all of the usual Tiger Mask spots at the time pretty seamlessly. Estrada isn't a great wrestler or anything but he's pretty well known for being a very competent hand; you can tell he's holding back a fair bit and making his stuff as undynamic as possible so his opponent shines as a result. So it's basically 50% big fancy spots and then 50% rest holds and just sitting in them for a while; as you can imagine, it's not the most exciting thing bar those moments where the match picks up. The finish is good as Mask does a fake-out diving headbutt into a forward roll before catching Estrada with a cartwheel crossbody for the easy win. It's a standard enhancement match that was televised, as much as the crowd did appreciate it by the end given this would be one of those infamous MSG showings that people would go back to decades later just for the crowd reaction. Other than that.....skip this one safely.

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Eddie Gilbert (25.11.1982)

This is Eddie Gilbert pre "Hot Stuff" pre-WCW fame and only 21 years old, probably the oldest major match televised of him. Now Tiger Mask in the US is a bit of a weird one: here's this amazing once in a lifetime huge high-flying prodigy that could work with virtually any act showing up in a company that, let's just face it, didn't respect Jr heavyweights much at all: just look at the list of champions this belt actually had. This is kinda a good example of that given Eddie didn't have much of a rep at this moment and time and these two go first on the card, with a crowd that honestly couldn't give less of a shit and BOO Tiger Mask for showing up or even doing something as simple as a clean break lol. Much like the last crowd, these give no mercy to the two. 

That being said, this is more or less just a spotshow for Sayama: Gilbert at this point wasn't really much of a big established act, so he's mostly kept to bumping and selling, bar the occasional back and forth: he might get some leg work or a initial advantage, but he isn't given much of anything to do here but be a body to get run over. Mind you Tiger Mask is probably one of the best AT these kind of one-sided matches but still. Eddie looks fine for what he's given and even adds some heelish stuff by getting flustered at consistently getting outsmarted during said spots, teasing a closed fist but never fully committing to the act.

The best he gets is a back suplex as Sayama RVD-sells for a near fall. We get a Tombstone into a diving headbutt across the ring, but Gilbert dodges just at the last moment. We get a good corner springboard crossbody and flying forearm by the lad. We also get a weird finish as he lands a apron suplex, but Mask gets the legs for a small package for a successful pin, crowd boo Tiger Mask again for the result lol. You can't win. This was a perfectly fine match with some fairly good elements as a young Gilbert shows his competency in the ring, even if he's mostly just selling here for the champ. It's a routine performance but fairly enjoyable nonetheless with the occasional good back and forth. If you want to see Gorilla Monsoon mark out over Tiger Mask for 10 minutes, I guess this is your best source for that.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Mr (Masa) Saito (07.12.1982)

Real fun sub-5 sprint of a match. Sayama has his fancy spots and kicks while Saito's just a mean fucker who'll just beat you up, no gimmicks needed. Saito bumps around for him at the start with the usual spots before he just unloads with some brawling. Of course Saito still gets outmatched with a perfect top rope moonsault over him and into a Savate kick, but still. Saito throws some good punches before his gameplan becomes shoving Mask out of the ring and keeping him out, but then Mask naturally springs up and over him while he takes a nice prat-fall bump to the outside. Sayama then goes for a pretty incredible pitch-perfect plancha to the outside that was so awesome that the crowd immediately just give standing ovations in response.  

Saito manages to get in just at the last second, and then is able to get a nasty backdrop off a headlock. He works over with some extra slams and is even able to telegraph a springboard crossbody from the corner as he gets out of the way just in time, which was a cool spot. Saito tries ducking the second time this happens; which allows his opponent to bowl up and over for a great sunset flip for the quick pin. This was fun for what it was, and Saito works as a good enough foil with his gritty style, which is even better when juxtaposed to the overtly fancy style of his opponent. I would've liked to seen these two have a proper feud with longer matches but this'll do. The crowd helps a ton here as they are massively loud for just about every Mask spot thrown in here, and Sayama in response goes for some big risky stuff to get him roaring by the end.  

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Joe Martin (Same Day) 

Yep, this is the same day but filmed alongside the Saito match in bulk. Now I have zero idea who this Joe Martin guy is, but he's pretty much one of those dozens upon dozens of no-name jobbers who had maybe a month or so of training, so we get some really flimsy punches out of him when he tries ambushing Sayama pre-match. We also get some wacky spots, like a inverted Tiger Feint because Martin is too close, as well as some goofy arm work. Sayama is such a cocky shit that he even offers his hand to Martin to take into a hammerlock, which inevitably has Martin taken down back into another key lock. This is as expected pretty non-descript as Martin would get outsmarted, hit the ropes, reset into spot, repeat for three minutes.

To be fair, Martin does get SOME offense in.....a few forearms and a single scoop slam which is then immediately no sold, but offense nonetheless. He gets the Mighty Inoue special as Sayama throws out two jumping sentons for the finish in a easy 3 minute squash. Pretty much another filler match with nothing worth checking out. 

RANK: Forgettable 

 

===========

And that's the end of 1982! Bit of a flat end to such a solid year of matches but there's still plenty more to come out of the next year.

 

 

[NintendoLogic]

I'd definitely put Marty in the top tier of WoS workers. I've only seen him wrestle as a blue-eye, though, so it could be he just wasn't comfortable working heel.

[Ma Stump Puller]

13 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

I'd definitely put Marty in the top tier of WoS workers. I've only seen him wrestle as a blue-eye, though, so it could be he just wasn't comfortable working heel.

Sounds reasonable, I don't think they were too interested in giving him much to work with in the first place given how this is the only time he shows up on tape. 

 

On 12/16/2022 at 4:42 AM, G. Badger said:

Awesome to see you revisiting Tiger Mask! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw his non-DK matches. Not everything was amazing but there are some really fantastic battles that don't get the attention they deserve. I don't think I saw the Villano III from '81...might have to search for that. Really nice in depth reviews as well. 

Thanks! I would highly suggest checking out the Villano match if you can find it, very solid. Glad you are enjoying it.

 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

I wouldn't judge any Mexican or British worker on their matches in Japan. Credit to the guys who got over and had great matches, but for the average wrestler it could be an awkward place to work. It's a shame that Marty didn't get a proper run against Tiger Mask since Jones and Rocco pretty much invented the junior heavyweight wrestling style. Given enough chances, I don't see why they couldn't have created something similar to Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. I also wish they'd let Rocco wrestle Tiger Mask as himself and not that shitty Black Tiger gimmick. Rocco could have gotten over in Japan being Mark Rocco.

The lucha guys may have regularly jobbed to Sayama in Japan, but they were well known UWA wrestlers. None of them were enhancement level talents. You had to be at a certain level to tour Japan in those days. 

[Ma Stump Puller]

8 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I wouldn't judge any Mexican or British worker on their matches in Japan. Credit to the guys who got over and had great matches, but for the average wrestler it could be an awkward place to work. It's a shame that Marty didn't get a proper run against Tiger Mask since Jones and Rocco pretty much invented the junior heavyweight wrestling style. Given enough chances, I don't see why they couldn't have created something similar to Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. I also wish they'd let Rocco wrestle Tiger Mask as himself and not that shitty Black Tiger gimmick. Rocco could have gotten over in Japan being Mark Rocco.

The lucha guys may have regularly jobbed to Sayama in Japan, but they were well known UWA wrestlers. None of them were enhancement level talents. You had to be at a certain level to tour Japan in those days. 

Yeah from what I seen of him and Rocco without the Black Tiger shtick (even the match with him and Sayama way back in WoS) the two of them seemed pretty good and certainly could've done a lot more if they were presented with the same opportunities as Dynamite was. That's definitely one thing that I learned from going though this run: Dynamite was certainly great, but you do wonder how much of that was his own brilliance and how much was the fact he was pushed a lot harder and given a lot more leeway than other equally great wrestlers. Same with seeing guys like Villano III and Negro Navarro (who even from my admittedly limited experience were far bigger deals than presented).

 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

The Villano match was pretty good, though I hated the count out finish.  I can kind of understand NJPW not really appreciating what they had in Villano, as they probably thought they could throw anybody at Tiger Mask. It would have been nice if they'd developed more of a rivalry, but it wasn't to be. Sayama worked an interesting hybrid style. I kind of like how he could draw on both the Mexican and British style and also do a bit of quasi-shoot style. 

[Ma Stump Puller]

3 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

The Villano match was pretty good, though I hated the count out finish.  I can kind of understand NJPW not really appreciating what they had in Villano, as they probably thought they could throw anybody at Tiger Mask. It would have been nice if they'd developed more of a rivalry, but it wasn't to be. Sayama worked an interesting hybrid style. I kind of like how he could draw on both the Mexican and British style and also do a bit of quasi-shoot style. 

I was equally gutted to see NJPW kinda pass by such a brilliant act like Villano in favour of just rotating out talent, so instead you mostly get guys who couldn't get nearly as good results (with the occasional outlier like Black Man or whatnot). 

I'll also say that the "quasi-shoot style" that you do sorta see emerge definitely becomes more and more apparent as time goes on: in fact his later 1983 matches as I'll cover soon (ish) almost feel like really early Super Tiger showings as most of it is just scrappy stand-up kickboxing, mat-work, and the occasional one or two spots, though this might have something to do with his bad knees than anything else. The Kobayashi matches really showcase that change in tempo as time goes on, really fascinating going though them and seeing that slow mutation of styles.

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

Part 4

Given 1983 (spoilers!) only lasts until mid-August, the next part will be slightly shorter than usual.

===========

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi III (06.01.1983)

This is the (unofficial) big ending for the trio of matches these two have had so far: after this they have a few more matches together but mostly just out of obligation to draw more tickets than anything else. Pre-match brawl with the two scrapping but don't be fooled: this is by far the most neutral and least chaotic match between the two as we start off with simple grappling rather than flailing strikes or whatnot. This part is however quite good: I did remark with the last match that the UWF-style is being clearly refined here with a mix of lucha transitions and shoot-style submissions and that's what we basically get here, with even a Crossface Chickenwing being used as a dangerous submission alongside double wrist locks and headscissors. Outside of the occasional spot sequences, you honestly could slot this into a really early UWF 1.0 card and barely tell the difference bar the final third stretch.   

Outside of Kobayashi's kinda meh strikes at points, the first 15 of this was solid and never really stalled too much in one style, always flowing between the more flashy spots and the grappling, even mixing them by having Mask go for a small package to counter a suplex only to hold after the pin and transition into a cross armbreaker, which was a pretty out-there bit to see out of the usually conventional by the numbers Tiger Mask formula. They get a bit too ambitious in places: there's a simultaneous "high kick/low kick" bit they try for that looks a bit dodgy: but they save it by having Sayama quickly take it down to the mat. Same with a weird lucha double leg lock that looks awkward at first but then they start throwing stiff slaps while stuck in a double handstand and that saved the whole thing for me, looked awesome.

