(ALL JAPAN) Giant Series Opening Round, October 5th Yokohama Bunka Gym - Both Martel and Tiger Mask start off with a clean sweep!

Weekly Pro

23rd October 1984 (Issue No.64)

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel arrived in Japan on the day of the match, a few days late due to engine trouble on his plane. Despite concerns, he was in excellent condition and had a test run against tough guy Ashura Hara. Martel kept a close eye on the match, even as Hara landed a barrage of powerful rugby-style tackles, uppercuts, brainbusters, and back drops. Martel took advantage of Hara's impatience at the chance to win and took his breath away with a flying body attack from the top rope.

It's been five months since he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta to become champion, and his wrestling is steadily progressing in the right direction. Compared to his last match at "GCC Vert III*," even his dropkicks have become much sharper. Tsuruta will be going all out to reclaim the title in Osaka on the 11th, but he'll be even more aggressive than he was in July. It will be exciting to see how Tsuruta will tackle Martel, who has become a "champion to be reckoned with." 

The opponent in the new Tiger Mask's second debut match was Jerry Estrada, who coincidentally was La Fiera's tag partner in Mexico in his debut match. At first glance, Estrada looks just like Fiera, but he is actually a wrestler two steps below Fiera in terms of ability. Fans were hoping to see what new finisher Tiger Mask would use to secure victory. After immobilizing Estrada with a deadly kick, Tiger Mask followed Estrada's aerial technique with a rainbow suplex, sending him flying, and finally unleashed a powerful jumping body attack from the top of the rope, a new technique. The results of Tiger Mask's secret training were evident everywhere in his second match since his debut.

Notes

GCC: Rick Martel never worked for Gulf Coast Championship (which folded in 1978), so I have no idea what this means. Search results in English, Japanese or on Cagematch revealed nothing.  

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