Post by Shatter Machine on Jul 9, 2016 17:33:03 GMT -5
The Legend of Tiger Mask Disk 2: Mitsuharu Misawa
So after Sotoru Sayama quit New Japan in 1983, mostly because of backstage politics, the Tiger Mask gimmick lay unused for a time, until Giant Baba’s All-Japan promotion purchased it from Inoki’s New Japan. Baba needed something for a promising young talent named Mitsuharu Misawa, so Tiger Mask II was born. Misawa had trained under Baba, Dory Funk, Jr., and Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer. After returning from a learning trip to the Mexican promotion, EMLL, Misawa was given the Tiger Mask identity, competing as a cruiserweight.
1985.06.21
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Kuniaki Kobayashi (NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champion)
This may or may not be the debut of Tiger Mask in All-Japan, and also might be a title match. There’s no definitive list that I can find for title defenses of this belt. They brawl to the floor right away, and good lord is Kobayashi jacked up here, like 30 pounds heavier than he was against Sayama. He controls, hitting stiff kicks, but Mask hits a dropkick. Big elbow gets 1. Mask grabs a chinlock, but Kobayashi counters into an armbar. They take turns working the arm, and Mask does some nice flipping around (which makes me laugh due to what Misawa would become) and Mask hits a nice leaping head butt from the second rope for 2. Kobayashi gets a hammerlock into a cross arm-breaker, then into a head scissors. They go to the rope for a break. Back heel trip by Mask, and he hits a clothesline, but does a flip himself to make the impact look more jarring. Now, see, it’s stuff like this which made Misawa one of the top five workers who ever got in the ring anywhere in the world. Dude was amazing. They do some counter/ reversal stuff, and Kobayashi winds up on the floor. It doesn’t last long, as he comes back in and nails Mask with a tombstone for 2. Mask gets a sunset for 2. Kobayashi with a kick, but Mask gets a spinning back breaker and a somersault kick from the top for 2. Kobayashi with a backdropper, and a spin kick knocks Mask to the floor. Kobayashi follows, and Mask hits a dropkick there. He hits a GODDAMN SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! FUCKING KOBAYASHI IS DEAD! Back in, Mask with a slam and a missile dropkick, but THAT only gets 2. Who the fuck is booking this, Johnny Ace? Kobayashi gets the fisherman’s suplex, but that only gets 2! A second fisherman’s gets the pin for Kobayashi at 11:27. That was really good, but I struggle to understand how it wound up on this set. ** ¾
1985.11.27
NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship
Tiger Mask II (Champion)
Vs
Dynamite Kid
Dynamite had gone from working for NJPW and Stampede to working almost exclusively for the WWF and All-Japan. He was working singles in cruiserweight matches in Japan, and tags in the United States with Davey Boy. They’d win the WWF World Tag Team Titles about five months after this. Now that I think about it, this match is like a week or two after the Wrestling Classic PPV (editor’s note: it’s three weeks, Sean. The WC was on 11/7, this was 11/20. Look shit up before you type). So this is jacked up Dynamite Kid versus Misawa. Kid is so juiced it’s amazing that he’s still alive right now. Holy crap. Kid with a snap suplex, and he goes to a chinlock. Into a head scissors, then back to the chinlock. Big dropkick by Mask, and he hits a cross body, but Kid kicks out. They go to the floor, and Mask runs him to the rail. Back in, and Dynamite takes him down and starts working the knee. He gets a bow and arrow, then he hits a falling headbutt. Tombstone, but Mask is in the ropes. Dynamite gets the abdominal stretch, and his positioning has me BEGGING for the Octopus, but Mask gets to the ropes and forces the break. He takes a walk, and they start again. Mask goes for a monkey flip, but Dynamite stops and turns it into a cradle for 2. Mask starts coming back, dumping Dynamite to the floor, but Dynamite dodges a slingshot plancha (I guess that makes it a pescado), and Mask goes crashing to the floor. Kid suplexes him in for 2, then a clothesline gets 2. Dynamite puts him on top and hits a super duper plex. They go to the floor, and Mask sends him to the post. I’m really hoping this doesn’t go to a count out. They fight over a suplex on the apron, and Kid suplexes Mask to the floor. The bell rings, and they’ve both been counted out at 10:03. Well, that was disappointing. ***
1986.07.31
Tiger Mask II
Vs
The Great Kabuki
This is after Mask had moved to the heavyweight division. Kabuki never really impressed me in the ring, although I only really saw him in WCCW and a bit in JCP (And there was against Jimmy Valiant). Mask is noticeably heavier here than he was in the Dynamite Kid match, and he works a headlock. For a while, till they go to the ropes to break. They do a crisscross bit, then right back to the headlock. I’m thinking this was on the undercard of something major in the summertime. Mask hits a couple of elbows to the neck, then goes back to the headlock. I’m not sure why this is here, but I’m hoping the head-dropping starts, pronto. Kabuki finally escapes with a backdrop, then he goes to a keylock. Must have been some sort of edict to not get the crowd excited, I guess. Mask grabs the ropes, and they go back to neutral. This lasts about 1/100th of a second, and Kabuki gets the damn keylock again. We’re seriously ten minutes into this and there’s been two holds: Mask’s headlock, and Kabuki’s keylock. Mask finally breaks it up and starts kicking. Kabuki hits a chop, but Mask hits a dropkick, knocking him to the floor. Slingshot pescado! Back in, and a bridging German gets 2 for Mask. Double underhook, but when he goes up, Kabuki backdrops him off the top and the ref counts three, but Mask rolled his shoulder over and gets the win at 13:16. That might be one of the most pointless 13 minutes of my entire life. How is this supposed to add to the “legend” of Tiger Mask? The pescado was literally the only spot worth mentioning in the entire match, but it was enough to get it above a dud. ½ *