 We get progressively meaner as the finish comes as the two start going for nasty slams, including Mask having his dive to the outside countered (ish) by getting smashing into the guardrail. The match plays with the audience as they tease count-out victories and near falls, but none of them are the true big ending until Mask lands a pretty rough German suplex on the outside, which allows him to just get out with a count-out victory. I felt like this lacked the insane heat of the second match, which I would put slightly above this one: while this was longer and had a conclusive finish, it also did get a bit messy in places and there's way too much no-selling and ignoring of the other person's stuff, which gets a bit overkill by the end when finishers are being thrown and they just ignore fatigue all together. The two still work really well and this is by far one of the better showings for this year in retrospect; while I sound very harsh about this match, it was still way ahead of its time in a good few ways and a stellar performance by both men, even if I think Sayama personally outworks Kobayashi once again here.

RANK: Good

 

W/ Gran Hamada, Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Los Misioneros de la Muerte (El Signo, El Texano & Negro Navarro) (14.01.1983)

The pre-match for this lasts FOREVER as Los Misioneros de la Muerte and other goons beat down on the native trio for a few minutes before the match starts. Tiger Mask is especially a target given his champ status.....then we get another brawl as soon as the match starts just as things start to calm down lol. It does lead to some pretty good exchanges as Mask eventually outsmarts the rudos with some solid speedy exchanges, as well as Hamada getting the better of a pre-bald Navarro.

We also get some comedic stuff as the Muerte trio can't get on the same page and knock into each other a fair bit here despite best attempts. No one really sells for long though; this is just one continuous stream of moves with occasional control bits when the heel lads get in charge, even then it's just a non-stop showcase of moves. Which is fine and all, however I tend to lose interest when a match is all just that and nothing else. 

Near the end we get Hoshino get beat down for a bit before the bigger names take the bombs (namely a nice spinning Tombstone from Texano) before him and Hamada go back and forth, with the latter having to use a quick roll-up for the win. It's a nothing match purely there to get over the later Muerte stuff over, and that's fine, it's just that this doesn't really do a whole lot for me besides that. If you are a fan of this kind of chaotic style then you'll probably enjoy it for what it was.

RANK: Decent 

 

Vs. Negro Navarro (20.01.1983)

Navarro is a good foil for Mask, even if he's nowhere near his (surprising) peak and reinvention in the 2000's. He's more of a power-based rudo here, throwing around and slamming his smaller opponent with ease, then smirking about it like a complete jackass. He's got some real old-fashioned cowardly bits as well, hiding behind trainees when Mask threatens a dive from the top rope or scampering away from a Tiger Feint with near-perfect timing. He also sells a inverse savate kick to the head like he's just died, it's great. Here's some occasional messy bit or botched (probably from the ever-present language barrier) but it never gets overbearingly bad and is usually covered well.

Navarro has some nifty offence as well, including a reverse Torture Rack stretch and biting the boot when working it in a Stump Puller purely just to get extra heel points. Sayama's comeback is a bit weird as we get a stiff kick to the stomach before Navarro takes a suplex bump without him actually doing one. He goes for a surprising number of just slams and/or suplexes as opposed to fancy spots before the finish has him do a fake-out diving headbutt, entering into a forward roll before snapping into a nasty German suplex for the win, with post-match being him beat down once again by Los Misioneros de la Muerte before Kobayashi of all people chases them out! He's still not a babyface though as he stares down Mask and shoves him, but this shows that the two at least have a measure of respect for the other despite the vicious matches. Either way, this was a pretty fun filler singles for the two, with Navarro being a unique challenge with his more powerhouse offence though inevitably having to eat the loss to the ace. Mask looked about as good as he usually does albeit with some stilted moments as addressed above, however I don't think they were major enough to detract from the quality of the match. 

RANK: Good

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Black Tiger & Jose Estrada (28.01.1983)

Jose Estrada once again somehow manages to show up in a match! This is a mostly nothing filler tag to establish Black Tiger for his title match in a little while, so he tags with the heel jobber for the two to mostly bumble around. Hoshino is fine as the face sidekick that gets in his usual spots, nothing great about him but he's a competent hand that knows his role in these tags as per standard. The usual structure has Sayama show off, get in danger as the heels gang up on him for a bit, including some decent interactions with Black Tiger.

Sayama doesn't obviously sell for any extended amount of time, eventually just quickly taking the advantage and tags in Hoshino for his stuff, mainly him throwing some knee drops before Estrada uses some dirty eye rakes but fails to get a big lead. There's a goofy bit where Hoshino tries for a running sunset flip but fails to get the legs, so it looks like a weird back bump. They repeat the spot uber shamelessly after a quick pin and it goes off successfully this time.

The finish has Estrada get pinned after a Tombstone/diving headbutt combo by Mask, with Black Tiger's foot being held by Hoshino to keep him from breaking it up. This is a real nothing filler match that pretty much just randomly happened to get televised, very by the numbers and not particularly interesting. Unless you want to see more Estrada bumbling (for some reason?) this is 100% skippable, the definition of filler. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Gran Hamada II (03.02.1983)

This is a pretty solid match: the main issue is that it's babyface vs babyface, so there's not really that crowd heat you would get from a Black Tiger or Kobayashi showing. This is somewhat resolved by having Hamada be tactfully not 100% a face here as he's a bit more snappy, aggressive and at times perplexed at what he has to do to shut down Mask for good on the mat, which is where a good bit of this happens on: much like the last match with the two, Hamada flirts with heelish antics but never fully commits; this is a important story bit for later down the line. There's occasional spots and sequences but these are more of a fix to the slower parts than a means to a end, smartly done so as these two work a lot better with a slower pace. As a result, this is one of the more mixed major matches of Sayama's tenure: I definitely see people looking at this very long, drawn out leg and arm work (that's then not really worked much or sold, like at all, nor adds to the finish or match progression) and turning off from that, which is fine but I feel like you are missing some critical development as a mat-worker as a result of that.

Hamada also has some great bits here where he's able to neutralise Mask from doing his fancy shit and force him back into escaping his tricky holds. Of course he gets his time in the sun but still, these bits were solid additions. Hamada gets more desperate over time as he throws out a near fall rolling reverse cradle and even a Triangle Choke (ish) to wear the guy down before we get a dive out of him to mix up his hold-wangling. The two go back and forth when inside the ring and Hamada throws Mask again to try for another dive, but gets met with a nice mid-air dropkick. The two have a dynamic finishing stretch, with Hamada going for a bunch of tricky pins in a last ditch attempt to grab a win before he gets countered when trying for another reverse cradle (something he'd done a few times already in the match for near falls as a clutch) with Sayama pulling down his arms to get a three count. Hamada is shocked and a bit annoyed afterwards but eventually accepts the loss, even if this doesn't answer the question of who was REALLY the better wrestler given Sayama never beat him conclusively. 

If their rivalry had continued, it would've been interesting to see how this dynamic would've developed. Either way this is one of the more nuanced Tiger Mask matches, more about mat-work than dazzling heat or crazy spots. Hamada is pretty damn good at this point and time; though he's not as athletic or flashy as his opponent he's still got lots of stuff in the tank to impress, mostly being super-fast counters or refined mat-work. His opponent is more or less the same in that regard, Sayama wasn't super spot-crazy here but showed off a more slower side with bursts of speed when needed, which I definitely do enjoy a good bit more than his more superhero spot-show approach. Either way, a uniquely fun matchup.

RANK: Good

 

Vs. Black Tiger V (07.02.1983)

The last Tiger v Tiger singles matchup and it's....alright despite the conditions. The crowd are still somewhat into this matchup but the heat has obviously died down from their very loud and profitable first few outings; by this point this was old-news, especially with the more popular (and let's just face it, outright better) Kobayashi feud also orbiting around. Not to say the match itself was bad or anything, that was what I felt hearing the somewhat died-down reactions to this. The two pull off the same dynamic as expected, with some good callbacks to their earlier matches with each other (Sayama doing a fake-out moonsault as opposed to crashing and burning a few matches back, a low blow after a German suplex attempt) and a more scrappy aura as the two fire off a lot of strikes and Black Tiger tries to weaken his opponent with his usual roughhousing but of course can never keep his opponent contained for long. 

They get the crowd going near the end with Sayama doing a diving headbutt to the outside....that misses lol. Black Tiger tries to counter a apron suplex counter into German with low blows, but Sayama keeps blocking and shifting away from it until he just SMASHES the shit out of him with a great inverse Savate kick to the back of the head (which will be used more and more as Tiger Mask starts to lean into a kickboxing style) and a nasty German suplex for the win. This felt like the definitive end to their long-standing feud: even if Black Tiger had lost countless times before; having the clean win and his dirty antics finally be defeated was a really solid bit and kinda marked the end of their work together even if Rocco would continue to do the Black Tiger shtick for 7 more years, mostly as a reliable act to get ran over by bigger prospects. This wasn't a great match, was pretty solid all in all, even if it does lack the intensity from their earlier work until the very end where they tease Sayama actually losing. He doesn't obviously, but it's still effective, and as much as Black Tiger can bug people out in regards to the very scrappy style used by Rocco to communicate his differences to Sayama, I think he definitely stands out regardless which is never truly a bad thing unless it's the "uniquely bad" category. That said, big shame we never see Rocco/Sayama in Japan without the Black Tiger shtick being a thing.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi IV (08.02.1983)

Just a day after his Black Tiger match, Tiger Mask is immediately having to defend his title again from Kobayashi, which is super screwy if you think about it. This match is also a cut one, namely 11 minutes out of the original 16 runtime; my sources don't have these missing minutes so I imagine they weren't available. In my opinion this is also the weakest of the Kobayashi matches because it really doesn't try anything new with the formula but rather just repeats old stuff between the two with some small tweaks like Mask pulling for a really tight Muta Lock a decade before the aforementioned would actually coin the move for himself. Other than that it's just usual fun antics between the two with a lot of working-holds to pad this out, isn't anything you haven't seen done better before.

The only really interesting bit to address is Kobayashi legitimately getting socked in the face with a savate kick from Sayama and him getting KO'd as a result for a few seconds until the ref wakes him up. He gets up immediately for his backdrop counter, which Sayama is nice enough to put his hand deliberately behind Kobayashi's head to make sure his landing is softer and to not make his head issues worse. He's obviously a bit shaken up by this and takes a lot longer to do stuff, they work off it slightly by having Mask do his inverse savate kick to his head as well for more head targeting. He lands a big dive to the outside and the two milk a potential count out but it never happens. We get the usual kicks and Fisherman's Suplex out of Kobayashi, with Mask kicking out at a 1 count if you can believe it. 

