Goody Bag XIII: The Tiger and The Kid

 

WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Dynamite Kid v Tiger Mask: From NJPW New Year Super Fight show in Tokyo on January 1 1982. This is for the vacant title. Kid goes right to trying to turn it into a fight, pounding on Tiger, but getting smacked back with a swift spinkick. They trade wristlocks, with Kid using a closed fist to win the sequence, then headbutting him for two. Gutwrench suplex gets two, so Kid starts going after the leg, tenaciously abusing both the ankle and knee. Drop-toehold puts Tiger in a stepover-toehold, but he keeps fighting, so Kid tries a leglock. Tiger escapes and starts throwing kicks to knock Kid into the corner, and a reversal sequence ends in Kid hitting a side suplex. A nasty tombstone sets up the flying headbutt, but Dynamite pulls him up at two! Oooh, that can't have been wise. Another tombstone sets up another flying headbutt, but this time Tiger rolls out of the way. The leg is still battered, however, and Kid is able to recover and apply a sloppy figure four before Tiger can capitalize on the miss. Tiger gets the ropes to escape, so Kid drags him back and tries the hold again, but Tiger blocks twice, and manages a schoolboy on the frustrated Kid for the title at 8:31! Way ahead of its time, and still holds up. *** ¼

Tiger Mask v Dynamite Kid: From NJPW Summer Fight Series II, on July 23 1982. Bret Hart is in Kid's corner for this. Tiger takes him down for a toehold right away (with a blistering takedown), but Kid gets the ropes. He tries blitzing Tiger, but gets taken down with another blistering series of sweeps, and has to back off. Kid starts going after the leg, and a reversal sequence ends in a stalemate. Tiger takes him down for a leglock, but Kid gets into the ropes, and absolutely MURDERS him with a bodyslam! Like, seriously, that had to have been the most blistering bodyslam I have ever seen. Kid with a butterfly suplex for two, so Tiger strikes at him with lightning kicks, and hits a somersault senton splash to setup a legdrop for two. The execution here is just unreal - smooth and fast. Tiger tries a chinlock, but Kid quickly counters to a wristlock, leading to another reversal sequence that ends in a stalemate. Tiger starts throwing kicks to send Dynamite to the outside, but Kid manages to take him down on the way back in, and grounds him with a headscissors. Tiger manages to escape, so Kid cracks him with a pair of backbreakers for two, and a gutwrench suplex is worth two. Snapmare sets up a legdrop, and Kid applies a chinlock, then tosses Tiger out of the ring when he tries escaping. Tiger bodyslams him on the way back in to setup a springboard elbowdrop for two, and he tries grounding Dynamite with his own headscissors, but Kid is in the ropes. Tiger responds with a jumping double-ax, and a vertical suplex sets up a flying elbowdrop, but Dynamite dodges! They fight over a German suplex until Kid drops him on his head with a nasty side suplex, but a flying kneedrop misses the mark, and Tiger goes for the kill with a figure four! Kid gets the ropes with Bret Hart's help, and the Hitman starts stomping Tiger from the apron for good measure! Somehow that isn't a DQ, but Tiger manages to dropkick Kid over the top when the referee intervenes, setting up the Space Flying Tiger Drop! Holy shit! He ends up hitting Bret with it more than he does Kid, however, and Dynamite delivers a tombstone on the floor! He whips Kid into the rail, but ends up getting backdropped over it as he charges (taking out half the first row with him in the process) - only to still beat Tiger in for the countout victory at 13:53. Again, way ahead of its time, with unbelievably crisp execution, and great pacing. **** ¼

WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask v Dynamite Kid: From a WWF card at Madison Square Garden on August 30 1982. Tiger keeps him at bay with the threat of kicks, but Kid charges anyway, and gets taken down with a legsweep. A blistering reversal sequence ends in Tiger landing a corkscrew kick, and he takes Kid down with a drop-toehold. Kid fires off some right hands to put the champ on the ropes, and a bodyslam sets up a 2^nd rope flying kneedrop for two. Kid with a gutwrench suplex for two, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock into a headscissors. Tiger escapes, so Kid fires off a headbutt, and levels him with a chop, then hits a vertical suplex. Corner whip rebounds Tiger into a piledriver, but he blocks, and a blistering sequence ends in Kid getting dropkicked out of the ring. I can't say enough about how crisp and well executed everything they are doing here is. These two are putting modern guys to shame. Inside, Kid gets a leglock on, but Tiger escapes so Kid hits a leg-feed enzuigiri. Bodyslam sets up a flying headbutt, but Tiger rolls out of the way, and a vertical suplexes him to setup a flying moonsault for the pin at 7:00! How the crowd sat through shit like Salvatore Bellomo versus Swede Hanson after this, I'll never know. *** ¾

WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask v Dynamite Kid: From NJPW Big Fight Series II, on April 21, 1983. This is for the vacant title. Kid tries a wristlock to start, triggering a complex sequence where Tiger tries to escape, but Kid has his number, and keeps the hold well applied. He finally does manage to escape, but Kid blocks a follow-up, and snapmares him over for a chinlock. Again, Tiger looks for an escape, but Kid has him firmly in the hold, so Tiger starts going for the ropes. He gets them, but Kid is quick to pound him, and a snapmare sets up a kneedrop for two. Tiger manages to send him to the floor with a kick, and he dives out after Kid with a tope, then brings him back in for a vertical suplex. He goes up, but Kid slams him down off the top, then dives with a flying dropkick! Kid works a headscissors, but Tiger manages to escape, and throws a few big kicks to stagger him for a jumping double-ax. Tiger adds a flying overhead elbowsmash to setup a Mexican surfboard, but he fails to properly apply. He uses a toehold instead, so Kid goes for the mask to force a break, and he dodges another jumping double-ax - only to get backdropped over the top as he tries a charge! Back in, Kid sweeps him down for a leglock, but Tiger is ready to fight dirty too, and goes for the hair. Kid manages to keep the hold applied, but Tiger slugs free, and nails him with a clothesline to setup a somersault senton splash for two. Tiger with a chinlock, so Kid goes for the mask again, and very nearly gets it off this time! Snap suplex gets him two, and an elbowdrop leads to a kneedrop for two. Gutwrench suplex is worth two, and Kid tries a headscissors, but Tiger counters with a surfboard! Kid uses the referee's shirt to leverage an escape, and he tries a tombstone, but Tiger blocks. Kid hits a dropkick instead, but ends up getting sent over the top with a monkeyflip, and Tiger dives off the apron with a flying bodypress that sends both over the rail for a double countout at 12:30! But, they refuse to accept it, and the match is re-started. Inside, Kid catches Tiger off guard with a tombstone to setup a flying headbutt, but Tiger rolls to the edge of the ring before Kid leaps to prevent him from using it. Dynamite is good and pissed at that insolence, and hops down to choke Tiger, until the referee stops the match at 13:30. Ugh. Both refuse to accept it, and they re-start the match again. Dynamite immediately hits him with another tombstone to setup a glorious flying headbutt, but he doesn't even bother covering. Instead, he cranks on a headlock, but Tiger side suplexes free, and hits Kid with his own tombstone! Dynamite rolls out of the ring to avoid a cover, so Tiger dives after him with a plancha, but Kid sidesteps. He tries to vertical suplex Tiger in from the apron, but gets blocked, and a reversal sequence ends in both men falling out of the ring. Kid whips him into the rail out there to setup a vertical suplex on the floor, but he gets reversed into the post, and Tiger whips him into the rail to return the favor! Kid is in trouble, so he tries bringing a weapon in, then takes out the referee with a headbutt for objecting for a DQ at 17:30. It's amazing how much Chris Benoit looked like Kid... for a second there during that last sequence, I almost typed 'Benoit.' Match is again re-started, and Kid goes for the mask, but can't get it off. He tries a snap suplex for two, and he tosses Tiger to the floor for a beating, but ends up eating a tombstone out there! He shrugs it off and hits his own tombstone, however, and it's a double countout at 19:30. And they must be out of tokens, because there are no re-starts this time. And, in fact, this non-finish would be the way they closed out the series for good. The match was good, and I really liked the intensity, and the way they were building off of their previous encounters, but I found the booking to be very annoying, and thought it ruined the flow of an otherwise very good match. I know this is considered by many to be the best of their series, but I found the three re-starts to be irredeemably distracting, and the fact that it didn’t even lead to a clean finish just diminished it even more in my eyes. ***