1987.06.01
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Genichiro Tenryu
Fucking Tenryu! I’ve seen exactly TWO Tenryu matches in my life: with Koji Kitao against Demolition at WrestleMania VII, and with Hulk Hogan against the Road Warriors at the WWF/SWS show in 1990. This should be excellent. I love Misawa so much right now, I should probably look into getting a Misawa comp next, after I go through all the damn DVD sets I’ve purchased in the last six months. Thank God for Amazon clearance. They do a fairly standard feeling out segment, since nobody is working heel here, it’s far different from the standard North American “shine” that you see at the beginning of matches. Mask works an armbar, but Tenryu shrugs him off and hits a kick and a back breaker. He goes to a standing armbar, and I’m really wanting to see the matches these two had later on. Mask hits a second rope cross-body, then forearms knock Tenryu to the apron. They trade chops, with Tenryu winning and taking him down and dropping a knee. He grabs a chinlock/overhand wristlock combo. Right into a figure-four head scissors, and they roll to the ropes. Tenryu starts chopping, and then hits a back suplex for 2. He goes to a front face lock, and I start to get bored again. I’ll never understand how AJPW was so much more popular than NJPW in the 80’s. Mask gets a Samoan drop for 2, then he goes to an armbar. Seriously, they all worked the same style: stay on the mat with holds, work some high spots, go back to the mat, tease some action on the floor. Tenryu gets a leg grapevine and adds a wristlock to it. Enziguiri! That gets 2. Mask with a spin kick, then a dropkick. Sliding dropkick to Tenryu on the floor, then he does a dive from the top rope to Tenryu on the floor, and they go over the railing to the timekeepers table! Back in, and Mask hits another spin kick for 2. Belly-to-belly gets 2. Slam, and Mask goes up, but he misses the Senton. Enziguiri, but Mask blocks a powerbomb and hits a German, but Tenryu is in the ropes. Mask gets a sunset for 2. Tenryu totally mistimes a counter on a cross-body, and Mask hits a Kappo kick. Tenryu hits a shoulder coming out of the corner, and nails a powerbomb for the pin at 11:33. Got really good at the end. *** ½
1987.07.03
PWF Tag Team Championship
Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (Champions)
Vs
Tiger Mask II & Jumbo Tsuruta
DiBiase was apparently an All-Japan regular, which I didn’t know. I always thought he was a guy, but I guess he toured Japan fairly regularly (well, regularly enough that he was Stan Hansen’s choice to replace Bruiser Brody when Brody jumped ship to New Japan in March of 1985.) DiBiase, I think, was fulfilling dates he had agreed to here, because he would debut in the WWF not long after this, and would be in a program with Hulk Hogan by the end of the year. Hansen and DiBiase, being heels, jump the good-guy natives before the bell. Hansen and Jumbo start, but Mask comes in pretty quickly. Hansen just mauls him, and then DiBiase comes in, hitting a back elbow for 2. Mask backdrops him out of the corner, then hits a dropkick. Jumbo comes back in, and he runs DiBiase to the corner. He starts working the spinning toe-hold, but Hansen, who gives not a single fuck for any man’s rules, breaks it up. Jumbo gets a Boston Crab, but Hansen forearms him. Jumbo gets caught in the wrong part of town and double-teamed. Backdrop suplex gets 2 for Hansen. He grabs a chinlock, and then DiBiase comes back in. He hits a suplex, but puts his head down and Jumbo gets a kick. Tag to Mask, who gets a spinning back kick and a slam. Elbow gets 2, and he goes to a chinlock. That doesn’t last, as DiBiase backdroppers out of it and tags Hansen, who promptly misses a charge in the corner. He takes Mask down with a headlock, and DiBiase comes back in. DiBiase gets a boot in, but Mask counters and reverses a suplex to make the tag to Jumbo, who starts hitting running knees. Big slam on Ted, and Mask hits a top rope splash. Mask grabs a chinlock on DiBiase, then the Figure-Four headlock. Hansen breaks that up, but DiBiase can’t capitalize. He does get a nice sunset flip though. Mask and Jumbo do a great job of cutting the ring off on DiBiase, and Jumbo hits a back breaker. DiBiase gets boot in on a backdrop, but Jumbo hits a dropkick and locks in a submission of some sort on Hansen. Hansen hits a backdropper, then a DROPKICK! Lucha STAN! Double shoulder block gets 2 on Jumbo. DiBiase with a dropkick! He misses a second, and Mask comes in a house of fire. He misses the second rope springboard crossbody, and DiBiase gets the spinning toe-hold. Mask gets the boot in and DiBiase goes to the floor, where Mask hits the Plancha! Four-way brawl on the floor, and Mask beats the count as Jumbo runs Hansen to the post, and we have NEW PWF World Tag Team Champions at 13:35! *** (The reign would last a week, and then DiBiase and Hansen would regain the belts and hold them for less than a month before DiBiase would leave for the WWF.)
