Who is the ultimate tiger? Me, or you?
Two young pro wrestlers, Naoto Azuma and Takuma Fujii, were trainees at a small pro wrestling organization called Zipang, lead by Daisuke Fujii, Takuma's father. Its big break came when the group got a deal for a tournament with the American branch of the GWM - Global Wrestling Monopoly, a major force in the world of pro wrestling. But their dreams and hopes soon turned into nightmares, as the GWM's wrestlers weren't there just to win - they were there to crush them into oblivion. Nowhere was that more apparent than during the final match, where Daisuke got beaten to the point of being crippled by Yellow Devil - GWM's Pacific Champion. With Zipang getting dissolved after the match, all Naoto and Takuma were left with was the desire for revenge!
After the devastating match, Naoto was approached by Kentaro Takaoka, who asked him if he truly wants to become strong enough to defeat the Yellow Devil. He told him about the Tiger's Den - the secret organization behind the GWM. Their modus operandi is to put young people through a Training from Hell to become powerful wrestlers that go on to dominate the wrestling rings all around the planet... on the condition that they give half of their earnings back to the organization. It once controlled the pro wrestling industry from the shadows, until Naoto Date, one of their strongest wrestlers, betrayed them in order to provide for poor children. In retaliation, the Tiger's Den sent hitmen after him, in and outside of the ring. Date took a new masked identity and, through countless battles, was able to bring the organization down! But thought destroyed, the Tiger's Den has returned. In order to stop them, Takaoka makes Naoto an offer - he will put him through training that puts the Den's regimen to shame. Once he completes it, he will gain not only the strength to oppose the Tiger's Den, but will also inherit the spirit of Naoto Date - the will of Tiger Mask!
But what Naoto doesn't know is what path his best friend Takuma took. He was approached by Mister X, one of the higher ups of the Tiger's Den, and the man responsible for his father condition, the Yellow Devil! They make him an offer to join the Tiger's Den, and Takuma agrees. But he doesn't plan to play along with the group's power plays. He aims to not only bring down Yellow Devil, but to also destroy the Tiger's Den from within! After successfully passing their training, he is given a new wrestling identity - Tiger the Dark.
Two young men, both went through hell in order to become tigers. But whose fangs and claws are the strongest? The tiger's roar fills the ring once again!
Tiger Mask W is a wrestling Anime series and a sequel to the original Tiger Mask from the 70's. It's produced by Toei Animation. It premiered October 1st, during the Fall 2016 season. It is availablenote for streaming on Crunchyroll here
. It will run for 39 episodes.
This show provides the examples of:
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Mr. Question displays this ability, which Fukuwara Mask credits to yoga mastery. Blackout, too, due to being a robot.
- Acrofatic: Tiger the Black has some stunning feats of agility for a big man pulling off dropkicks, running crossbody attacks, and moonsaults with ease.
- Action Girl: Every single diva. Haruna gets extra points because she trained herself without any help due to her mother's opposition to her becoming a wrestler.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: After being set on fire, Blackout attacks everyone in sight including its creator and the Tiger's Den's wealthy clients.
- Amazonian Beauty: Ms. X, Haruna, Queen Elizabeth.
- Art Shift: Mr. X is drawn in a way to specifically mimic the original anime's.
- Arch-Enemy: The Yellow Devil, to both tigers. The one Tiger Mask beat turns out to be Billy the Kidman instead, meaning the wrestler that crippled Daisuke is still out there somewhere...
- Later, it turns out the real Yellow Devil retired that persona to take up his true one: Tiger the Great the Third.
- As Himself: Togi Makabe and Kota Ibushi are the only real-life wrestlers who voice their animated counterparts.
- Back from the Dead:
- Subverted with Mr. X. Despite meeting his end at the end of the original anime, Mr. X appear here no worse for the wear. But turns out that he is a Legacy Character too.
- Ricardo pulls this in episode 18 which is pretty surprising seeing as how he was last seen falling off a cliff. He is killed by Red Death Mask in the very next episode.
- Badass Adorable: Haruna as Spring Tiger.
- Badass Cape: Naoto inherits this along with the Tiger Mask. Like the original, he drops it once he enters the ring.
- Badass Teacher: Keiji Tanaka/Fukuwara Mask, former Tiger's Den chief coach.
- Tiger's Den current chief coach, alias Miracle III, even if not on Tanaka's level.