He lands his own dive and a backdrop on the floor, another tease at a count out loss by Mask but he gets back in anyway. Kobayashi tries for a second Fish Suplex, Mask gets out and counters into a rolling Prawn-style pin for a near fall, Kobayashi tries for a sunset but gets rolled up himself for the big win: yet another one of these screwy finishes to keep his opponent strong. Sayama gets a bit emotional post-match as he's rewarded the belt. There's definitely some good bits throughout here but the reduced time and real lack of creativity did make this weaker workrate-wise than prior showings, even if it still had some solid tension and built well to the frantic finish. Not necessary viewing but if you want to see more of these two then this'll definitely help with that despite the hollow structure. 

RANK: Decent

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Gran Hamada & Kuniaki Kobayashi (10.02.1983)

Wait, isn't Hamada a face? Why is he tagging with the obvious scrappy heel then? Well Hamada had actually been tagging with Kobayashi for a good while and it seems to come to a head here as his true colours come out. This is a pretty good outing for being essentially a filler tag to build Mask/Kobayashi up more after their fourth singles just two days prior, namely because this had no foreign jobbers or goofy heels to distract from the action. Hamada is again really good here; if it wasn't for Sayama being a superstar and if he was just a few inches taller he'd be easily a big prospect for a heavyweight push, but we all know how his career really goes. Hoshino is...fine, but he's clearly the weaker man out of these four by a fair bit and does basically all of the sustained bumping for his partner, minus getting a spot or two to show off his skills a bit against the younger lads for the most part. The underlining story is that Mask and Kobayashi go tit for tat here so they interrupt each other's spots but never really tag in with each other to smartly build to their important outings.

I do like how when Kobayashi is in he immediately goes for the mask, and Hamada (who had been noticeably scorned just a week or so earlier) actually helps the guy! Hamada even manages to slip the mask off his opponent a bit too fast so Sayama has to hold it in front of his face for dear life. He eventually recovers and him and Kob have a surprisingly meh back and forth, including a really bad botch where Tiger Mask did a Pele kick, completely missed, gets sold anyway. Mask goes though all of his signature stuff before Hamada jumps in to interrupt a pin off a diving headbutt, as well as removing his mask again. It's pretty entertaining to see Hamada and Hoshino just throw hands at each other, including a Roddy Piper-lite series of jabs and a hook by Hoshino that looked mega goofy. Dude just unravels on these two with full on punches out of the blue.

I thought the crowd actually picked up well for his stuff, but he gets shut down with a brainbuster anyway. Mask gets in and lands his great inverse savate kick on Kobayashi, the heels gang up on him again and the match is thrown out after a amazing plancha to the outside by him to the latter onto a table on the outside which results in both being unable to answer the call for a double count out. The babyfaces still celebrate, but it's a hollow one given the beating and result. Now one would think this would lead to a heated rematch between Hamada and Sayama down the line for revenge, a series of big tags or a definitive winner between the two....nope. Hamada leaves for a extended UWA stint and Sayama is gone by the time he comes back, so this heated rivalry stops dead here, sadly. Shame as well because the two have the better exchanges here with some good back and forth work. Kobayashi does his usual shit and it's fine, I still think his kicks are weird and he can't really be taken seriously after all of these losses. Hoshino was actually a big hand in terms of the match as a whole and I loved him going full murder-mode with the punches, loads of fun there. Solid tag bout with some great heat in the second half. 

RANK: Good 

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Abdullah Tamba & Mile Zrno (04.03.1983)

This "Abdullah Tamba" lad is a oddity: virtually identical to the OG Abdullah bar the face and being slightly smaller, but throws high-flying stuff on occasion? Bizarre to say the least. Zrno I've never heard of but he has some nifty technical stuff in his pocket and works well with Hoshino doing old-fashioned hold to hold work, kinda reminds me of a 80's Alex Wright if that makes any sense, he's a lanky lad with surprising agility. Tamba is....well he's not exactly great offense-wise (outside of a half-decent leaping headscissors and dropkick) but he can bump quite well for his size and plays a good stooge to Sayama's amazing spots and antics, getting annoyed at chants and hiding in the ropes. One part in particular has him be so scared to fight Mask that he tries tagging Zrno from the outside, and the ref immediately makes him get back in and do it properly, which was a good little heel act.

 We do get some Zrno/Mask but it's a bit stilted in places and the two mostly don't really sell anything beyond some big bumps. Tamba and Hoshino work a decent big man/little man dynamic as he tries to topple the big lad, but Tamba takes over with some slams and a bottom rope splash, needing the babyfaces to team up to land a big backdrop to chase him away. Zrno gets hit with a Tombstone and slapped into the Cobra Stretch but Tamba breaks it up. Lead to the finish has Hoshino mostly bump around until he can get the tag to Mask, who is also beat down by Tamba until he dodges his terrible knee-first top rope splash and lands a scoop slam.

Now the finish is interesting: Sayama does his moonsault, but mostly misses his target and hits Tamba's legs. Rather than go for the pin and look stupid, he instead smartly goes for a figure four instead for the tap-out given the fact, which I thought was remarkably intelligent for a finish adjustment. You can tell this isn't the original finish as well as both Hoshino and Zrno kinda stop brawling for a second to look over at the two and are noticeably confused. As a match this was mostly by the numbers and not amazingly well done by even NJPW undercard standards, but I thought this was enjoyable and Zrno and Tamba add some well-needed colour to the usual Jr acts Tiger Mask has to face, in particular Tamba being a lot of fun with his antics and Zrno impressed on occasion. Hoshino is a smooth sidekick as he always is and Sayama pulls out the usual tricks with the crowd are as expected loving every second of it. It's nothing ground-breaking at this point but definitely one I'd check out.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Chris Adams III (11.03.1983)

Adams again and this time he's playing a overt heel, shouting at the crowd and doing dirty shit right off the bat. Unfortunately that means we see less of his fun Catch work and more him in the role of the usual "Tiger Mask against foreign stooge" act, meaning lots of bumping and selling on both sides without much real action. Adams takes over in the early stages with punches and basic offence, and then Mask will counter into his own stuff and vice versa. It's rather...aimless, and doesn't really try to do much than run the clock down, so it's a lot of "I'll just do a knee drop randomly and try for a pin" and shit like that, just complete filler. 

Adams goes for his superkick (which Sayama bumps great for) and misses his diving headbutt. There's no real hint of psychology: Mask lands a brainbuster, a piledriver AND a Cobra Stretch, but then Adams just wiggles out and takes over with no issues with a punch to the gut without even bothering to add any desperation or selling what just happened, even a Misawa head-shake would suffice. I think a general issue this match suffers from as well is that post-Kobayashi feud, there's been more "sweep the leg" spots, as well as messing around with the mask, and it does tire when nearly every match has some element of one or both in it. No longer is it a cool feature exclusively shown off now and then by nasty rudo brawlers or big acts, now virtually every match has someone trying to grab onto it for cheap heat, not even really trying to work it proper into the match or anything. The crowd chants for Mask as he gets beatdown by Adams, he makes a comeback with a big Savate kick and some suplexes. Adams escapes a Butterfly attempt and gets back on top again, so more punches and slow work. There's some holds in the second half but the pacing doesn't get any better regardless of that, and we even get some bad pacing botches as Adams kinda just sits in position while Mask tries to do something and they have to awkwardly reset.

They finally get the crowd engaged with a step-up Enzuigiri by Adams, which Mask sells like a KO for about 20 seconds until he needs to do his comeback spot, ending in a leg sweep. Tombstone + Diving Headbutt for the easy win. This was a rough filler match, with the two mostly just doing shit to each other intertwined with hints of something with Adams heel work, but we never get much beyond that. Nothing to this at all, barely any holds and a real feeling of this just being on the spot, especially with the pacing here. This is everything people who don't like the guy think Tiger Mask matches look like, just a mishmash of moves with no pacing, selling, or psychology, super stripped down.

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino Vs. Chris Adams & Abdullah Tamba (18.03.1983)

After their bad singles, I was somewhat dreading this tag given who was involved. We start off with some sloppy shit between Hoshino and Tamba as they generally aren't clicking and don't work well with each other, with some obvious timing issues and bad bumps. Things get better when Mask gets in and the heels double team him with a lot of strikes and whatnot. We also get a awesome spot where Sayama does his signature Wall Run off the turnbuckle corner, only doing it off Tamba's back after he missed a shoulder press and into his Savate kick, ending with a big dive though the ropes.

More or less the entire match is just the above repeating itself a few times bar the occasional change or whatnot. Tamba also squishes Sayama with a nasty senton splash: unless the usual version where the person jumps slightly to elevate the actual impact of the move (as well as making sure the full mass isn't right on them) Tamba just goes flat on them full-force and it looks disgustingly stiff, doesn't help he was off slightly so he ended up mostly on his head on top of that. It's pretty crazy he eats that and just 20 seconds later is doing top rope moonsaults and flipping all over the place. Him and Adams are good enough as a pair and we definitely get some of the higher-quality stuff out of those two. Tamba gets to show off a bit here as well with a dropkick and floppy headscissors as per standard. We get a surprisingly good bit with Hoshino playing the underdog; great bumping on his part, especially with a slingshot spot where he flings himself head-first into the second rope turnbuckle. 

Of course he eventually dodges a Adams diving headbutt for a quick burst of Tiger Mask spots before he inevitably also gets brought down, and we reset back to Hoshino being on the backend after a superkick from Adams to even things out. It sounds fairly by the numbers but when Sayama gets in for the big climatic showdown with the heels the crowd explode in a chant, especially when he manages to scoop slam Tamba after a few kicks. The heels manage to maintain control with some cheating on Adams' part, but eventually Tamba falls after a big backdrop and brainbuster, ending with a standing moonsault onto Tamba's legs and a repeat of the finish from their last televised match: a figure four for a submission win. This is obviously not something era-defining and DEFINITELY feels B-show, however this had a good charm to it and there were no real bad weak links here, even if Hoshino did have some sloppy moments on his end. Tamba is a unique feature with his mix of big-man brawling and doing massive crazy big-man spots like dropkicks and flying headscissors, Adams is as always a good hand even if his shtick is a bit limited in his role. Sayama brings this up a few levels with his agility and spots from being tame to something actually fairly watchable bar the bad start.

RANK: Decent

 

 

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi V (15.04.1983)

This is joined in progress with about 2 minutes shaved off. Mask is overtly using more of his UWF kickboxing here, aiming with a nasty head kick early on. This establishes him working with some good aggression, more aiming to hurt his rival than show off as normal. He even lands a lariat of all things, which is the first time I've seen him do such a move since forever. Kobayashi is ever the opportunist, having to fight and struggle for his moments to shine with rule-bending and his usual kicks. There's the usual stuff between the two like long cross armbreaker attempts and occasional stop/start pacing, with the two going from big sequence to then sitting in holds. Thankfully it's done fairly well and not insanely noticeable on a first watch.