1987.07.19
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Ted DiBiase
DiBiase jumps Mask before the bell and dumps him to the floor, slamming him and running him to the rail. They go back in, and Mask takes control, grabbing a headlock. They work a couple of near-falls out of that, and it becomes the beginning of every 80’s AJPW match. Mask gets a back slide for 2, and they go back to the headlock. Now, I know there’s a flow to all of their matches, but this is really boring. Mask hits a cross body, but DiBiase backdrops him to take over. Slam, back breaker gets 2. Gut wrench gets 2. Mask goes for a sunset, but DiBiase drops down for 2, then dumps him to the floor. Ted nails him with one of those tiny Japanese chairs, then tosses him back in. Elbow from the second rope gets 2. DiBiase misses a charge, and Mask gets a series of kicks, but misses a dropkick. DiBiase goes for the spinning toe-hold, but Mask kicks him out of the ring. He misses the Plancha, and DiBiase hits the backdropper on the floor. DiBiase goes for the suplex back in, and Mask floats over and gets a bridging German for the pin at 9:18. Good match. *** ¼ (I must say that the “suplex in – float over – German for the pin” is the Tiger Mask equivalent of “Three punches, boot, leg drop”.)
1988.01.02
AWA World Championship
Curt Hennig (Champion)
Vs
Tiger Mask II
Hennig has his working boots on here. Mask grabs the headlock, but Hennig hits an armdrag into an armbar. Mask takes him down, and they reset. Mask takes him down with a snap mare into a chinlock, but Hennig reverses into a hammerlock right away. Mask counters into an arm wringer and I lose interest. Hennig gets his hammerlock again. Mask flips him over out of it, pounding the back, then he goes to a camel clutch. Hennig escapes, and we go back to standing. Mask starts kicking, Hennig starts clobbering. I guess the feeling out portion of the match is over. Big dropkick by Mask for 2. He turns Hennig over into a Boston Crab, but Hennig gets right to the ropes. This is even more boring than the Kabuki match. Mask with a suplex for 2. Oklahoma roll, then a surfboard by Mask. Hennig counters with elbows, then hits the cradle suplex for 2. Another near fall. Dropkick gets 2. Looks like we’re going to near-falls now. Slam, and Hennig drops an elbow from the second rope for 2. He sits on the top rope, and Mask drop kicks him to the floor. When he goes out, Hennig whips him to the barricade. Suplex in, but Mask floats over and dropkicks him back out. Baseball slide drop kick! Plancha! Backdropper! Both guys are down, and Mask beats the count at 11:21. Well, that was majorly disappointing, given the participants. **.
1988.03.09
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Jumbo Tsuruta
They shake hands, and do a couple of go-behinds. Jumbo grabs a wrist. Mask grabs a headlock, and they go to the ropes. Mask with a kick, then to the headlock. Jumbo can’t power out, so Mask holds on. He hits a knee crusher, (“Ahhh! Knee crushaaa!”) but Mask holds the headlock. He gets another knee crusher, but Mask still won’t let go. They go to the corner, and Mask hits a couple of forearms, then grabs the headlock again. Jumbo breaks it up in the corner, and Mask hits a leaping/diving headbutt for 2, then goes back to the headlock. Jumbo buries a knee, then takes him down with forearms. Mask gets a back heel trip, and goes back to the headlock. Wow. Can’t believe I wasn’t more into All-Japan when I was tape trading. They break on the ropes, but Mask hits a dropkick after some crisscross action. Mask goes to a front facelock, then back to the goddamn headlock. Jumbo promptly hits a STIFF AS FUCK backdrop driver for 2. Piledriver gets 2. Double underhook suplex gets 2. Mask floats over and kicks him out of the ring, then hits the baseball slide. Mask then busts out a springboard somersault Plancha! Holy shit! Lariotooooo! Plancha again! Mask’s knee is banged up, and this might be where he hurt it. Jumbo comes back in, and he’s greeted by a series of kicks and a missile dropkick. That gets 2. Bridging German gets 2. Slam, and Mask goes up, but Jumbo gets his knees up on the splash.