- Bears Are Bad News: Naoto was often assaulted by them while he trained at Mt. Fuji, much to the consternation of the Takaokas. Not because he would himself in danger, but because they were so over bear stew.
- Benevolent Boss: Surprisingly enough, Miss X is this to her wrestlers...but not enough to not punish them severely for failure.
- Berserk Button: Yellow Devil/Tiger the Great the Third for Naoto and Takuma.
- For Big Tiger the Second, someone pointing out he's too small to call himself Big Tiger, as the original Big Tiger was his father.
- Big Eater: Naoto, Haruna, and especially Makabe, who is famous for his sweet tooth.
- But Now I Must Go: After the main conflict is over, both Naoto and Takumo go to their separate ways to another country.
- Butt-Monkey: Ryu Wakamatsu would probably be a jobber if it wasn't for this setting. As it is, he falls squarely into this trope. Kaioh Mikasa, as well; he's an even less significant character than Wakamatsu, but is made to look pitiful whenever he actually pops up
- Blood Upgrade: In his debut episode, Fukuwara Mask gets his nose broken in a match, soaking his mask in blood. He then starts to fight to win rather than entertain, and briefly gets the better of Tiger Mask.
- Captain Ersatz: Many of GWM's wresters are this to WWE wrestlers - for example, Blackout is one of either Roman Reigns or The Undertaker, and Queen Elizabeth and Payne are Charlotte and Becky Lynch, respectively.
- Charlie Brown from Outta Town: This is to be expected from a series full of masked wrestlers, but during the Wrestle Max Masked World Tournament, half the wrestlers are ones we've previously seen wrestling unmasked, including Hiroshi Tanahashi of all people.
- GWM even pulls this with Billy the Kidman, a previous background wrestler, taking the Yellow Devil mantle after the old one took his Tiger the Great the Third persona.
- Fukuwara Mask is revealed to be former GWM wrestler Keiji Tanaka.
- Clark Kent Outfit: To hide their muscles, Naoto usually wears clothes just a bit larger than his size and Haruna is almost constantly seen in a jumpsuit unless she's wrestling.
- Combat Pragmatist: In tag matches, the Miracles use unsportsmanlike and illegal tactics to demoralize and injure NJPW wrestlers, without even token regard for the rules. Miracle I is singled out as an especially rough customer.
- The Comically Serious: Naoto.
- Composite Character: Tiger Mask's style is a mix of Naoto Date's (agile power wrestler) and his various real life counterparts (a number of moves), especially Satoru Sayama.
- Miracle IV combines three gimmicks from the old series: he first appears in the series with the Miracle costume and name, his real identity is Universal Mask, and his penchant for attacks from above and the pipes over the ring recall Devil Spider's ring of ropes and attacks from above.
- Cool Old Guy: Yuji Nagata (as in real life), Daisuke Fujii, and Ken Takaoka are all cool older guys. Also Mr. Question.
- Cross Through: As part of the show's promotion, Kota Ibushi currently wrestles as the real-life Tiger Mask W for certain New Japan shows. Some of his more high profile matches involved a showing against Tiger The Dark (a masked ACH) at Wrestle Kingdom 11, a tag match with Tiger Mask IV against the real Kazuchika Okada and his manager Gedo, and a one-on-one match against Okada again on the champion's request. For obvious reasons, Ibushi is not acknowledged as the man behind the mask - when he was announced as a participant in the 2017 G1 Climax, NJPW treated it as his grand return to the promotion, not acknowledging his earlier run.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Tiger Mask's debut against Odin consists of him letting Odin get some hits in...then effortlessly stomping him. Odin technically wins by ring out, but no one thinks he actually won.
- Queen and Payne don't even pretend that Candy Pair have a chance for the sake of drama during their match.
- Spring Tiger vs. Miss X. Spring Tiger very easily defeats Miss X.
- Tiger the Great the Third tends to pull them every time he fights, and it's rare to find a wrestler who forces him to actually try.
- A Day in the Limelight: Episode 18 focuses on Haruna becoming Spring Tiger.
- Death Course: Tiger's Den trainees are required to run this to even think about being accepted.
- Decomposite Character: While being a Legacy Character to Tiger the Great, Tiger the Third is a different character from any of the wrestlers using the "Miracle" mask, especially Miracle III (the original went by Miracle 3 for a while).
