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**CANADIAN** · 03-05-2004, 12:01 AM

There were several Tiger Masks based on the famous wrestling cartoon "Tiger Mask" by Ikki Kajiwara.

The very first one was Samson Kutsuwada, who wrestled as a heel in South Korea where the cartoon show was famous in '71.

The "original" Tiger Mask was, of course, Satoru Sayama, who wrestled under the character between 81/04/23 and 83/08/04 for New Japan. He suddenly left New Japan in the summer 83 and later wrestled for the original UWF, where he wrestled as "The Tiger" and "Super Tiger". After 95, he has been wrestling as Shodai (original, the first) Tiger Mask although he briefly used "Tiger King" name in 97.

Mitsuharu Misawa wrestled as the second Tiger Mask between 84/08/26 and 90/05/14 in All Japan. In his last match, he told his tag team partner Toshiaki Kawada to take his mask off and announced he would no longer wear the mask after the match.

The third Tiger Mask, considered rather as a failure by many fans, was Kouji Kanemoto of New Japan. He wrestled as Tiger Mask as a special attraction for New Japan's 20th anniversary card on 92/03/01 and few more matches in the same year. However, he started using the character again on 93/05/03 until 94/01/04 when he took his mask off after losing to Jushin Thunder Liger. He wore the mask several more times only for the special occasions afterwards.

The fourth and current Tiger Mask, whose identity is not yet revealed publically, was in fact trained by Satoru Sayama as a competitor of "shooto". He debut on 95/07/15 against The Great Sasuke. After losing the match, he joined Michinoku, where he wrestled until 02/12/16 when he joined New Japan.

There have been other Tiger Masks in North America, including Ken Wayne and/or Danny Davis in Central States, Ricky Fuji in Calgary, and Eddie Steinbrock in C.W.A. (Austria/Germany).

[B]This is from a message board www.puroresu.com/forums . If you want a tape w/ Tiger Mask 4 drop me an email bannabop@hotmail.com.. Anyway The "2nd Tiger Mask" as he is usually refered to as, Mitsuharu Misawa went on to great fame using his own name.

03-05-2004, 12:01 AM	#2
CANADIAN Posts: 1,185	There were several Tiger Masks based on the famous wrestling cartoon "Tiger Mask" by Ikki Kajiwara. The very first one was Samson Kutsuwada, who wrestled as a heel in South Korea where the cartoon show was famous in '71. The "original" Tiger Mask was, of course, Satoru Sayama, who wrestled under the character between 81/04/23 and 83/08/04 for New Japan. He suddenly left New Japan in the summer 83 and later wrestled for the original UWF, where he wrestled as "The Tiger" and "Super Tiger". After 95, he has been wrestling as Shodai (original, the first) Tiger Mask although he briefly used "Tiger King" name in 97. Mitsuharu Misawa wrestled as the second Tiger Mask between 84/08/26 and 90/05/14 in All Japan. In his last match, he told his tag team partner Toshiaki Kawada to take his mask off and announced he would no longer wear the mask after the match. The third Tiger Mask, considered rather as a failure by many fans, was Kouji Kanemoto of New Japan. He wrestled as Tiger Mask as a special attraction for New Japan's 20th anniversary card on 92/03/01 and few more matches in the same year. However, he started using the character again on 93/05/03 until 94/01/04 when he took his mask off after losing to Jushin Thunder Liger. He wore the mask several more times only for the special occasions afterwards. The fourth and current Tiger Mask, whose identity is not yet revealed publically, was in fact trained by Satoru Sayama as a competitor of "shooto". He debut on 95/07/15 against The Great Sasuke. After losing the match, he joined Michinoku, where he wrestled until 02/12/16 when he joined New Japan. There have been other Tiger Masks in North America, including Ken Wayne and/or Danny Davis in Central States, Ricky Fuji in Calgary, and Eddie Steinbrock in C.W.A. (Austria/Germany). [B]This is from a message board www.puroresu.com/forums . If you want a tape w/ Tiger Mask 4 drop me an email bannabop@hotmail.com.. Anyway The "2nd Tiger Mask" as he is usually refered to as, Mitsuharu Misawa went on to great fame using his own name.