Jumbo buries a knee to the gut, and Mask is down. Mask gets a roll-up for 2. Jumbo hits chops, then Mask with a rolling reverse for 2. Roll up gets 2. Jumbo hits a stun-gun for 2. Backdrop driver gets 2 for Jumbo. Mask blocks a second and gets an inside cradle for 2. Jumbo elbows his head clean off and nails the backdrop driver for the pin at 14:43. Well, that got good after about seven minutes. There was no psychology, just two guys getting near-fall after near-fall. Lots and lots of head dropping, too. No wonder both these guys are dead. *** ½
1989.03.08
NWA World Championship
Rick Steamboat (Champion)
Vs
Tiger Mask II
Baba apparently didn’t think that Steamboat was credible as a world champion, so this match was fairly far down the card, and not against a truly top guy. Mask puts on a display early, hitting a dropkick, then grabbing a headlock. I guess this is Steamboat filling the dates that Ric Flair had been scheduled for as champion. Mask hits a cross-body for 2, but Steamboat grabs a head scissors. Good GOD this whole disk is head locks and head scissors followed by insane head dropping. Steamboat goes to a chinlock, but misses a chop of the ropes, and Mask hits a knee strike for 2. Mask grabs his headlock, and works a couple of 2-counts out of it. Big chop gets 2, and Mask goes to a chinlock. He turns it into a headlock, then hits a dropkick for 2. Steamboat fires back with chops, then hits a knee drop for 2. Chop to the head gets 2. Mask hits a chop of his own, then an elbow to the head. Steamboat with an atomic drop and a clothesline for 2. Powerslam gets 2, but Mask gets a backdrop and a spin kick for 2. Another spin kick gets 2. Mask dropkicks him out and hits the baseball slide THEN PILEDRIVES HIM ON THE FLOOR. HOLY SHIT. Steamboat shrugs this off, and they just chop the fuck out of each other and go back in. Mask hits a backdropper and the frog splash, but it only gets 2. German gets 2. Big elbow from Mask, but Steamboat fires back. Mask rolls through a cross-body for 2. Steamboat sets him for a piledriver, but Mask counters, causing him to fall over backwards, and Mask sits on his chest for 2, but Steamboat reverses that into a sunset for the pin at 13:44 to retain the title, with Mask kicking out right at 3. Jesus, Baba had zero time for Steamboat as champion, did he? Gotta keep his natives strong. *** This was probably the worst Steamboat match I’ve ever seen before his second WWF run.
1990.04.13
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Bret Hart
This is from the WWF/All-Japan Summit at the Tokyo Dome following WrestleMania VI. This is the one and only time Bret and Misawa were in the ring together. Bret gets a headlock early, but Mask gets an armdrag and grabs an armbar. He works the wrist and arm for a while and I get bored again. Bret escapes, and Mask dumps him to the floor, but Bret dodges the Plancha, leading to Mask doing a nice flip over the ropes onto the apron. Back in, and Mask grabs the arm again. Sigh. Mask gets a crucifix for 2. Back to the armbar. Mask hits a cross-body, but Bret rolls through and gets 2. He grabs a chinlock and everyone is just sitting on their hands, waiting for something to happen. Bret with a headlock now. Bret misses a dropkick, and Mask slingshots him into the corner and stomps him. Mask goes to the arm again, and I’m beginning to think that Misawa just didn’t work well with foreigners. The Hennig match was bad, this one is bad, the DiBiase match wasn’t great. Was it a language barrier thing? I dunno. Bret blocks a crucifix and turns it into a Samoan drop. Slam, elbow, and Bret goes to a chinlock. Mask hits a spin kick and Bret goes to the floor. Mask with the Plancha! Back in, and Mask grabs a cross arm-breaker, but they’re in the ropes. Mask goes to the arm again, and Bret fakes a knee injury on a leapfrog and clotheslines Mask, drawing boos. Back breaker for 2. Mask gets a surprise backslide for 2. Bret with a headbutt. Back elbow, and Bret tosses him to the floor. He taunts the crowd, then follows and tosses him back in. Well, that was a waste of time. Russian leg sweep gets 2. Bret grabs a chinlock, and you can just tell this is two guys who are going to the time limit. Mask fucks up selling an ATOMIC DROP, falling over backwards instead of taking it upright. Never seen that before. Bret grabs another chinlock. Mask fights out after a week and eats boots on a charge in the corner. Bret misses a second rope elbow, and Mask hits a slam and goes up. Top rope cross-body gets 2. Bret takes the chest-first bump to the corner, and Mask ducks a clothesline and the bell rings out of nowhere for the time limit at 20:00. Wow. That was unbelievably disappointing. * ½
The Bottom Line on Disk 2: This disk was REALLY hit or miss. The foreigner stuff was actually bad at some points, and the Kabuki match was just slow as fuck. Tenryu, Jumbo, and the Dynamite Kid brought it up a few notches. I don’t feel like Misawa really was anything special until he took the mask off and he and Kawada started beating the hell out of each other. Thumbs up for this disk, but only barely. On to disk 3.