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: The last opponent Takuma and Kevin face in episode 20 is "Blackout" an eight foot tall military Killer Robot that looks like Roman Reigns and/or Test.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Tiger Mask's in-universe entrance theme is the series' opening.
- Distaff Counterpart: Haruna as Spring Tiger/Springer.
- Double Standard: Whenever a male Monopoly wrestler loses a match, they get sent to Tiger's Execution or The Hole. It seems female Monopoly wrestlers are exempt from such punishment, though Mister X does inform Miss X she was spared from execution because she's an executive of Tiger Den and hired for her intellect rather than Dumb Muscle.
- The Dreaded: The Red Death Mask, just like his predecessor.
- The original Tiger Mask is this to the Tiger's Den.
- Tiger the Great the Third. Especially to Ken, as he recognizes the costume worn by the man who crippled him.
- Dumb Muscle: The Saboten stands out here: he's large and muscular even by wrestling standards, and repeatedly shows himself to be very dim during his attempts to ambush Tiger Mask before their match.
- Bigfoot: the largest wrestler in the series (and second largest in the entire franchise, only beaten by Gorilla Man from the original series because the latter is fatter), and stupid enough that when Miss X asks him if he has something to say on TV he demands a steak and has to be explained she meant to Tiger Mask.
- Dying Town: Fukuwara Mask's hometown, where the shops are shuttered in the middle of the day. He comes up with a Zany Scheme to bring in some business.
- Emotionless Girl: Lady. She's never phased by anything that happens around her, no matter how violent or strange.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The nasty immoral heels of GWM get letters from home while imprisoned. Odin's reveals that he's seen as a hero in his pastoral hometown.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Miss X is noticeably less evil than Mister X, and is furious when the gatekeeper for Hell in the Hole is revealed to be a combat robot-and rather happy when it's taken down.
- She's also coldly furious with Tiger the Great III for crippling Tiger the Dark in their match, essentially ending the career of one of the company's rising stars.
- Evil Counterpart: Technically, Tiger Mask is the good counterpart to Tiger the Dark, since the latter was introduced earlier. However Tiger the Dark is effectively the evil counterpart in some ways to the original Tiger Mask. Tiger the Dark and Tiger Mask in the show seem to have a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality going on as both are out for revenge, but Tiger the Dark is more willing to take the route of the heel to get it.
- Evil Is Petty: In Episode 17 The Bullet Club goes around town buying all the deserts just to ruin Togi Makabe's day.
- Expressive Mask: Downplayed. The jaws of the tiger masks are always roaring, but the eyeholes and eyebrows show expression, particularly rage or fear. Presumably, the former is because we're seeing Naoto's and Takuma's actual eyes.
- Face–Heel Turn: Wouldn't be a wrestling series without one, in this case Tiger Mask's. His morality remains relatively unchanged, however.
- Facepalm Of Doom: Red Death Mask finishes opponents with the Iron Claw, or failing that a leaping Iron Claw Slam called the Red Death Drop. His hands are so large and strong that he easily draws a great amount of blood with the clawhold, even on masked opponents.
- Fireball Eyeballs: Played with in episode 11. Tiger Mask is staring into a fire at the time, but it has the same connotation of determination and Hot-Blooded-ness.
- Finishing Move: As is expected of a wrestling anime, these are all over the place. It becomes a plot point when Tiger Mask is tasked with creating his own, the same way the original was forced to.
- Justified by the fact that many wrestling moves are studied and well-known, and so creating your own unique move allows you to climb the next rung on the Lensman Arms Race.
- Fictional Counterpart: Global Wrestling Monopoly may be one to the real-life WWE. May also be a counterpart Shout-Out to WCW, which was more willing to work with Japanese promotions than WWE was for much of the 80s and 90s.
- To a lesser extent, Miss X herself can be considered an Expy of Stephanie McMahon.
- Miss X calls GWM fans the 'GWM Universe,' exactly how WWE refers to its fans as 'WWE Universe.'
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: Tiger Mask often against this type, mostly because the Tiger's Den is specifically sending their best pros from abroad at him in order end the threat he presents as quickly as possible. Most of whom are, or at appear to be, American in origin. Tiger the Dark's real name and identity are unknown outside the higher-ups of Tiger's Den, so many Japanese fans probably assume him to be this as well.