Sadly the gap between these two is quite noticeable workrate wise: Sayama's stuff just generally overshadows Kobayashi's more grounded style, and his kicks are immensely better than his, so we get a fairly lopsided match that doesn't really feel like two equal rivals at this point. Weirdly both men almost become their opposites as Kobayashi is the one being cheered on though the beatings while Mask is the dominant force keeping him in his place, it's rather bizarre especially with Kobayashi deliberately playing this up by consistently selling his groggy nature by stumbling over, tying himself up in the ropes Andre-style and throwing himself around. Eventually the match starts to pick up in the last few minutes, then it all goes downhill as Kobayashi is knocked out of the ring when trying for a Butterfly suplex; we get a awkward dive catch/half sell by the two before the match ends in a DQ after Kobayashi scoop-slams Mask onto a stack of chairs in the crowd. The two have a post-match brawl but the crowd is noticeably deflated, nowhere near as loud or as hot as they were for the first three matches they had together.

This is pretty much the house-show equivalent of a showing between these two, and I'm seriously debating if this is weaker than their 08/02 bout: while that one had zero creativity and not a lot else to it beyond that fact, this one struggles from just having no real shtick to hook you in here, especially with the bizarre Kobayashi acting like a underdog deal that doesn't really get communicated well here. This does have some solid strikes though and Sayama puts on a more aggressive act to get over their bitter rivalry. That said, this most assuredly feels like the awkward Missing Link between their more conventional first three matches and their more proto shoot-style showings to come. 

RANK: Decent

 

 

W/ Osamu Kido Vs. Caswell Martin & Kuniaki Kobayashi (19.04.1983)

It's interesting seeing Cas here given his overall nature of being a brilliant WoS worker, but kinda fading in and out of stuff he actually did. This was his only NJPW stint and it was mostly jobbing to the bigger Jr heavyweight stars at the time, though he would also appear in UWF 1.0. It's a shame this is clipped, because what we see of him vs Kido is fairly interesting mat-work. Instead Kobayashi gets to beat him up mostly with his usual wonky kicks, Cas only comes in at the end for a generic scoop slam and missed leg drop. Sayama gets in to beat him up with strikes, even a piledriver (???) out of the blue. Despite Kobayashi interference and the two squaring up, it only takes a Butterfly Suplex and subsequent Tiger Suplex to easily get the three. This is way too clipped to really judge it fully but it mostly feels like run of the mill stuff with nothing much else to really acknowledge. 

RANK: Forgettable

 

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi VI (15.04.1983)

The start of this is super fun as Kobayashi forgoes the usual nonsense and immediately goes into bombs, including a spinning heel kick and big backdrop. Of course the two settle down after this and go into the usual formula of duelling cross armbreaker attempts. That said, they mix it up here with some great back and forth action with stand-up as the pair try to read the other to hammer in their shit, so we get some cool bits where it's just them battling it out with strikes to catch the other or dodging a shot to try to answer with another in response, it feels like a martial arts movie in places. You really get to see Sayama's kickboxing background in full effect as he just smacks the guy with sharp head and body shots. Much like some of their bouts already, this definitely flirts with a sort of proto shoot-style in places; we get the cross armbreakers as expected but now we get some stand-up kickboxing as mentioned above as well as the proper application of a sleeper hold by Mask when his Butterfly Suplex is unsuccessful. Even a backfist is used, albeit it doesn't look great.

As with any repeat match there's definitely some moments which are just pulled wholesale from their earlier matches, and Mask gets a lot of his usual stuff in on top of that. However, there's also some great additions to their routine; Sayama blocks the Kobayashi step-up Enzuigiri this time when he catches his leg and Kobayashi in turn expertly counters the turnbuckle springboard crossbody by sticking his knee out for a gutbuster, which was paced to perfection. We get more escalation as Mask hurls out dropkicks, but Kobayashi dodges basically all of them, especially a nasty crash and burn bump off the ropes when he tries taking him off the apron with one in a Misawa/Tsuruta-like fashion. Kobayashi also pulls out a pretty nifty backwards crossbody to follow up as well. Even the extended armbreaker rest hold afterwards I'm fine with because Kobayashi sells like death for the thing and consistently struggles to slowly escape out of it. Mask beats him down with multiple big spots, including even pulling out the deep Inoki-style Octopus Stretch. 

The crowd gets super excited in the last few minutes as we get a good few near falls from Kobayashi, Mask stealing the Fisherman's Suplex and some drama with the two having massive fatigue, struggling for the big conclusive bomb. Finish has Kobayashi dodge a diving headbutt after eating a piledriver, but him desperately trying to stay in the game by grabbing the mask is his downfall as Sayama wiggles him into a Victory Roll for the three count. This is a great return to form for the two, and the crowd again is massively spilt with them siding with Kobayashi near the end in a kind of Misawa/Kawada dynamic. Sadly unlike other one-sided rivalries like the aforementioned he'd never get a major win until WAY after it meant anything, however it doesn't reduce the quality of this match and how well done it is overall; tons of tense stand-off bits and a real feeling of progression as the two step out of their box a bit to mix things up. Mask is on the ball but Kobayashi really steps things up to where you might just think he'll win this time. 

RANK: Great

 

Vs. Fishman (12.06.1983)

Ok I'm cheating a bit with this one because it happens in the UWA but I figured this would be worth adding on. This exists as clipped for many versions including the official Tiger Mask collection by NJPW and some terrible 240p quality YT videos, the full version can be found with some searching. Fishman and co have a pretty eh start, mostly focused around Sayama being grounded with mat-work. Fishman is mostly basic, fairly clever in how he approaches things, hooking legs and arms for whatever advantage he can get, and countering any attempts to push back with swift stuff; him pulling back while in a bodyscissors to try to force Sayama's shoulders to the mat for a pin was basic but surprisingly cool for a spot showcasing that technical knowledge. This has that classic stop/start pacing to it as Sayama will break free and throw out maybe a dropkick or two before getting caught back into more holds.

I'm sure it would've been more endearing to this crowd (and it was, to be fair) but for me this style just feels very much like padding, especially when it doesn't really build to anything; Sayama eventually just gets out all of his (obviously amazing) spots and a Diving Headbutt for the first fall. Fishman feigns injury afterwards as he refuses to leave his corner until eventually he runs out. We get a LONG extended headlock spot with the pair before Fishman just recovers and lands a weird floaty suplex before missing a leg drop. We get a really wacky piledriver spot and Sayama missing a diving headbutt. Fishman lands some more floaty scoop slams and a pop-up spinebuster before a diving splash gets his fall. Sayama flings himself like crazy for some big throws around the ring by his opponent before some more offence, including a very lax cradle near fall. Fishman just at once after the kickout goes into a big lumpy senton splash. The two go back and forth with moves with not a ton of selling before we get more fancy stuff, including a surfboard stretch that almost ends in the two pinning each other at the same time to add some tension. Outside dive from Mask, Fishman just casually dodges a big springboard splash afterwards by just standing still.

He's super confident after a tope and a dropkick on the apron stun Sayama, ends up caught after his apron suplex is countered into a insanely arched German suplex for the win. This got good, that being said the mat-work at the start didn't really define or do anything, it was just classic 80's "sit in holds" stuff to pad this out more; which is a shame because both guys here aren't bad at it and a more proactive pace could've made this a lot smoother. Sayama lands all of his offence as great as you could imagine and makes Fishman look equally great for all of his offence with some huge bumps even if his long-term selling is negligible. Fishman.....wasn't feeling him much at all here. He has some nice stuff however overall he feels very basic for a worker and didn't really do a whole lot that was actually entertaining until the very end; his pacing was logical, sure, as was the gameplan, at the same time after watching dozens of these roadblock-formatted matches it does start to tire a lot when you've seen the same stuff done way better and it most definitely doesn't help that Sayama just no-sells all of the leg work anyway lol.

RANK: Decent

 

===========

Part 5 will finish this off with some big changes.....and the inevitable biggest one of them all.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

....ok so I'm not counting this as a part, but silly me forgot some fancam matches to include on here so I'm adding them now retroactively: just pretend these were there all along

===========

W/ George Takano Vs. Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata (06.09.1981)

I really like the outdoor setting here: it's just in some random part of a rural town, people watching from balconies, scaffolding just casually laying around, etc. Mask's hand is still bothering him from the injury seemingly had at the time, so he tends to slow down a bit due to it. More early Brazo footage is always a treat though, even if they are mostly just here to bump around for the babyfaces as the foreign heels of the week shtick. There's a weird bit early where Sayama does his usual Tiger Spin spot but then he's like not moving on the mat afterwards and there's a awkward wait by Plata as he limply tags in Takano and then lays fairly still on the apron; I'm not sure if he was just a bit rattled (he wasn't injured afterwards either?) or he was testing out actually selling for once, either way it was pretty strange.

As you might expect from a random house show this was mostly low-impact lucha grappling and some comedy, mostly by the Brazo brothers as they do a prototype version of their 90's shtick and bumble around each other trying to catch up with the babyfaces. All fairly by the numbers, but real enjoyable given who was involved. Young Takano pre-Cobra gimmick is fairly decent, working well with Plata and having some good agility up his sleeve when the match gets going a bit. He works about 80% of this with Mask coming it for the occasional big spot and then tagging out. The Brazo guys take up a few minutes to get over their own stuff with a good control sequence as they use some nice top rope moves alongside heel antics to beatdown on Takano until he makes the "hot" (I say that in quotations because this crowd did not care) tag to Mask, who runs over the two with his usual speedy sequences.

The finish is pretty abrupt as Mask pulls the Mighty Inoue special with two flying senton splashes before getting the pin on Oro. This was a pretty average showing that was bar for the course for everyone involved, definitely not bad by any means but also not exactly something I'd be searching around for anytime soon. The Brazo lads are fine for their role and Takano and co are solid babyfaces, even if Mask barely shows up to do much at all here.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Gran Hamada: The Lost Match (06.03.1982)

I was SERIOUSLY shocked when I discovered that Hamada and Sayama had actually faced off around this time but it wasn't televised (for a reason we'll see later on) so all we get is a decent quality fancam. The crowd loves Tiger Mask before they even lock up as he gets big chants. Being honest, I thought this was at times even better than their 1981 match, with some great back and forth action between the two as they seamlessly went though lucha/catch sequences following into each other. Hamada's mat-based style is intelligent enough to force Sayama to rely less on his big spots and more on focusing in on impressive counters instead, which is definitely something I would've liked to seen more out of him given the bulk of his 1981/83 stuff is not quite that most of the time. They've worked on their chemistry since the 1981 outing and it shows in how they interact. 

We still get those spots here, but Hamada isn't going to be made a fool of and subsequently does his own flippy shit to even the score. Hamada's holds are generally more balanced and interesting given he tries to really wear down his opponent on the mat, with the occasional big counter or escape. Hamada gets some chants here but they are just drowned out in insanely loud Tiger Mask counter-chants; it's clear even here who is the bigger deal. That said, I feel like the match itself is fairly balanced between the two: there's never really a instance where one dominates for ages, Hamada slaps on the occasional hold or two but he's always countered and forced back onto the defensive. As per the 1981 match we get escalation as Hamada tries for more strikes, but there's also a LOT of just hold-hugging here as Hamada drags things out with multiple headscissors and holds. Eventually he starts unloading with punches and whatnot, but Sayama counters with a nice Savate kick and we get a fast-paced sequence with some mild botching as Hamada misses his cue to counter a Irish whip into a corner crossbody, so they have to repeat the spot right after. 