So after Sotoru Sayama quit New Japan in 1983, mostly because of backstage politics, the Tiger Mask gimmick lay unused for a time, until Giant Baba’s All-Japan promotion purchased it from Inoki’s New Japan. Baba needed something for a promising young talent named Mitsuharu Misawa, so Tiger Mask II was born. Misawa had trained under Baba, Dory Funk, Jr., and Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer. After returning from a learning trip to the Mexican promotion, EMLL, Misawa was given the Tiger Mask identity, competing as a cruiserweight.
1985.06.21
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Kuniaki Kobayashi (NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champion)
This may or may not be the debut of Tiger Mask in All-Japan, and also might be a title match. There’s no definitive list that I can find for title defenses of this belt. They brawl to the floor right away, and good lord is Kobayashi jacked up here, like 30 pounds heavier than he was against Sayama. He controls, hitting stiff kicks, but Mask hits a dropkick. Big elbow gets 1. Mask grabs a chinlock, but Kobayashi counters into an armbar. They take turns working the arm, and Mask does some nice flipping around (which makes me laugh due to what Misawa would become) and Mask hits a nice leaping head butt from the second rope for 2. Kobayashi gets a hammerlock into a cross arm-breaker, then into a head scissors. They go to the rope for a break. Back heel trip by Mask, and he hits a clothesline, but does a flip himself to make the impact look more jarring. Now, see, it’s stuff like this which made Misawa one of the top five workers who ever got in the ring anywhere in the world. Dude was amazing. They do some counter/ reversal stuff, and Kobayashi winds up on the floor. It doesn’t last long, as he comes back in and nails Mask with a tombstone for 2. Mask gets a sunset for 2. Kobayashi with a kick, but Mask gets a spinning back breaker and a somersault kick from the top for 2. Kobayashi with a backdropper, and a spin kick knocks Mask to the floor. Kobayashi follows, and Mask hits a dropkick there. He hits a GODDAMN SOMERSAULT PLANCHA! FUCKING KOBAYASHI IS DEAD! Back in, Mask with a slam and a missile dropkick, but THAT only gets 2. Who the fuck is booking this, Johnny Ace? Kobayashi gets the fisherman’s suplex, but that only gets 2! A second fisherman’s gets the pin for Kobayashi at 11:27. That was really good, but I struggle to understand how it wound up on this set. ** ¾
1985.11.27
NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship
Tiger Mask II (Champion)
Vs
Dynamite Kid
Dynamite had gone from working for NJPW and Stampede to working almost exclusively for the WWF and All-Japan. He was working singles in cruiserweight matches in Japan, and tags in the United States with Davey Boy. They’d win the WWF World Tag Team Titles about five months after this. Now that I think about it, this match is like a week or two after the Wrestling Classic PPV (editor’s note: it’s three weeks, Sean. The WC was on 11/7, this was 11/20. Look shit up before you type). So this is jacked up Dynamite Kid versus Misawa. Kid is so juiced it’s amazing that he’s still alive right now. Holy crap. Kid with a snap suplex, and he goes to a chinlock. Into a head scissors, then back to the chinlock. Big dropkick by Mask, and he hits a cross body, but Kid kicks out. They go to the floor, and Mask runs him to the rail. Back in, and Dynamite takes him down and starts working the knee. He gets a bow and arrow, then he hits a falling headbutt. Tombstone, but Mask is in the ropes. Dynamite gets the abdominal stretch, and his positioning has me BEGGING for the Octopus, but Mask gets to the ropes and forces the break. He takes a walk, and they start again. Mask goes for a monkey flip, but Dynamite stops and turns it into a cradle for 2. Mask starts coming back, dumping Dynamite to the floor, but Dynamite dodges a slingshot plancha (I guess that makes it a pescado), and Mask goes crashing to the floor. Kid suplexes him in for 2, then a clothesline gets 2. Dynamite puts him on top and hits a super duper plex. They go to the floor, and Mask sends him to the post. I’m really hoping this doesn’t go to a count out. They fight over a suplex on the apron, and Kid suplexes Mask to the floor. The bell rings, and they’ve both been counted out at 10:03. Well, that was disappointing. ***
1986.07.31
Tiger Mask II
Vs
The Great Kabuki
This is after Mask had moved to the heavyweight division. Kabuki never really impressed me in the ring, although I only really saw him in WCCW and a bit in JCP (And there was against Jimmy Valiant). Mask is noticeably heavier here than he was in the Dynamite Kid match, and he works a headlock. For a while, till they go to the ropes to break. They do a crisscross bit, then right back to the headlock. I’m thinking this was on the undercard of something major in the summertime. Mask hits a couple of elbows to the neck, then goes back to the headlock. I’m not sure why this is here, but I’m hoping the head-dropping starts, pronto. Kabuki finally escapes with a backdrop, then he goes to a keylock. Must have been some sort of edict to not get the crowd excited, I guess. Mask grabs the ropes, and they go back to neutral. This lasts about 1/100th of a second, and Kabuki gets the damn keylock again. We’re seriously ten minutes into this and there’s been two holds: Mask’s headlock, and Kabuki’s keylock. Mask finally breaks it up and starts kicking. Kabuki hits a chop, but Mask hits a dropkick, knocking him to the floor. Slingshot pescado! Back in, and a bridging German gets 2 for Mask. Double underhook, but when he goes up, Kabuki backdrops him off the top and the ref counts three, but Mask rolled his shoulder over and gets the win at 13:16. That might be one of the most pointless 13 minutes of my entire life. How is this supposed to add to the “legend” of Tiger Mask? The pescado was literally the only spot worth mentioning in the entire match, but it was enough to get it above a dud. ½ *