- The Friend Nobody Likes/Token Evil Teammate: Tetsuya Naito and his stable Los Ingobernables de Japon have this dynamic with the rest of NJPW, as they are heels and Jerks With Hearts of Gold.
- Four Is Death: GWM's assault on NJPW is spearheaded by the Miracles, and there's four of them-who gets defeated for good from the highest number, meaning the first one to fall is Miracle IV.
- Tiger's Den strongest wrestlers are known as the Four Tigers: Tiger the Great the Third, King Tiger, Big Tiger II, and Tiger the Black. While they don't get to show up together on-screen, it's mentioned they single-handedly rebuilt Tiger's Den-and destroyed multiple promotions.
- The supposedly invincible Tiger the Great III and Big Tiger II are defeated and Tiger Mask is unmasked in the match with all the four remaining Tiger-themed wrestlers.
- The Giant: Bigfoot, a 500+ pound behemoth who is sicced on Tiger Mask in episode 15. Miss X claims he's the biggest masked man on the planet. Tiger Mask is taken aback at his mat wrestling skill and stamina, though, having expected Bigfoot to be clumsy and easily-tired due to his size.
- Heel–Face Turn: Wouldn't be a wrestling anime without a few:
- At some point during the first episode Time Skip, GWM wrestler Keiji Tanaka had one and became Fukuwara Mask.
- A literal example with Tiger Mask himself after his previous Face–Heel Turn.
- During Final Wars, Takuma makes a literal one. His morality remains the same, he's just explicit with his hostility to GWM.
- As of the end of episode 37, Odin has recovered from his past injuries and is now wrestling as a face.
- Heroic Second Wind: During the match with Red Death Mask in episode 4, Tiger Mask is beaten nearly to death, his mask soaked in his own blood. Just when his opponent was about to land the finishing blow, Haruna called out to him. The faces of the people that helped him get this far go through his mind, and that was enough for Tiger Mask to regain his strength and turn the tables on the Red Death Mask.
- Played with in episode 12. Tiger Mask was in a similar situation against Mr. Question, but it was seeing the Yellow Devil in the distance that gave him the strength to continue.
- Irony: Technically, both Naoto and Takuma were scouted by a Yellow Devil in order to train them to the point they can exact their revenge.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Many times:
- In episode 13 Tiger Mask is incensed when he discovers the Yellow Devil he has just defeated isn't the guy who destroyed Zipangu and demands an explanation from Miss X, but she smugly points out that masked gimmicks can change user without much fuss, also alluding to him using Tiger Mask's name and gimmick.
- In episode 15 Queen Elizabeth and Payne Fox dismiss the Candy Pair, their opponents for GWM's World Diva Tag Championship, as nutty girls and cosplayers. They're both more experienced than the Candy Pair (both of whom are 20), they're larger (Fox, the shortest of the two, is One Head Taller), and when they fight the American divas easily prove themselves way more formidable than their opponents.
- Repeated by Mother Devil with Haruna, who she dismisses as an amateur who's going to lose. Haruna is inexperienced and Mother Devil is not only far more experienced but also far taller and muscular (even more than most male wrestlers), and the only reason Haruna wins is that her opponent decided to let her get out of a hold to entertain the public for longer, allowing Haruna to have a comeback.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tetsuya Naito in episode 22. He and Evil volunteer to the drive the ring to Fukawara Mask's indy show and agree to wrestle in the main event on short notice despite being rude to everyone and cheating throughout the match. He even acts the part of a Graceful Loser and lets Fukawara Mask enjoy his victory.
- The Juggernaut: Tiger the Great the Third is this: no matter what you hit him with, he will come for more, and it's not until episode 36 (third-to-last episode) that someone, somehow, stops him just long enough for his tag team partner to be defeated.
- Kick Chick: Haruna fighting style, eventually: the power of her legs was first shown in episode 18 when she disables the legs of the much larger Miss X with grappling moves; in episode 22 her dropkick sends Mint across the ring; finally in the final episode, after Naoto pointed her kicking strength out, she does the full transition and relies almost completely on her kicks against Mother Devil.
- Legacy Character: Practically every masked wrestler. Naoto, as the new Tiger Mask, must face against the wrestlers who inherited the masked identities of his predecessor's foes.
- Decomposite Character: Tiger Mask and Tiger the Dark are essentially this to the original Tiger Mask. Tiger the Dark is basically Tiger Mask during his time as a full Heel for the Tiger's Den while Tiger Mask is him post Heel–Face Turn.