Hamada takes a crazy bump up and over the ropes when he misses a follow-up splash, leading to a pretty nifty plancha by Mask in turn. Hamada tries to get back in, but he eats more blows on the apron. Now the finish....I have zero idea what happened. Sayama does a stiff dropkick and Hamada falls down, the ref looks at him and calls the match off (for some reason?) Hamada looks legit pissed off, Karl Gotch of all people comes out to calm things down, Sayama's just standing around confused, people running in, Hamada snatches the mic to say a few angry words....like the whole thing is just a clusterfuck and goes on for ages. Looking at it closely it seemed like the dropkick caused a fairly nasty looking nosebleed and the ref panicked, called it off early; everyone was just confused afterwards. That finish ruins the build of the match pretty badly, but if you can ignore that then this is a weird little hidden gem that isn't as spot-heavy like their other matches, but does have its own little things to enjoy: if only they had a proper ending to tie things up, this would be actually worth the watch. As it is, check it out only if you want to see some chaos. 

RANK: Bordering on Good, but the botched finish makes it a Decent

===========

 

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

Part 5

============

W/ Kantaro Hoshino vs. Pete Roberts & Isamu Teranishi (01.07.1983)

This is a build-tag designed to get Teranishi over for a upcoming title shot. We also get the first look at Tiger Mask's new look as he sports bright red long pants instead of his usual garb. For what we get out of this (about 5 minutes or so) it's perfectly fine: we get to see more of the weird kickboxing striking that Sayama will sport going forward while Roberts and co mostly act like the typical befuddled heels who are outpaced by their faster foil. Teranishi is a competent but boring worker: he's very old-fashioned in the sense that while you have all of these big colorful characters bursting out during the 80's, he's just kinda.....there for the most part, his stuff is mostly basic rest holds, knee drops, slams, etc. Roberts is mostly the same albeit more-so to play up his role as a heel here, with some good aggression and European Uppercuts to boot. 

Sayama sells well for the two before eventually pulling for a random Savate kick and we get a Hoshino hot tag where he awkwardly tries to almost pull a hip-attack but Roberts just stands there and he falls over. More working over until we get a Tiger tag, but he also has to bump and sell for Teranishi's so-so offence, though he does pull out a nifty Gourdbuster. The heels keep control with rest holds, Teranishi pulls out a smooth dropkick and backbreaker: while he's in the hold Hoshino just socks him in the face with slaps out of nowhere lol. Despite this the heels keep at it with a slow pace until Sayama pulls out the backflip counter to yet another backdrop, allowing him to land a Savate on Roberts before quickly doing a Tombstone/moonsault for the quick pin. The crowd enjoyed this, but I wasn't too much of a fan. There's a lot of just....well, nothing going on here, either from the rest holds, the slow heel-driven pace, or the babyfaces not really doing a whole lot until the end. It definitely felt like a night-off even if the action picked up in places. This whole thing with Teranishi will also pick up steam eventually but at the moment it's just a really generic rivalry, as is this match. 

RANK: Forgettable 

 

Vs. Isamu Teranishi (07.07.1983)

Slightly cut down with three minutes missing. Teranishi is more or less just a rather uninteresting filler opponent for Mask to face outside of his big threats as a ally of Kobayashi, but he will ironically be important for a completely different reason. He's a long-standing ex-sumo IWE talent who was mostly known for his mat-skills: keeping in mind this was by the standards of the 60's and 70's, meaning lots of sitting in holds, lots of Dory Funk-style repeating holds kinda work so more contemporary eyes wouldn't appreciate it as much. This also definitely feels like a typical stop/start match as the two will occasionally go into sequences before going to a dead stop to sit in holds afterwards, with not much exciting happening outside of a interesting botch where Mask tries for the usual lucha hand-hold bit into monkey flip, but they instead tumble over the ropes to the outside.

Teranishi feels like in places like a bad stunt-double of Kobayashi as he goes for the same stuff as he does (the gut-buster, more brawling and kicks) as well as messing with the mask, which once again by this point felt overplayed as nearly every match had to at least throw that in for cheap heat. He occasionally will do some decent Jr-heavyweight style spots but by comparison to Sayama he's far from anything realistic in regards to a challenge. It picks up more near the end as Teranishi pulls out some decent working holds, including a rolling cradle that just....goes nowhere, he doesn't go for a pin or a submission, he just kinda....stops doing it. Mask gets the comeback with a good backdrop, top dropkick, and frantic dive to the outside. We get some Kobayashi BS as he interferes on the outside, Mask slaps him but ends up getting caught with a big dropkick from the apron and body press from top rope by his opponent.

The finish is rather abrupt as Teranishi runs at Mask on the apron but gets countered into a sunset press for the pin. Kobayashi gets in to rip his mask again as per standard and Teranishi tries to steal the belt to no avail. I guess this is ok for a match as it's certainly not great, but manages to have decent exchanges. Teranishi is just not a very legit opponent though and you never buy him as the man to dethrone Tiger Mask whatsoever, even if he does have some alright chemistry with him, and the element of having this be essentially a 2 v 1 with Kobayashi adds some tension to things. Mask is noticeably more muted here than usual; his spots are mostly not here unlike other matches (especially for a title match) and he's noticeably more grounded, which might have something to do with his knee troubles that were ever problematic. I wouldn't say this is bad or anything but for a title match, it does feel a bit flat overall. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi VII (14.07.1983)

This is the final NJPW Tiger Mask/Kuniaki Kobayashi match before Sayama leaves the company: they'd have tag matches after this but for singles, this is all we have. As per the last few matches between these two, they work a really interesting proto-UWF style, with lots of stand-up strike exchanges, footwork, and gritty holds, with Sayama snapping on a particularly mean neck crank early on until his opponent counters with a arm drag. You can definitely tell the two wanted to do something different this time as they spent a lot of time getting the strikes over as the big clincher here, the thing that Mask uses consistently to get the edge as opposed to just doing wacky spots and holds. Kobayashi has a decent control segment where he's working over the legs and back with some snappy strikes and slams. Mask responds with some really mean stomps and knees to the head, legit nasty in places. Kobayashi even pulls out a really early Liontamer at one point.

There's also, sadly, definitely a good bit of "hey let's sit in holds for a break" as Kobayashi drags out a headscissors way beyond reasonability (like seriously, it felt like 5 minutes of just that god-damn headscissors lol) and the match can drag in places when the two aren't hurling shots or moving around the ring. We get some more skirting of the rules with mask pulling and Sayama cutting the shit for a rear naked choke that the ref quickly calls him out for. We get the usual Sayama cross crop + piledriver and diving headbutt, Kobayashi dodges and gets in some near falls as he cuts Mask down with big bombs, including a great near fall Fisherman's Suplex that catches the crowd off. A lot of the latter end of this match is basically the two just doing moves into pins, and then Mask even pulls out a figure four out of desperation to clinch the win which fails due to the two rolling to the ropes.

We get a dive to the outside and a nice bit as Teranishi holds Mask in place for Kobayashi's dive to the outside, inevitably he gets out of the way instead so Tera eats it instead. Sadly they don't get back in as Mask beats down on him with a backdrop to the mat, having Teranishi attack him for the DQ win....sigh. I get they didn't know at the time but for such a great rivalry to end in a BS non-finish once again just deflated this whole match for me, which is a shame because it did have some good qualities: the slower start and focus on strikes was good, the grappling was simple but effective, Kobayashi felt like a threat here in places. That being said, we get some obvious hold-waiting and the pace can be rather slow; this also devolved into a move fest near the end with not much selling. Shame they wouldn't be able to develop their more experimental style here but still a good enough romp, even if nowhere near their better showings. 

RANK: Good

 

W/ Kantaro Hoshino vs. Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (20.07.1983)

Teranishi and Kobayashi have officially joined Ishin Gundan as pretty much the Jr branch of the group, but they didn't need that to feud with Mask and co given their villainous acts in recent weeks. Hoshino just immediately starts with some closed fists so Kob has a moan at the ref to get them sorted, which was a good bit. Outside of that, a lot of this early section was just really basic working holds with the occasional transition. Hoshino and Teranishi aren't bad wrestlers by any means, but they feel really dry as a pairing and not at all interesting, especially in control spots where they just opt to go for really lax stuff to extend the runtime. Mask gets in and inevitably dominates with his more kickboxer strike-based style he's acquired but throws in the occasional spot here and there.

Him and Kobayashi have a fleeting back and forth that's alright, but ends with Sayama seemingly fucking up his leg from a fancy spinning kick to the back of the head. Hoshino comes in and does some sloppy stuff while the camera noticeably doesn't focus in on Tiger Mask for a good few minutes: what you can see is that he's more or less kneeling on the ropes for the whole time. He eventually seems fine but it's still a weird look for someone with consistently bad knees. Hoshino/Teranishi have a few more minutes of just being around until things pace up with a Kobayashi/Mask exchange, ending with a really cool tilt-a-whirl backbreaker counter into a spinning inverse savate kick. Fake diving headbutt into the usual Tiger Feint bit, etc etc.

Hoshino also gets his look in with a good fiery sequence and big dropkick. The second half of this turns into more of the same as the two hone in on Mask and co with double teaming and some usual cheating, but mostly based around Kobayashi getting beat down by the two babyfaces in some decent sequences. The finish has the babyfaces also beat down on Teranishi, but some last second moves (namely Mask diving to the outside to fight his Tiger Hunter rival) allows Teranishi to get the upset with a sunset flip counter to Hoshino. This was a competent B-show tag that wasn't wildly good or anything, but a fun outing for what it was, especially when the better wrestlers were doing their thing. Of course this feud will never reach the conclusion due to Sayama leaving next month, but it is interesting seeing the tease for Tiger Mask potentially graduating to a heavyweight, especially with his slower, more heavy-set style as opposed to his high flying the past few years.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Halcon 78 II (29.07.1983)

Yeah this was a nothing tour squash match that had Halcon play the basic roadblock foil that doesn't really stand a chance at toppling Mask whatsoever. There's some good lucha-work between the two as they transition between holds and the sequences reminded me of the 1981 bouts where it was mostly them going back and forth with some fun spots, but they mostly just use these as go-betweens from the working holds and didn't really communicate any raising of the stakes or fatigue. Halcon's offence was very by the numbers and not particularly interesting bar a good handstand diving headbutt, mostly basic strikes or slams.

