This review was commissioned by Alistair Gilmour over on my Ko-fi account.
People like to point to Tiger Mask and refer to him as an innovator “for his time.” Often, the idea here is that Tiger Mask blew minds he was doing things that stood out in a much more methodical era of pro wrestling, and while there’s a kernel of truth to that, it does gloss over how mechanically spectacular Tiger Mask remains even to 2024 eyes. That man is so fucking sudden at basically every point of this match. I’m talking, he feels lightning fast when he really gets going, in a way that feels distinct from the generations that have pulled from his influence since.
It’s that quickness that proves to be the problem that Gilbert needs to solve within the narrative of the match. Tiger Mask pushes the pace when he gets moving, but he actually his speed as a way to flummox Gilbert and ground him, instead of using the speed as an end in itself. Much of the match still returns to pretty traditional pro wrestling holds, be it a headscissors or a chinlock. Gilbert, as the challenger, plays the role of having to adapt to Tiger Mask’s slipperiness in his attempts to win. That produces some good moments like Gilbert pulling at Tiger Mask’s wrist in an attempt to escape an early Wahoo-style Native American Deathlock as Tony Schiavone might call it. It also means that Gilbert has to push the pace himself and find openings like dropping to dodge a wheel kick from Tiger in order to create some openings.
What results is something that feels more like a showcase and a riff session than anything deeper. It’s the opener for this card in the Spectrum and there’s good times to be had sitting in wonder at Tiger Mask’s quickness, but very little us functioning under the surface here. There’s perhaps an undertone of Gilbert getting more and more frustrated by his inability to get one over on the champion, but they never really devolve into any overt heel/face dynamic which ends up hurting this match in the end. It’s just a nice little starter for a night of wrestling, and it functions perfectly well in that role.
Rating: ***1/4