- Let X Be the Unknown: Ms. X and, of course, Mr. X.
- Mama's Boy: The Saboten dotes on his mother (who is also his promoter) and attempts to follow her orders to the best of his limited ability.
- Master of Your Domain: Mr Question, via yoga. A downplayed example with Tiger the Black, who can relocate his shoulder enough to avoid a jointlock.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Discussed and subverted in the case of Gorilla Jeet Singh — After he menaced them in the ring, Nama Ham and Yaki Udon expected to find him in his dressing room wearing a nice suit and reading peacefully. They walk in and run right back out, terrified.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Played with. Daisuke is only crippled, rather than killed, and it occurred at the start of the series rather than mid-series, forming the major motivation for both tigers.
- The Mole: Takuma's purpose in the Tiger's Den as Tiger The Dark: his sole purpose is to become strong enough to be able to defeat Yellow Devil, himself a member of the Tiger's Den.
- Turns out it was Invoked by the current Yellow Devil, as he flat out told him to join Tiger's Den simply so that Takuma would be able to fight him and had planned for his eventual attempt to betray them to crush him as Tiger the Great the Third an make his superiority clear.
- Ms. Vice Girl: Haruna is noticeably Greedy, to the point of setting Tiger Mask up for matches without consulting him first, almost assaulting Miss X when she's told that GWM doesn't allow merchandise sales at their Max Dome other than their own, and having a minor Heroic BSoD when Tiger Mask gave to charity the 100,000 dollars won in GWM's World Masked Tournament. Still, she's a nice person, and has even been shown overcoming her greed.
- Mythology Gag: A couple in episode 37:
- In the original manga, Miracle 3 (one of the two characters that in the anime were fused into Tiger the Great) defeats Tiger Mask with a piledriver. Here the new Tiger Mask scores one on Tiger the Great the Third, and while it doesn't defeat him immediately it's what allows Tiger Mask to gain the upper hand.
- As soon as Tiger Mask disappears from the Japanese wrestling scene, Kota Ibushi, who
plays his role in the real life NJPW, returns to the ring after a long absence. His role as the real 'Tiger Mask W' is alluded to obliquely; Ibushi says that he's seen Okada more recently than Okada realizes.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Regular among heel wrestlers: It's what starts the plot!
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Fukuwara Mask stands in for Japanese indie comedy wrestler Kikutaro (more specifically, Kikutaro's previous identity, Ebessan). Gorilla Jeet Singh is a knockoff version of the famed-in-Japan heel Tiger Jeet Singh. Queen Elizabeth and Payne Fox are clearly Charlotte and Becky Lynch, respectively. Spring Tiger is a counterpart for Tiger Dream (Candy Okutsu's short-lived tiger-themed gimmick). Tiger the Black resembles a masked version of indy wrestler Keith Lee.
- Subverted with Billy the Kidman — his name is a clear reference to Billy Kidman, but they have nothing else in common besides long hair.
- Non-Indicative Name: The full name of Tiger's Den wrestler The Second is Big Tiger the Second, but he's of average height (hence why he didn't use his full name for most of his career).
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Fukuwara Mask exudes a clownish look and mannerism that hides both in-ring intelligence and legitimate strength. Evidently he's hiding his ability mostly to avoid undue attention, rather than to take opponents by surprise.
- Oh, Crap!: This is all written on Ms. X's face when the new Tiger Mask makes his debut.
- Old Superhero:
- Well, Old masked wrestler anyway but Mr. Question unmasks to reveal a wrinkled face and white hair. Despite this, he claims he is not the original Mr. Question.
- Big Tiger II is the son of the original Big Tiger-who died in 1971. Big Tiger II is The Juggernaut.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted: there's seven wrestlers with a Tiger mask and "Tiger" in their namenote , and often three or four of them appear together.
- Lampshaded in episode 33: Haruna is having trouble keeping track of all these tigers.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: When Naoto is attacked by a bear, he promptly piledrives it to break its neck while revealing he's 'sick of bear'. Apparently he means this literally: this is such a regular occurrence that the Takaokas are sick of bear soup.