The only interesting bit is Sayama's knees giving out again after he bangs them off the ring apron, forcing him to take a extended break: even when he does the "flip over opponent into x" bit from the apron and into the backbreaker, he's still favouring his bad knees and we then have a small cut, which was interesting; was it purely downtime or something else? When we cut back, Mask quickly runs though Halcon with his backdrop counter, a piledriver and then a successful diving headbutt for the win. Again, a nothing tour squash that just showed how little Halcon had changed in the last two years in regards to his role here with the same routines still in play. He's not bad, just didn't really challenge Sayama much, and as a result he just sticks to the usual B-show performance. Mostly filler. By the way, THIS was televised, but not the matches Sayama had with bloody Finlay, of all the people to omit; super unfortunate because a match between those two would be real interesting to see in action.  

RANK: Forgettable

 

W/ Osamu Kido vs. Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (01.08.1983)

This has about 7 minutes cut away from it. Of course the main current of this is built around Kobayashi and co snatching masks and being real dirty, so it's definitely a heat orientated match from the get-go, so they succeed in that aspect. Most of this plays itself off less as a straight forward wrestling bout and more of a brawl as everyone gets involved in the action regardless of the legal man. They also really exaggerate the danger that Mask is under against these two as we get some real close near falls to highlight his predicament, especially with a big German off Teranishi which is uber close. The crowd were right into this and the heels match that pace with a bit more fire and energy as opposed to their last outing. It also helps that them playing around with the mask in particular gets some huge heat and is actually used to keep Sayama grounded rather than being a random cheap heat thing that disappears as fast as it comes up. 

The only real "weak link" here is Kido, who while surely a good wrestler in his own right, isn't really much interest here as he mostly stays out of the match, and he isn't exactly the most exciting when running in to interrupt pins or whatnot as he sides to a afterthought in comparison to everyone else with his relatively tame offence and lack of fire. We get a extended bit with Kobayashi/Tiger for the finishing stretch as they really throw down for a good while until Kobayashi goes to the backdrop one too many times, allowing Mask to counter it and parry his goofy spinning kick into a leg-sweep School Boy for the upset/flash pin. Post-match has the heel duo brawl with trainees as they rip at Sayama some more until the babyfaces push back and scare them off. Teranishi especially gets his licks in as he'll be getting a rematch in a few days time. This again isn't amazing but the crowd definitely add a good bit of quality into this as they are loud and especially hot for this big Jr feud. It's another build-tag? Absolutely, but I think this is worked about as well as it could have been given the conditions. If we had someone a bit more interesting than Kido then this could've been real solid. 

RANK: Decent

 

Vs. Isamu Teranishi II (04.08.1983) 

This is the final NJPW Tiger Mask match involving Sayama until the mid 90's, though nobody knew it at the time. Historically this is a big deal, but does the history compare to the quality of the match? I think this was remarkably experimental: the whole transition from lucha spots and British Catch to more of a stand-up kickboxing style has been drastic over the last year or so as I've documented and the effects of such are felt as the first two minutes of this is completely devoted to the two moving around on their feet, ending with Sayama wrecking his opponent with a big roundhouse to the back of the head. You can definitely tell that his MMA desire is starting to really leak though at this point, what with the surprisingly gritty shoot-style wangling between the two on the mat. There's of course still drips of his old Tiger Mask shtick thrown in like the occasional classic spot or pro-style bit but even these aren't as flashy as usual: his Tiger Spin has him grab the back heel to bring Teranishi slowly down rather than simply doing it the usual way like you would expect from such a thing.

The first 10 minutes are almost completely dedicated to this gritty work as we see Mask pull off cross armbreakers, stomps to the head and body, and even a double wrist lock attempt. Teranishi also throws out some aggressive work after he is able to boot his opponent in the face before going into some headbutts and working holds. He isn't as conventional as Sayama is, but he has some nifty key-locks and even tries choking him out with his leg at one point while pulling for a cross armbreaker. He occasionally throws in something like a dropkick or a slam to balance things out and keep the pacing from slowing down completely. This leads to a fun if goofy bit where Teranishi keeps backing up from Savate kick teases until finally getting tagged after a third one. It is interesting how Teranishi plays mostly defensive here, eating knee shots to the head, fancy kicks, only being able to respond by clinging to the ropes and finding ways to wrestle his opponent down into holds. In a way, this is pretty much the exact same dynamic that we'll see out of Tiger and Fujiwara a year later in the UWF, just condensed and not quite as good. Teranishi hones in on the leg-cradle as his weapon of choice in the second half, using it once to transition into a figure-four and the second time into the Rusher Kimura-lite cradle submission; his stuff looks good, and Sayama sells well while stuck in said holds, even if the long-term selling is negligible. 

The last 4 minutes turn into more of what to expect as the two just spam bombs and high flying stuff: nowhere near as good as the first half, and sloppy in places as Teranishi is a bit shaky and definitely isn't a natural when it comes to the big spots of the time, culminating in a tremendously lame second rope dropkick that has them basically stand around waiting for the other so Mask can do his mid-air dropkick spot. Something is definitely in the water as Mask almost botches his backdrop counter before Teranishi lands a bad backbreaker in turn. They repeat the dropkick spot from before, only it looks far better this time. Good dive to the outside, apron suplex, Mask tries for a moonsault but misses (Teranishi makes it super obvious as well by just sitting up while the move was being set up so you always knew it wasn't happening). Teranishi gets in his own near falls with a gutbuster and a very clearly sandbagged German, and the crowd pick up well for the latter. He tries for a second but gets countered into a snappy Tiger Suplex for the 3.1 win, with Teranishi kicking out right afterwards. 

As a match, this started off quite well: I was expecting this to be like the more mat-orientated matches that I had covered already, but then they kinda just drop the whole theme in favour of doing moves mostly for the sake of doing them. Sayama felt slower in places, no longer quite as spritely as he was even at the start of the year, and while he can still move very well it's clear that injuries, wear and tear, and just general fatigue has slowed him down a fair bit; this really highlighted that fact as even his spots are slower than expected. Teranishi is a lot better here as he's far more suited for smart mat-work than Jr style showcases, even if he can pull the occasional trick out of the hat to keep the crowd guessing. The issue is that like the first match, there's not really any tension whatsoever; we all know Teranishi isn't winning, and the crowd knows that as well, only truly buying into things by the very end (literally the last minute) which makes a lot of this fun but not super interesting. I thought the style here was real interesting in comparison to that, but it would take a lot more refining and tweaking until the kind of stuff used here would be able to translate properly into matches, more-so than just salad-dressing at least lol. I would say that the first half was teasing Great status, but pro-style stuff just lost me, especially with the real sloppy stuff at points.

RANK: Good

============

You all know what happened a week or so after: Sayama sensationally quits NJPW and wrestling as a whole, plainly states that wrestling is fake, etc etc. The real reason for leaving was never truly established; he states it was over how infested wrestling was with politics, but of course there's the underlining current of never having top billing, not really getting his due for how sensationally popular he was as a draw due to him being a Jr heavyweight, etc etc. There's a lot at play there. That ends his run in NJPW for more than a decade, with him only returning as his masked moniker in 1997, and never full-time due to his MMA interests. If you are curious about that then there's also a Deep Dive for that stint as well.

As a whole, while the Tiger Mask experiment was a incredible success and insanely influential, the matches are a bit more mixed. I surely had fun going though them, but you do understand why he is so divisive: concepts like long-term selling, limb damage, or even at times just a relatively smooth pace are hard to come by. It's not like these concepts didn't exist or anything given we have examples of all of the above around about the same time, so it just seems pretty awkward. I guess you could say that was apart of the appeal of the "superhero" Tiger Mask was, the larger than life figure, but at the same time these were problems he'd carry into basically all of his career post-NJPW so they just seem to be stuff he doesn't bother with. Also: screwy finishes are expected with lucha-related stuff for a myriad of reasons, but it doesn't make them any easier to take here, especially when they seemingly happen with so many different matches over and over. 

With all of that being said, this is still a pretty great run! It's hard to put into words just how much this small 2 year run managed to do, so I won't bother. I will say though that I would definitely recommend going though the Tiger's Path for yourself, even only for bigger matches and not for everything. Let's give out some quick rewards to guys who looked especially good this run:

Best Heel: Kuniaki Kobayashi

This was expected, but Kobayashi was by far the best consistent foil for Sayama during their feud and beyond. Good at the spot-work, solid bumper, could really play a mean heel as well when it counted. Their trio series together is probably the best out of their work together, but their stuff afterwards is also solid despite feeling a bit stuck in third gear as they don't really progress or go for anything particularly outlandish bar the move into proto-Shoot Style. Runners up for this would also include Navarro, Villano, and Black Tiger.

 

Best Tag Partner: Kantaro Hoshino

Ok I know, Fujinami was here as well! But for me, Hoshino was such a trooper. He wasn't anything amazing workrate-wise but given he was nearly 40 already and arguably out of his prime, the dude really worked his butt off in the tags they had together and when needed, he could really go with his unique blend of sidekick-style bumping and just going full murder with his signature punches. Whatever role Hoshino had to play, he was always up to give it a good shot, even in B-tier tags. While Fujinami is obviously WAY better individually, Hoshino had the better share of matches.

 

Most Underwhelming: Bret Hart

Oxymoron title aside, Bret is surprisingly the weakest act in proportion to his known work. Not going to hold it against him given how insanely inexperienced he was, however he was, at best, Dynamite Jr here. His singles matches were weak, and while his tag stuff was a lot better, that generally was because he was in with experienced guys who could lead him or at least distract from his green-nature. He didn't look good in this Deep Dive, sorry to say. If it wasn't Bret, I'd probably put Les on here given all of his individual showings were shoddy and particularly boring in contrast to other grapplers. 

 

Best Sleeper Hit: Black Man/Pete Roberts 

Pete Roberts only has a few matches to his name but he is such a treat as this unique tweener who tags with heels, but isn't one himself and doesn't approve of their antics. He's a solid wrestler as well and gets one of the better mat-classics out of Sayama. He's not cheesy or flashy but he's damn good at slapping on holds and throwing Euro Uppercuts. He made a fan out of me for sure.

Black Man was in the same boat as a guy I had zero knowledge on and now I think he's great. He's a weird guy to get into at first but his lucha stuff and spots are way, way ahead of their time and like Roberts he manages to tone down the Tiger-Isms enough to make the big spots feel, well, big. 

 

....and that's it! My top 10 must-watches are below (not in order, of course) 

Villano III I

Gran Hamada I

Steve Wright

Black Man

Black Tiger II

Pete Roberts

W/ Kengo Kimura v Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid

Kuniaki Kobayashi II

Kuniaki Kobayashi III

Kuniaki Kobayashi VI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[G. Badger]

Sharing some of my reviews of Tiger Mask matches from my blog. Generally speaking, I think I enjoy Tiger Mask more than most people nowadays. It's been a couple years but I feel pretty good about my takes still. I really dug the Bret Hart match (which is their 2nd match). Also the Dynamite matches are still very good stuff...

