Kang Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 4 minutes ago, Zimbra said: Oh my God I never realized that they gave Lazer-tron a laser tag gun and sensor, holy shit. You know I have never actually seen a Tiger Mask II match. Imagine any normal Misawa match. Now imagine him with a mask on. There you go. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolCB Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 24 minutes ago, Zimbra said: You know I have never actually seen a Tiger Mask II match. Here's one he had vs Bret... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PetrolCB Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) . Edited May 9, 2020 by PetrolCB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Zimbra said: Oh my God I never realized that they gave Lazer-tron a laser tag gun and sensor, holy shit. You know I have never actually seen a Tiger Mask II match. Is there any memorable ones? I've seen a ton of them and can't recall any as Tiger Mask, of course. As Misawa, it's an entirely different game, of course. Edited May 9, 2020 by Edwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) 43 minutes ago, Zimbra said: You know I have never actually seen a Tiger Mask II match. Edited May 9, 2020 by D.Z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) 13 minutes ago, D.Z said: This match sucks. This is the one everyone always references as it was highly rated by Dave Meltzer for some reason. I watched it about a year ago and I thought it was really bad. They never left first gear and it has an abrupt lame finish. Edited May 9, 2020 by Edwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 Mariko Yoshida vs. Becky Lynch from an APW Gym Wars show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Edwin said: This match sucks. This is the one everyone always references as it was highly rated by Dave Meltzer for some reason. I watched it about a year ago and I thought it was really bad. They never left first gear and it has an abrupt lame finish. I don't get why Misawa was made the second Tiger Mask. It's so weird watching this guy work like he usually does in the driest manner possible coming after Sayama (and to be fair, some of the Sayama matches haven't aged well on rewatch). I don't get it. 1 hour ago, Edwin said: Mariko Yoshida vs. Becky Lynch from an APW Gym Wars show. FWIW, Mariko is some type of hybrid yoga instructor/massage therapist in some tiny Japanese town now. She also looks younger than her wrestling days, which is scary. Meanwhile, Mayumi Ozaki (who is just a year older at 51) looks like Cloris Leachman if she was preparing to play a deranged serial killer. Edited May 9, 2020 by Elsalvajeloco 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edwin Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 23 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said: I don't get why Misawa was made the second Tiger Mask. It's so weird watching this guy work like he usually does in the driest manner possible coming after Sayama (and to be fair, some of the Sayama matches having aged well on rewatch). I don't get it. Oof. I rewatched the DK series a little bit ago and they def. didn't age well. You know who sucked from the 80s New Japan Jr.'s? The Cobra. I remember him being slim and athletic in the 80s and being able to do a ton of cool stuff, but he was pretty bad on rewatch. I also watched/rewatching him and his brother Shunji against the Rockers from some SWS show and it also sucked. Speaking of having aged well -- a bunch of Último Dragón's matches haven't aged well. Caught a bunch of them and he was just trying to cram in as many cool spots as possible while his opponents did all the other work. Ironically enough, The Cobra was no selling tombstones piledrivers from folks in the 80s and Último was no selling tombstone piledrivers from folks in the 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Elsalvajeloco said: I don't get why Misawa was made the second Tiger Mask. It's so weird watching this guy work like he usually does in the driest manner possible coming after Sayama (and to be fair, some of the Sayama matches haven't aged well on rewatch). I don't get it. When Baba got the rights to the Tiger Mask gimmick in 1984, he had to put it on someone, but there weren't too many options. He couldn't give it to an established Jr Heavyweight like Onita, because it would be obvious who it was (between the fans recognising him, and the fact that he'd disappear right when TM2 debuted). So he had to give it to a smaller young guy, and there were only a few candidates. Kawada was on excursion in Canada, and Misawa and Shiro Koshinaka were on excursion in Mexico. Of the three, Misawa probably seemed a better flier and a better worker at the time. He was Tiger Mask for more than 6 years, which seems odd when you think about it. Hardly a wonder he was disenchanted towards the end. Sayama was only Tiger Mask for two years before him, and Kanemoto was Tiger Mask for less time than that. TM4 has been in the gimmick for bloody ages though. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 (edited) 9 minutes ago, AxB said: When Baba got the rights to the Tiger Mask gimmick in 1984, he had to put it on someone, but there weren't too many options. He couldn't give it to an established Jr Heavyweight like Onita, because it would be obvious who it was (between the fans recognising him, and the fact that he'd disappear right when TM2 debuted). So he had to give it to a smaller young guy, and there were only a few candidates. Kawada was on excursion in Canada, and Misawa and Shiro Koshinaka were on excursion in Mexico. Of the three, Misawa probably seemed a better flier and a better worker at the time. He was Tiger Mask for more than 6 years, which seems odd when you think about it. Hardly a wonder he was disenchanted towards the end. Sayama was only Tiger Mask for two years before him, and Kanemoto was Tiger Mask for less time than that. TM4 has been in the gimmick for bloody ages though. It's funny to think about smart fans existing even then. I was watching Eadie and Darsow talk about Randy Colley's ill fated run as the original Smash a month or so ago. Based on some of the guys later on who would portray certain gimmicks after already being known as something else, it's weird that companies would make swift and sudden changes just because some assholes recognize someone immediately and make it a point to let everyone know that. Edited May 10, 2020 by Elsalvajeloco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 Well, Darrow had to wear that elbow pad over his tattoo to hide who it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 To illustrate the early Japanese Cloris Leachman point (I'll spoiler it for NSFW purpose on both) We went from this Spoiler to this Spoiler 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, Elsalvajeloco said: It's funny to think about smart fans existing even then. I was watching Eadie and Darsow talk about Randy Colley's ill fated run as the original Smash a month or so ago. Based on some of the guys later on who would portray certain gimmicks after already being known as something else, it's weird that companies would make swift and sudden changes just because some assholes recognize someone immediately and make it a point to let everyone know that. In Pure Dynamite, Dyno says that in the first ever Tiger Mask (1) match, TM got pissed off because some fans were chanting Sayama at him. Which isn't quite WWE fans chanting Shave Your Back at Lord Tensai (even though he had). Edited May 10, 2020 by AxB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 I think guys were recognizable even in the triitiry days, if they tried to repackage someone under a mask. I mean, the regulars saw guys every week or two, so they would recognize a guys frame pretty quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elsalvajeloco Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 7 minutes ago, odessasteps said: I think guys were recognizable even in the triitiry days, if they tried to repackage someone under a mask. I mean, the regulars saw guys every week or two, so they would recognize a guys frame pretty quickly. Right. But even for me, if I didn't have a timeline of the change over, I wouldn't be able to tell who was playing Doink because all those dudes were the same height and build. For something like Tiger Mask, I can look at a picture immediately and figure out who it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted May 10, 2020 Share Posted May 10, 2020 Shoto with a Shayna Baszler concept design: Spoiler 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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