- Original Generation: The real New Japan Pro Wrestling roster is well-represented, but there's still a handful of Japanese wrestlers created for the show, such as Fukuwara Mask, Ryu Wakamatsu, and Kaioh Mikasa.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Tiger Mask is particularly angry and bitter throughout episode 13, as opposed to his calm showmanship in most of his fights, obviously due to the reappearance of Yellow Devil. It's to the point where it throws off his fighting style, and he has to be reminded to Be Yourself. Repeated after his defeat in episode 24, and when Tiger the Great is revealed as Yellow Devil.
- Pint Sized Power House: Two:
- Haruna as Spring Tiger is quite small... And able to hold her own against far larger opponents, including Miss X and even Mother Devil, the strongest female wrestler in Japan.
- Big Tiger II is the second shortest of the Tiger-themed wrestlers (only Haruna is shorter). He's The Juggernaut.
- Pragmatic Villain: Miss X is a villain, but is willing to pay a lot for Tiger Mask's participation in GWM's fights... Because he's a cash cow. Also, part of her interest with her wrestlers' well-being comes from the same interested source.
- Pro Wrestling Is Real: As in the original series, there is no faking or kayfabe involved in the matches, and almost everyone has the same personality in and out of the ring. Lampshaded when an idol singer duo assumes the gibberish-speaking Foreign Wrestling Heel they met is actually a normal person offstage. Nope, he's a gibberish-speaking loonie in real life too.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Miss X and Lady want successful careers as wresting executives. They work for Monopoly because its the largest and wealthiest wrestling organization in the world, not because have revenge or evil intentions.
- Real-Person Cameo: Similar to its predecessor, several real-life New Japan Pro-Wrestling stars are featured, including Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, and Yuji Nagata among others.
- Not Quite Starring: Of the real NJPW wrestlers depicted on the show, only two wrestlers voice themselves on the show: Togi Makabe and Kota Ibushi.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: When Bosman loses to Tiger the Dark twice in a row, the former champion is sent down to the "local markets". As a former champion, Bosman is allowed to return to the major leagues for the War Games event. And promptly targets Tiger the Dark again.
- Reflective Eyes: combined with Fireball Eyeballs, when Tiger mask has the inspiration for his signature move.
- Running Gag: Two so far:
- Haruna being hit by the sandbag when she self-trains with it.
- Lady appearing out of nowhere on perfectly innocent "private business".
- Run the Gauntlet: Tiger the Dark is forced to do this when several GWM wrestlers attempt to teach him a lesson as a rookie during a Battle Royale match, where it's implied he's the only one ever targeted.
- Secret Identity: Naoto's identity as Tiger Mask is known only to Kentaro Takaoka and his niece, Haruna. Similiarly, Takuma's identity as Tiger the Dark is only know to the Tiger's Den's higher ups and fellow wrestlers until he's unmasked by Tiger the Great the Third. Haruna's identity as Spring Tiger is known to the GWM, but not to the NJPW wrestlers, Naoto, or her uncle. Fukuwara Mask's true identity is known to at least some of the people in his home village and Tiger the Third.
- Sketchy Successor: Miracle III is effectively Lionman's successor due both his Simple, yet Awesome fighting style and being Tiger's Den chief coach, but where Lionman was an opponent the original Tiger Mask could not defeat without Great Zebra's help Miracle III goes down embarrassingly easy once the other Miracles are kept from intervening.
- Signature Move: The Suplex for all the Tiger-themed wrestlers.
- Superior Successor: This applies to most of the Legacy characters:
- In particular, Black Python takes four full suplexes to defeat, while the new Mr. Question is near-immune to submission holds, as opposed to the original who was defeated by a Boston Crab.
- Zigzagged with the Yellow Devil. The original is now too old to fight, while the first one fought is actually Billy the Kidman, who nearly defeated Tiger Mask, but got Worfed with his second appearance. The mantle of devil then falls to the low levels of Kaioh Mikasa, who is promptly and easily beaten by Tiger the Dark. As the for one that crippled Daisuke? He ascended to the lofty level of being Tiger The Great's successor.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: It wouldn't be Tiger Mask without it:
- Even if Pro Wrestling Is Real, people can still get crippled into wrestling matches.
- The Charlie Brown from Outta Town trope is immensely difficult to pull correctly, and some wrestlers get recognized from small things.
- As smart as she is, Haruna is still inexperienced as a manager, and Nagata and Miss X use this to outmanouver her in various occasions.