1981

11/05/81 - Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada: Exactly what I was hoping for! Hamada was doing more of the spectacular while Tiger was hitting his kicks. Tiger has slowed from his debut and he and Hamada did a near perfect lucharesu match like we'd see a decade plus later in M-Pro. Near classic match to me! Like ****1/4 territory

12/01/81 - Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek & Super Maquina: A full tag match, yes!!! Super Maquina has a similar outfit as Maquina Salvaje, a football player. What's odd is Super Maquina is Super Machine in English. But, this is too early for Junji Hirata to even be thinking of doing his famous gimmick. Oh the confusion of masks and older wrestling, its great! Nevertheless, he's a good worker. This is one of the few El Canek matches that I have seen. I gotta say I like him! The Mexican team pits their power against the Japanese team's speed & technique. And another match where "wrestling" is the focus and exciting spots are kept to a minimum for maximum effect . And the big highspot was for the finish of the match...very good stuff. Really a pleasure to watch and had me wanting to see more.

12/08/81 - Tiger Mask vs. El Canek: So this is the follow up to the above tag match. Its a pretty big deal that El Canek is facing TM. Or the other way around, I guess. The first move was kinda wonky so, they re-did it. Eh, I don't like when they do this but, the rest of bout erased that faux pas. Plus the little spot was pretty cool to see done right. Lotsa good power moves & stretching from Canek. Tiger had some clever answers for those but, also pressed the Mexican with his kicks. Exciting "80's finish" but, you know what? If its done right like this, I really don't mind. Very good match..perhaps a tad below the tag match. 

1982

vs. Dynamite Kid (01/01/82): The Brit focuses on taking out TM's leg after he apparently took an odd bump. Quick thinking! On top of that he drives the masked head of Sayama into the mat with some devastating moves. Very good match, ***1/2 area.

vs. Dynamite Kid  (01/28/82): The rematch of sorts. Kid really wants to get his mitts on the feline fan favorite. Lotsa clubbing blows, tosses to the floor, and chokes for good measure. Tiger wants to prove he's no fluke and out wrestles the lad with armbars, leg locks, and headscissors. Of course, Dynamite gets his chance and delivers a cervical vertebra crushing piledriver that looks to have TM beat. An extra exciting finishing segment caps off a great match.

vs. Baby Face (02/09/82): Now we get to see a more out an out cheating heel in Baby Face. Those fish hooks were great! A very mat based match with explosive rope running will get me every time. Here is no different! If this would have been longer, I would say it was a really great bout. But, as it is, I've gotta say its a peg down at Very Good. There's no shame in that though. I had a blast!

vs. Blackman (03/12/82): Joined in Progress but, no matter...this is great! Excellent chemistry and I have to believe they have fought each other previously. I thought that this was going to be glorified squash filler or maybe clipped since Blackman is unknown to me and such an anachronistic gimmick. (Was it part of the TM Manga?) Glad I was wrong though! He really looked like TM's equal in terms of speed and agility. Only Gran Hamada is up there so, that's good company. Anyhow, check this one out! Its got an awesome organic finish that really seals the deal on a great bout.

Tiger Mask/Kantaro Hoshino vs. Blackman/Karloff Lagarde (03/19/82): If you're interested in a high energy tag match where everyone is in constant motion, look no further! This is like the '83 version of a mid 2010's PWG tag match - double teams, comedy spots, and just go-go throughout. Just a bunch of fireworks (just in time for the Fourth of July too!). A heat segment  and a more emphatic victory probably would have put this into great match territory. It's exciting stuff nonetheless!

vs. Steve Wright (04/01/82): This was just excellent. It was a long technical match with beautiful chain wrestling - counters, escapes, reversals, and counter reversals. It was what I consider an aggressive World of Sport style. Since this is a spotlight on Tiger, I want to mention how comfortable he is at this style as well as lucha libre. It was distinct from his matches with Baby Face, Hamada, Blackman but, still was athletic and exciting as we've come to expect. I think I'd have to say this was a classsic bout but, may not be everyone's cup of tea. You really have to want to see wrestling for wrestling's sake.

vs. Black Tiger (04/21/82): Rollerball Rocco is the Black Tiger. He had a roughneck but, technical  style that is what i imagined Bret vs Tiger would be. The first time, Tiger Mask did not have an answer for his foe. He we see Tiger's true rival (as established in the manga (imagine Vicious & Spike in Cowboy Bebop)) and told through the story of the match. Every time we thought a TM flurry of kicks or dives would turn the tide, Black Tiger would shut him down. The superhero met his super villain...and Tiger snaps at the end. Almost betraying his vow to fight fair and for good (think like a technico) and turn back to the evil (rudo) ways of the syndicate he and Dark Tiger fight for. A very good match, a compelling story, if you know a little bit of the manga or the trope (again Cowboy Bebop uses it well and The Wild Bunch to a degree). I think what's even deeper is that NJ had the idea to bring in one of Sayama's best opponents from the UK as his evil counterpart. I think it's the closest the TM and Black Tiger characters had matched real-life...or even tried to. They had a back story and a history. If you're unaware of these things then, its an OK match BUT with some depth, it makes this more substantial. Plus, it is only setting the stage for the future.

vs. Black Tiger (05/26/82): Man is that a hot crowd! They are eating every spectacular Tiger move up! Black Tiger doesn't give a damn. He's making the hero pay. Again, Black Tiger Rocco is staying one step ahead. I really like how BT kept going for the pin by using knuckle locks and leverage holds. This was a brilliant touch because it made the fight feel more real. It wasn't out of desparation to get the match over but, a way to show technical superiority over Tiger. Think of Bryan Danielson or Tatsumi Fujinami winning with a small package. Its not a cheap win like maybe a school boy roll up. Its a display of technical mastery and getting the "W." Even moreso like Danielson, BT Rocco is making Tiger expend all of this energy to kickout. These pin attempts are more like amateur wrestling attempts...making the opponent keep moving and fighting out so that, they'll be tired or hurt later and make a mistake. Honestly, its a simple thing but, so few wrestlers do it. If you're looking a this type of work as rest-holds or think every fucking hold has to set-up the finish then, we're going to disagree on this. I thought this was a near classic match.
 
vs Dynamite Kid (07/23/82): NJPW probably wanted to get the failed Ultraman feud out of everyone's memory so, they go for a safe bet and start up the bulk of Tiger vs Dynamite storyline for the summer of '82. This chapter closes with the legendary WWF MSG match. But, I'm getting ahead of myself! We're at the beginning here. On the previous occasions, Dynamite has been unable to get the better of the super hero. He's tried traditional rough housing, mat wrestling, and even quick attacks. Nothing has worked though. Here he goes full speed ahead showing that he can keep up with Tiger. There's not a great structure to the match but, the theme is that they are peers. I thought it worked well. Bret Hart's involvement at the end was fun and set up the Space Flying Tiger. Now here  we have one of the big faux pas in the series. DK apparently no sells the dive and tombstones Tiger on the floor. To play devil's advocate, the crash & burn of the landing is obscured by the hard camera angle. The floor shot might have shown that Dynamite stepped aside and let Bret take the brunt of the dive. People talk about holy grail wrestling footage...I'd like to see the floor cam angle of that dive! Nonetheless, it was a great match and in terms of intensity and athleticism, this is hard to beat in 1982. Plus, we get an uncommon type of finish.

vs Bret Hart (07/30/82): A few days later we see Bret w/ Dynamite at his side. The Canadian hero-to-be tries his hand at pinning the masked man. Let me tell you, this is the superior Bret vs Tiger match. In fact, it may very well be better than the above DK bout. We see a nice face/heel dynamic, Bret looked more confident and worked a smart match where Tiger used is fancy moves as hope spots/comebacks and NOT just to show off. Bret wasn't looking to work as equals he was looking to use his size, smarts, and ability to dominate TM. The story here and in most Bret/DK matches vs Tiger is to shows that they may be better, faster, stronger than TM but, they were hot heads and couldn't resist taking shortcuts. These  shortcuts would then backfire. Tiger knew his opponents better and that knowledge is a weapon more dangerous than any spin kick or dive. If he could endure then, Tiger Mask could find a way to win. The finish played really well to this narrative and we get a great overall match. A different style than many of the others but, you could see that Tiger as a character and worker could adapt. Plus, it was a glimpse at what a great storyteller Bret would be. Again, great match!

Tiger Mask/Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura vs Dynamite Kid/Bret Hart/Greg Valentine (07/31/82): Oh man, this was shown in full & is a 2/3 falls match! Tiger isn't even in that much so, I'm surprised this was shown in full. I'm not complaining though. The North American team focused on beating up Kengo. He was really great at selling this beat down. I mean I've rarely seen anyone try to scramble or dive to make a tag like Kengo did in this match. One criticism I've seen is that Valentine looked like he didn't belong here or that he was bringing some corny WWF stuff to the match. I disagree. He was bringing Heavyweight action to a Junior Heavy match. In fact, I wish this was fought a little slower like Greg than the Red Bull & vodka crazy pace they were running. Still, the story was there with Kengo being the man in peril, the wrestling was on point, and the finish was bananas in the best way. So much fun, a very good bout and a very nice way to end this post!

Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid (08/05/82) - I watched this twice and know I've seen it at least a few other times. It's a pretty good match still but, the set-up and pacing is where I have a problem. In fact its one that's a common problem nowadays...there's no real build or story. There's problems with the psychology that keep this from being great. It is a collection of neat sequences & the finish was sick...so this doesn't lack action or excitement just substance.  

w/ Tatsumi Fujinami vs Black Tiger & Pete Roberts (08/27/82) - Oh yeah! Rocco Black Tiger (R.I.P.) is just there to throw shade & mug Tiger every chance he gets. Even Roberts has words with Black Tiger at one point. That said, this is fantastic fast paced technical tag wrestling overall. These type of bouts is where TM Sayama shines brightest. Even more so with Rocco acting like a dirt bag villain amongst the technicians. Great match! Something I would skip over had I not got this DVD set.

vs Dynamite Kid (08/30/82) - The steroids are really kicking in for the Kid now...holy crap! So this is the widely known MSG match and is a condensed version of what they're doing in Japan. So, their getting their stuff in without killing for time and it works. I wouldn't say it's as complete as their NJ stuff but, if you want to show someone classic puro without taking up too much time - it's a good start!

vs Pete Roberts (09/10/82): Black Tiger Rocco tried to jump Tiger Mask before the match but he and Roberts handle B.T. and get onto their bout. Interesting since Roberts and Rocco/Black Tiger teamed up earlier in the year. Anyhow, that aside we get a slight skip ahead in the the tape (not much) and wow! We get two technical wizards having a good old fashion duel! Tons of holds, counter holds, escapes and reversals are in this match. This was technical marvel! Classic match...this is Tiger in his element.

vs Chris Adams (09/17/82): The mix of styles here was rather pleasant. Adams could do Tiger's mat stuff but, also had good punches and of course the Superkick/Thrust kick. This busted Tiger Mask's mouth open. I think it loosened a tooth frankly. TM responds with kicks of his own and tries to fight his way out of hole. Not quite a heel/face match but, Adams was no Gentleman Very good match where Tiger has to go for broke!

vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (10/26/82): KK & TM just despise one another. This felt more like a fight than the above matches. Very aggressive tone to every block, counter and dodge. This is very much Tiger in his element and we're rewarded with logical uses of his speed and agility (rather than doing spots for the crowd). Great match even with an old school ending.

vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (11/04/82): A bigger, better version of the above match. I mean Tiger drop kicks Kuniaki before the bell rings. This felt like a grudge match for sure! But what's interesting is that Kobayashi isn't a heel but more of true equal to Tiger Mask...thing is he wants to take that mask...to get TM to stop playing dress up. At least that's what I gather from how the match is wrestled It reminded me of Otani or Kawada letting an emotion get in their way of victory. I'd call this a near classic match. I've seen folks go higher than that so you really want to check it out for yourself. Personally I think this is THE series of matches people should see instead of the Dynamite Kid ones...if you only are going to choose one.