1987.06.01
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Genichiro Tenryu
Fucking Tenryu! I’ve seen exactly TWO Tenryu matches in my life: with Koji Kitao against Demolition at WrestleMania VII, and with Hulk Hogan against the Road Warriors at the WWF/SWS show in 1990. This should be excellent. I love Misawa so much right now, I should probably look into getting a Misawa comp next, after I go through all the damn DVD sets I’ve purchased in the last six months. Thank God for Amazon clearance. They do a fairly standard feeling out segment, since nobody is working heel here, it’s far different from the standard North American “shine” that you see at the beginning of matches. Mask works an armbar, but Tenryu shrugs him off and hits a kick and a back breaker. He goes to a standing armbar, and I’m really wanting to see the matches these two had later on. Mask hits a second rope cross-body, then forearms knock Tenryu to the apron. They trade chops, with Tenryu winning and taking him down and dropping a knee. He grabs a chinlock/overhand wristlock combo. Right into a figure-four head scissors, and they roll to the ropes. Tenryu starts chopping, and then hits a back suplex for 2. He goes to a front face lock, and I start to get bored again. I’ll never understand how AJPW was so much more popular than NJPW in the 80’s. Mask gets a Samoan drop for 2, then he goes to an armbar. Seriously, they all worked the same style: stay on the mat with holds, work some high spots, go back to the mat, tease some action on the floor. Tenryu gets a leg grapevine and adds a wristlock to it. Enziguiri! That gets 2. Mask with a spin kick, then a dropkick. Sliding dropkick to Tenryu on the floor, then he does a dive from the top rope to Tenryu on the floor, and they go over the railing to the timekeepers table! Back in, and Mask hits another spin kick for 2. Belly-to-belly gets 2. Slam, and Mask goes up, but he misses the Senton. Enziguiri, but Mask blocks a powerbomb and hits a German, but Tenryu is in the ropes. Mask gets a sunset for 2. Tenryu totally mistimes a counter on a cross-body, and Mask hits a Kappo kick. Tenryu hits a shoulder coming out of the corner, and nails a powerbomb for the pin at 11:33. Got really good at the end. *** ½
1987.07.03
PWF Tag Team Championship
Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (Champions)
Vs
Tiger Mask II & Jumbo Tsuruta
DiBiase was apparently an All-Japan regular, which I didn’t know. I always thought he was a guy, but I guess he toured Japan fairly regularly (well, regularly enough that he was Stan Hansen’s choice to replace Bruiser Brody when Brody jumped ship to New Japan in March of 1985.) DiBiase, I think, was fulfilling dates he had agreed to here, because he would debut in the WWF not long after this, and would be in a program with Hulk Hogan by the end of the year. Hansen and DiBiase, being heels, jump the good-guy natives before the bell. Hansen and Jumbo start, but Mask comes in pretty quickly. Hansen just mauls him, and then DiBiase comes in, hitting a back elbow for 2. Mask backdrops him out of the corner, then hits a dropkick. Jumbo comes back in, and he runs DiBiase to the corner. He starts working the spinning toe-hold, but Hansen, who gives not a single fuck for any man’s rules, breaks it up. Jumbo gets a Boston Crab, but Hansen forearms him. Jumbo gets caught in the wrong part of town and double-teamed. Backdrop suplex gets 2 for Hansen. He grabs a chinlock, and then DiBiase comes back in. He hits a suplex, but puts his head down and Jumbo gets a kick. Tag to Mask, who gets a spinning back kick and a slam. Elbow gets 2, and he goes to a chinlock. That doesn’t last, as DiBiase backdroppers out of it and tags Hansen, who promptly misses a charge in the corner. He takes Mask down with a headlock, and DiBiase comes back in. DiBiase gets a boot in, but Mask counters and reverses a suplex to make the tag to Jumbo, who starts hitting running knees. Big slam on Ted, and Mask hits a top rope splash. Mask grabs a chinlock on DiBiase, then the Figure-Four headlock. Hansen breaks that up, but DiBiase can’t capitalize. He does get a nice sunset flip though. Mask and Jumbo do a great job of cutting the ring off on DiBiase, and Jumbo hits a back breaker. DiBiase gets boot in on a backdrop, but Jumbo hits a dropkick and locks in a submission of some sort on Hansen. Hansen hits a backdropper, then a DROPKICK! Lucha STAN! Double shoulder block gets 2 on Jumbo. DiBiase with a dropkick! He misses a second, and Mask comes in a house of fire. He misses the second rope springboard crossbody, and DiBiase gets the spinning toe-hold. Mask gets the boot in and DiBiase goes to the floor, where Mask hits the Plancha! Four-way brawl on the floor, and Mask beats the count as Jumbo runs Hansen to the post, and we have NEW PWF World Tag Team Champions at 13:35! *** (The reign would last a week, and then DiBiase and Hansen would regain the belts and hold them for less than a month before DiBiase would leave for the WWF.)
