(ALL JAPAN) Can the second Tiger Mask surpass the first?

Weekly Pro

21st August 1984 (Issue No.55)

A close race is inevitable! An idol race with the new Tiger

Can the second Tiger Mask surpass the first? 

The second Tiger Mask made his dramatic debut on July 31st in the All Japan Pro Wrestling ring at Kuramae Kokugikan, surrounded by the cheers of a packed house. He will make his debut match at Denen Coliseum in Tokyo on August 26th. At the same time, Satoru Sayama, who made a brilliant transformation from the first Tiger Mask to The Tiger, has officially signed a contract with UWF and will compete for popularity in the second series, Victory Weeks (August 20th at Takasaki City Gymnasium to September 11th at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo), which will be held at the same time. He captured the hearts of his fans with just a 60-second appearance!

Tiger Mask II entered the ring with a flourish, as the eyes of an packed in crowd of 12,500 people were fixed on him. While all the spectators were waiting for the birth of the second Tiger Mask... 

On July 25th, while all the spectators were waiting for the birth of the second Tiger Mask, Giant Baba announced at the GCCIII venue at the Fukuoka Sports Center that "The second Tiger Mask will be making a comeback in All Japan," and at a press conference at a hotel in Nagatacho, Tokyo on the 30th he announced that "He will make an appearance in the ring on the 31st."

In this fast-paced information age where we are moving from monthly to weekly magazines, all the spectators are excited for the appearance of the second Tiger Mask.

Eight days before, on the 23rd at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, at UWF'S "Infinity Day" (and again on the 24th), the original Tiger Mask returned to the ring after 354 days as the new "The Tiger." The crowd was packed to capacity with 3,000 people. In the tag match, The Tiger teamed up with Nobuhiko Takada, a junior from his time at New Japan Pro Wrestling, to face Akira Maeda and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, but Takada was pinned by Fujiwara and lost. On the second day he defeated Mach Hayato in a singles match. Returning to the ring after a year's absence, The Tiger said he was "aiming for a new fighting style" (founding Tiger Gym*), and the kicks in his new fighting style (which he claims is mainly based on kicks, punches and joint locks) were new, and his dynamic aerial techniques, once called "fourth-dimensional wrestling," were unmatched, but his body was bulky (overweight), and he couldn't hide the lack of partners and his lack of instincts due to being away from the ring, so the critical assessment was "It's what you'd expect, neither good nor bad".

The second Tiger was met with thunderous cheers from the audience. The mask and costume are all the same as the original Tiger, but with a new design for the mask and costume, the second Tiger is more approachable, and is and taller and slimmer than the stocky Tiger. The loose rope meant they couldn't perform the tightrope walk of the original, but the audience was still mesmerized. Due to the difference in the size and atmosphere of the venues, Korakuen Hall and Kuramae Kokugikan, The appearance of the second generation, overwhelmed that of The Tiger. This was more striking than the debut of the first generation Tiger, who appeared without warning (defeating Dynamite Kid at Kuramae Kokugikan on April 23, 1981), and he has already secured his place as an idol. Baba said, "He only made an appearance about sixty minutes ago, but I think he has firmly captured the hearts of the fans". 

Giant Baba is also a big fan!

Are there plans to team up with a martial arts master in the future?

The Second generation's debut match will be at the Denen Coliseum. The opponent will be announced within the week, but one of the leading candidates is La Fiera, who will be visiting Japan for the first time from Mexico. ("La Fiera" means "The Wild Beast"). He is a former NWA World Welterweight Champion, and the number one rudo (bad guy) in EMLL alongside Salud (the bad Sangre Chicana), he is twenty-eight years old, and hails from Puebla. He has a career spanning 10 years. He is said to have learned karate from Mach Hayato, who was on a tour of Mexico. Another candidate is Perro Aguayo, who is also Mexican. 

So, who is the second generation? 

At a press conference on July 30, Baba said, "You'll probably understand when you see him in the ring on the 31st." Gran Hamada (who participated in All Japan), a Mexican wrestler, Shiro Koshinaka (who is currently touring Mexico) and Mitsuharu Misawa have all been mentioned, but the most speculation centers on Misawa, as it seems that his physique is the one that is visible under the mask and costume.

Would Misawa be the perfect choice to become the second Tiger Mask?

He is young (born June 28th 1962 in Koshigaya, Saitama*). In Middle School he did gymnastics, and at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology, he devoted himself to amateur wrestling (he was the winner of the 85th freestyle at the 1980 National Athletic Meet). He has a reputation for technique, and has been polishing his skills in lucha libre (professional wrestling) since his trip to Mexico in March this year. He is a rising star with a career of 3.5 years.   

The second Tiger Mask is full of dreams.

"I want to raise him to be an even better idol than the first one," Baba said determinedly. A certain insider revealed that "there are plans to team up with a martial arts expert (kickboxing?) in the future." The second Tiger Mask was born under the agreement of Junhara Productions, which holds all rights including the portrait rights of Tiger Mask, but this tag team project is said to have been inspired by the manga artist Ikki Kajiwara, who created the first Tiger Mask. But that's for later, and for now All Japan is concentrating all its efforts on promoting the second Tiger Mask. Regardless, how far the second generation can rise to the idol status will depend primarily on their own efforts.

Notes

Tiger Gym: Naomichi Marufuji wrote in "Heir To The Ark" that he was a member of  Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym Dojo, where he was taught some ground attacks by Noboru Asahi. 

Misawa's birthplace: He was billed from Saitama, but as he himself said in an interview prior going to Mexico, he was born in Hokkaido and lived there for the first four years of his life.