1983

vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi - NWA Jr. Title (1/6/83): This is one of my early favorites of my puro dvd collection. I probably saw it in 2010 or so with my dad along with the Dynamite Kid ones. This is the match that gave me a clue that TM could be more than his feud with Dynamite. This was awesome then and its awesome now. Its ahead of its time with nearfalls, double count outs, etc. This was pretty darn stiff near the end and was very  intense. This was a near classic match to me.

Tiger Mask/El Gran Hamada/Kantaro Hoshino vs. Los Misioneros De La Muerte (Negro Navarro/El Signo/El Texano) (1/14/83): This was clipped a little bit in the beginning but after that one it was shown in full. Man, this was all kinds of fun! 

Tiger Mask vs. Negro Navarro (1/20/83): JIP a little as far as I could tell. I wasn't expecting that! Really good stuff that was enjoyable to watch. Based on these two matches, I wish more of this mini feud made the DVD.

Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada -  (2/3/83): This featured great matwork, agility, timing, counters and reversals. Much of this was on the mat and that's where Tiger is best despite being known as a flying innovator. These two are just amazing together. A classic encounter.

Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi -  (2/8/83): 7 minute JIP, what was shown was awesome. Its a shame we didn't get to see their feeling out period and matwork. Spectacular stuff that was 10 years ahead of its time.

vs. Dynamite Kid -  (4/21/83): The final encounter and the famous restart match. This may be the first "5 more minutes!" match. I think that's what made it a classic match. It was off the hook when both guys got disqualified. The fans were chanting for more time or a re-start...and they give it to 'em!! We haven't seen this level of intensity in awhile...I mean its beyond the level of the Kuniaki matches when Dynamite Kid is bringing broken bottles in the ring to stab TM with! We haven't seen Dynamite in some time but they really dial it up for this ultimate fight. I have some problems with some move choices and their selling but I think all US fans that grew up with the Undertaker will feel this way. Classic match for everything that goes on here.

vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi - NWA Jr. Title (6/2/83) - Oh my goodness! This is their best bout so far. This felt like a Misawa vs Kawada match as they have no only had many encounters to build the feud but they are physically and stylistically similar like you don't see very often. This is the match that Tiger Mask wanted to have. He can do lucha and British grappling. It really felt ahead of its time. The stiffness and aggression were amped up. This looked like a fight. I wrote a whole lot more but it may have spoiled the ending and I try to avoid that. It wasn't my favorite ending yet it was a clean finish. 

vs. Isamu Teranishi - NWA Jr. Title (7/7/83) - Teranishi is a guy I've seen ringside but had no idea who he was. I always thought he was bald based on Fire Pro R. Not the case! I've seen poor reviews of this feud but you know this was very good stuff. Teranishi looks like a meat & potatoes wrestler but he's got quickness and some tricks up his sleeve. Kobayashi is at ringside and this breaks down after the 3 count and Tiger gets his mask shredded. This match along with the post match elevated this to something great and provides more substance to the larger TM/Kobayashi feud. Hells yeah!

vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi - WWF Jr. Title (7/14/83)- Oh boy, here we go again. This starts out like a shoot match and you can see Tiger's time with the judoka Kobayashi helped his vision for UWF. Much like the encounter above this exemplifies the best of Junior Strong Style. The action is exciting, the mat work is engaging and the stakes are high. This looks and feels like wrestling as competition. Here unlike other classic lucha and British style bouts, Tiger is able to fight a style of his own which combines stiff kicks,  minor acrobatics and grappling perfectly. Perhaps it is because Kuniaki is also comfortable in this style that we truly get to see the zenith of TM. That's why I made they Kawada/Misawa comparison. These two bring the best out of each other. Classic match as long as you're OK with the "80s ending. " I may have preferred it to the clean finish in their first match above. Or maybe equal...

Tiger Mask vs. El Halcon - WWF Jr. Title (7/29/83): Return to early form with the Falcon. This was a near great match (***3/4+) since it was just so clean and well executed. It was more lucha than anything done recently. I still felt the sense of competition. It was like two honorable competitors trying to use their techniques to gain victory as opposed to fighting with strikes. A joy to watch!

vs. Isamu Teranishi - NWA Jr. Title (8/4/83): The final match goes out with a bang! Teranishi is the Akira Taue to Sayama Tiger's Misawa. They went all out for this with stuff that easily could have been seen in 1993. On top of that Teranishi has the German suplex which damn near beat TM a couple of days earlier. This is the end of the road and anything could happen!

The most well-known matches vs Dynamite are still great. I believe only the final encounter is what I would consider a classic. The feud with Kobayashi is more my preference and maybe when comparing ratings, they aren't too different. However the Kobasyashi matches just feel so much more REAL than the D.K. bouts. I'm only comparing because those are the two defining feuds of Tiger Mask.

I hope putting these here helps out anyone interested in watching the old matches

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

match new

w/ Osamu Kido vs Kantaro Hoshino & Masanobu Kurisu (19.12.1982)

Caught via handcam footage from the event. This is pretty much what a usual Tiger Mask house-show looks like; it's more or less a balance of him doing his usual big spots and lots of slow grappling to fill the time. That however doesn't mean this wasn't good; the opposite really. Kido is a tremendously gifted technical worker and seeing "young" (well as young as you can imagine him, really) Kurisu is a treat with how mean he is without breaking any rules, yanking at hair and masks for leverage for holds or throwing in a sneaky shot here and there in lockups. His violent streak isn't as crazy as it'll be in the 90's where he's braining rookies and giving them concussions but he's got a lot to give regardless. Lot of the match felt very freestyle outside of the usual Tiger showcases so there is a mix of organic exchanges that flow half-decently and some occasional messy bits due to the lack of structure lol.

Not like Sayama was going to help much here in that regard (he was never much of a guy to lead a match) though he does work well with pros like Hoshino that can consolidate his amazing atheticism into coherent sequences like what we get here. The televised footage for Hoshino mostly had him as a ally/tag partner of Mask, so it was cool to see him get to work the opposite role here as a foil. For a guy who was going on 40 he looked pretty sharp and quick, could probably outpace a lot of guys half his age these days. Kurisu's mostly here to be the gruff asshole who gets beat up by the pair namely going through some Mask spot sequences that looked really cool for what its worth. Guy got some energy out of Kido as well; rather shocking given the guy is typically really non-descript when going through matches like these, but he looked really energised when he was going through his Gotch-work and the occasional sharp boot to the chin. The second half felt a bit messy in places as the four at times kinda stumbled over their spots and didn't really have the best timing, flubbing moves in places or delaying bits to the point where it felt more awkward than it should. It felt like they were trying to escalate things yet it never really got off the ground.

That's somewhat reflected by the finish; a random 450 springboard by Sayama; something that completely came out of the blue. Not unexpected, mind, given he always seemed to have random endings to his matches that at times could feel really abrupt/random as you can observe here. Granted it was still really awesome from a athletic standpoint (like you could do that today and it would still be mind-blowing much like pretty much everything else he was doing here) just felt that there could've been a better setup to it all things considered. Nothing worth really going out of your way to watch in the end even if these are four fairly talented guys trucking along.

RANK: Decent

 

Vs Dave Finlay (03.08.1983)

Recently dug up by the GOAT Matt D upon requests by others and oh man is it a fun one. This is probably one of the earliest showings of Finlay in Japan if not the earliest (though there is apparently a tag match also hanging around from) and is only caught by handheld. It's also cool to see Finlay come out to Eye of the Tiger, a theme that will later become synonymous with Sayama's later UWF run and beyond. There's this great bit pre-match where they shake hands, seemingly everything is fine, but when Mask turns his back to stretch in the corner Finlay immediately starts advancing on him like a lion in the wild, only being stopped by him noticing this as does the ref. It's a great little moment that shows at once the dynamics of the match and who to root for. There are some house-showisms like Finlay stalling to complain about the crowd's super loud chants for Tiger Mask other than that this is a pretty solid outing if action is on your mind. Like with many matches around this time we were getting a firm focus away from the usual crazy lucha spots that Mask was famous for in 81/82 and more on holds and grappling; most likely influenced by Sayama's growing interest in martial arts over traditional wrestling. Finlay focuses on the arm with zeal, really getting in some nasty old-school grinding with armbars and just hurling his opponent around in places to get the most discomfort, having no respect for his opponent while also not going over the line to goofy heel. He bumps very well for when Sayama inevitably gets in his usual spots and counters, his irritation showing most of all despite the low quality of the footage. Despite that, this mostly focused on being a gritty WoS-style outing where Finlay could flex all of his great limb work while being a huge prick at the same time, something that needless to say he's VERY good at and will continue to be so until he retires.

They do a solid job speeding up things in the last third with more tempo-focused offence as Mask would speed things up to try to get moves in yet would get shut down by Finlay sticking to the arm again and again for dividends until Mask finally got the edge with big kicks to the body and head. Finlay getting desperate near the end and randomly doing a top rope splash was fun to see get punished immediately with a piledriver from his opponent and they kept things pretty high-pace until the finish had Finlay get beat by a twisting backbreaker.

It's quite the shame that we don't have more of young Finlay in Japan because his physicality is amazing. The guy bumps like crazy here at places and that by itself is so bizarre to see from someone who majority of the time is known for being a more heavy-set and slower wrestler, more grindy than showy. He still has that technical knowledge but he's also incredibly fast and keeps up great with his opponent when they start bouncing around the ring. He really seems like a foil who could've easily been one of the greats alongside Dynamite and Kobayashi in terms of mighty Tiger Mask foes but of course that would never happen due to Sayama leaving NJPW very soon after this. Speaking of, his performance here is definitely more muted. He still has phenomenal speed and agility yet you can also tell he was trying to pivot away from those expectations. It's not to say it's not good, given this was a house show he was never going to do a ton here anyway. This is more of a feature for Finlay and he makes a big impact as a result. Not quite the dream match that I think would've been possible between the two yet it's still a real fun outing.

RANK: Good