1987.07.19
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Ted DiBiase
DiBiase jumps Mask before the bell and dumps him to the floor, slamming him and running him to the rail. They go back in, and Mask takes control, grabbing a headlock. They work a couple of near-falls out of that, and it becomes the beginning of every 80’s AJPW match. Mask gets a back slide for 2, and they go back to the headlock. Now, I know there’s a flow to all of their matches, but this is really boring. Mask hits a cross body, but DiBiase backdrops him to take over. Slam, back breaker gets 2. Gut wrench gets 2. Mask goes for a sunset, but DiBiase drops down for 2, then dumps him to the floor. Ted nails him with one of those tiny Japanese chairs, then tosses him back in. Elbow from the second rope gets 2. DiBiase misses a charge, and Mask gets a series of kicks, but misses a dropkick. DiBiase goes for the spinning toe-hold, but Mask kicks him out of the ring. He misses the Plancha, and DiBiase hits the backdropper on the floor. DiBiase goes for the suplex back in, and Mask floats over and gets a bridging German for the pin at 9:18. Good match. *** ¼ (I must say that the “suplex in – float over – German for the pin” is the Tiger Mask equivalent of “Three punches, boot, leg drop”.)
1988.01.02
AWA World Championship
Curt Hennig (Champion)
Vs
Tiger Mask II
Hennig has his working boots on here. Mask grabs the headlock, but Hennig hits an armdrag into an armbar. Mask takes him down, and they reset. Mask takes him down with a snap mare into a chinlock, but Hennig reverses into a hammerlock right away. Mask counters into an arm wringer and I lose interest. Hennig gets his hammerlock again. Mask flips him over out of it, pounding the back, then he goes to a camel clutch. Hennig escapes, and we go back to standing. Mask starts kicking, Hennig starts clobbering. I guess the feeling out portion of the match is over. Big dropkick by Mask for 2. He turns Hennig over into a Boston Crab, but Hennig gets right to the ropes. This is even more boring than the Kabuki match. Mask with a suplex for 2. Oklahoma roll, then a surfboard by Mask. Hennig counters with elbows, then hits the cradle suplex for 2. Another near fall. Dropkick gets 2. Looks like we’re going to near-falls now. Slam, and Hennig drops an elbow from the second rope for 2. He sits on the top rope, and Mask drop kicks him to the floor. When he goes out, Hennig whips him to the barricade. Suplex in, but Mask floats over and dropkicks him back out. Baseball slide drop kick! Plancha! Backdropper! Both guys are down, and Mask beats the count at 11:21. Well, that was majorly disappointing, given the participants. **.
1988.03.09
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Jumbo Tsuruta
They shake hands, and do a couple of go-behinds. Jumbo grabs a wrist. Mask grabs a headlock, and they go to the ropes. Mask with a kick, then to the headlock. Jumbo can’t power out, so Mask holds on. He hits a knee crusher, (“Ahhh! Knee crushaaa!”) but Mask holds the headlock. He gets another knee crusher, but Mask still won’t let go. They go to the corner, and Mask hits a couple of forearms, then grabs the headlock again. Jumbo breaks it up in the corner, and Mask hits a leaping/diving headbutt for 2, then goes back to the headlock. Jumbo buries a knee, then takes him down with forearms. Mask gets a back heel trip, and goes back to the headlock. Wow. Can’t believe I wasn’t more into All-Japan when I was tape trading. They break on the ropes, but Mask hits a dropkick after some crisscross action. Mask goes to a front facelock, then back to the goddamn headlock. Jumbo promptly hits a STIFF AS FUCK backdrop driver for 2. Piledriver gets 2. Double underhook suplex gets 2. Mask floats over and kicks him out of the ring, then hits the baseball slide. Mask then busts out a springboard somersault Plancha! Holy shit! Lariotooooo! Plancha again! Mask’s knee is banged up, and this might be where he hurt it. Jumbo comes back in, and he’s greeted by a series of kicks and a missile dropkick. That gets 2. Bridging German gets 2. Slam, and Mask goes up, but Jumbo gets his knees up on the splash.
Jumbo buries a knee to the gut, and Mask is down. Mask gets a roll-up for 2. Jumbo hits chops, then Mask with a rolling reverse for 2. Roll up gets 2. Jumbo hits a stun-gun for 2. Backdrop driver gets 2 for Jumbo. Mask blocks a second and gets an inside cradle for 2. Jumbo elbows his head clean off and nails the backdrop driver for the pin at 14:43. Well, that got good after about seven minutes. There was no psychology, just two guys getting near-fall after near-fall. Lots and lots of head dropping, too. No wonder both these guys are dead. *** ½
1989.03.08
NWA World Championship
Rick Steamboat (Champion)
Vs
Tiger Mask II
Baba apparently didn’t think that Steamboat was credible as a world champion, so this match was fairly far down the card, and not against a truly top guy. Mask puts on a display early, hitting a dropkick, then grabbing a headlock. I guess this is Steamboat filling the dates that Ric Flair had been scheduled for as champion. Mask hits a cross-body for 2, but Steamboat grabs a head scissors. Good GOD this whole disk is head locks and head scissors followed by insane head dropping. Steamboat goes to a chinlock, but misses a chop of the ropes, and Mask hits a knee strike for 2. Mask grabs his headlock, and works a couple of 2-counts out of it. Big chop gets 2, and Mask goes to a chinlock. He turns it into a headlock, then hits a dropkick for 2. Steamboat fires back with chops, then hits a knee drop for 2. Chop to the head gets 2. Mask hits a chop of his own, then an elbow to the head. Steamboat with an atomic drop and a clothesline for 2. Powerslam gets 2, but Mask gets a backdrop and a spin kick for 2. Another spin kick gets 2. Mask dropkicks him out and hits the baseball slide THEN PILEDRIVES HIM ON THE FLOOR. HOLY SHIT. Steamboat shrugs this off, and they just chop the fuck out of each other and go back in. Mask hits a backdropper and the frog splash, but it only gets 2. German gets 2. Big elbow from Mask, but Steamboat fires back. Mask rolls through a cross-body for 2. Steamboat sets him for a piledriver, but Mask counters, causing him to fall over backwards, and Mask sits on his chest for 2, but Steamboat reverses that into a sunset for the pin at 13:44 to retain the title, with Mask kicking out right at 3. Jesus, Baba had zero time for Steamboat as champion, did he? Gotta keep his natives strong. *** This was probably the worst Steamboat match I’ve ever seen before his second WWF run.
1990.04.13
Tiger Mask II
Vs
Bret Hart
This is from the WWF/All-Japan Summit at the Tokyo Dome following WrestleMania VI. This is the one and only time Bret and Misawa were in the ring together. Bret gets a headlock early, but Mask gets an armdrag and grabs an armbar. He works the wrist and arm for a while and I get bored again. Bret escapes, and Mask dumps him to the floor, but Bret dodges the Plancha, leading to Mask doing a nice flip over the ropes onto the apron. Back in, and Mask grabs the arm again. Sigh. Mask gets a crucifix for 2. Back to the armbar. Mask hits a cross-body, but Bret rolls through and gets 2. He grabs a chinlock and everyone is just sitting on their hands, waiting for something to happen. Bret with a headlock now. Bret misses a dropkick, and Mask slingshots him into the corner and stomps him. Mask goes to the arm again, and I’m beginning to think that Misawa just didn’t work well with foreigners. The Hennig match was bad, this one is bad, the DiBiase match wasn’t great. Was it a language barrier thing? I dunno. Bret blocks a crucifix and turns it into a Samoan drop. Slam, elbow, and Bret goes to a chinlock. Mask hits a spin kick and Bret goes to the floor. Mask with the Plancha! Back in, and Mask grabs a cross arm-breaker, but they’re in the ropes. Mask goes to the arm again, and Bret fakes a knee injury on a leapfrog and clotheslines Mask, drawing boos. Back breaker for 2. Mask gets a surprise backslide for 2. Bret with a headbutt. Back elbow, and Bret tosses him to the floor. He taunts the crowd, then follows and tosses him back in. Well, that was a waste of time. Russian leg sweep gets 2. Bret grabs a chinlock, and you can just tell this is two guys who are going to the time limit. Mask fucks up selling an ATOMIC DROP, falling over backwards instead of taking it upright. Never seen that before. Bret grabs another chinlock. Mask fights out after a week and eats boots on a charge in the corner. Bret misses a second rope elbow, and Mask hits a slam and goes up. Top rope cross-body gets 2. Bret takes the chest-first bump to the corner, and Mask ducks a clothesline and the bell rings out of nowhere for the time limit at 20:00. Wow. That was unbelievably disappointing. * ½
The Bottom Line on Disk 2: This disk was REALLY hit or miss. The foreigner stuff was actually bad at some points, and the Kabuki match was just slow as fuck. Tenryu, Jumbo, and the Dynamite Kid brought it up a few notches. I don’t feel like Misawa really was anything special until he took the mask off and he and Kawada started beating the hell out of each other. Thumbs up for this disk, but only barely. On to disk 3.