- When it concerns Yellow Devil/Tiger the Great, Naoto and Takuma are filled with Unstoppable Rage... Leading to them doing some rather stupid mistakes, both during fights and on more long-term occasions.
- Takuma goes into the fight with Tiger the Great with bruised ribs from his fight against Tiger Mask mere minutes earlier, and it may have played a part in his defeat.
- In their first fight, the Candy Pair are completely outmatched by Payne Fox and Queen Elizabeth, who are taller, stronger and more experienced.
- In the same way, Milk of the Candy Pair defeats Haruna in their fight because Haruna is the smaller and less experienced one here. The same happens when she fights Mother Devil, the strongest female wrestler in Japan, and only wins because Mother Devil dismisses her abilities too much, allowing Haruna to to catch her by surprise with a hip strike in the head and stun her.
- As seen in numerous Mixed Martial Arts fights, grapplers tend to hold the advantage against strikers. King Tiger gets reminded of this painfully.
- Makabe inflicting a Game-Breaking Injury or worse on Tiger the Black with a simple spider suplex move that his opponent was too stunned to roll with reminds the viewers that not only people can be crippled in wrestling matches, but that they can be broken by even common moves that would normally be not much of a problem. There's a reason WWE is so insistent with the Don't Try This at Home PSA...
- As strong as he is, Big Tiger II is the oldest of Tiger's Den wrestlers, and has poor stamina.
- In their final battle, Tiger the Great the Third has initially the upper hand on Tiger Mask as he's just as fast but taller, more experienced, and much stronger. He then ends on the receiving hand of this trope when Tiger Mask scores a piledriver (a very dangerous move, that in Real Life is banned in many promotions and under MMA Unified Rules and WWE allows to use only to the large and experienced The Undertaker and Kane), and while The Third is tough enough to continue fighting he's noticeably slowed down.
- When Miss X starts a new promotion, all the expenses to set it up, organize a first night, rent a cheap gym and license GWM's logo left them broke, and they have to turn that first night into a success to not go bankrupt immediately.
- The final episode reveals that Miss X' leg still hasn't recovered from the terrifying beating Haruna inflicted her months earlier.
- Take That!: GMW bears suspicious similarities to a certain, VERY massive IRL wrestling company hellbent on having a global presence at any cost and attempts to bully other companies like Zipangu and then NJPW into either folding or joining them. Some of their wrestlers are even dead-ringers for existing ones. And quite a few of the show's characters are willing to take potshots at GMW about how unjust and predatory their actions are. Probably the biggest amount of shade is reserved for the Captain Ersatz of Roman Reigns (though some think he looks more like The Undertaker) who is an android called Blackout. Yes, either Reigns or the Undertaker is a robot.
- Too Dumb to Live: During Hell in the Hole, Ricardo assists Red Death Mask in a kill and lets him grab the weapon to entice him in an alliance. Red Death Mask promptly kills him.
- Ricardo barely Subverted it in the first episode, when he tried to throw Takuma down a cliff fully knowing how dangerous he was and Takuma, who hadn't cared for him until that moment, threw Ricardo down, but he survived.
- Took a Level in Badass: Haruna goes from being Tiger Mask's supporter to being a wrestler herself by the name Spring Tiger. She even curbstomps Miss X!
- Training from Hell: Both Naoto and Takuma subjected themselves to this kind of work out.
- The Unmasking: Had to happen in a series so full of masked wrestlers. Yellow Devil, Tiger the Dark and Tiger Mask are all unmasked on the field of honor, while we see Fukuwara Mask unmask in private.
- Unstoppable Rage: Just seeing Yellow Devil is enough to allow Tiger Mask to break out of Mr.Question's grip.
- Subverted later on: Tiger Mask's rage actually throws him off his game, and it's only when he's told to Be Yourself that he can actually fight effectively. Rage is a good motivator, but you still need actual technique to win against a stronger opponent.
- Subverted again with Tiger The Dark: His rage allowed him to overtake Tiger the Great and he gave them a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. But this cost him his chance to pin The Great, and Tiger swiftly responded with a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of his own.
- Villains Out Shopping: During the "Don't Be a Softy!" episode, Makabe and our heroes run into Lady, Miss X's personal assistant, and Makabe briefly suspects GWM of being behind the sold-out sweets. Nope, she's just buying a nice dessert for her stressed-out boss.
- Ealier, Takuma takes time before a promotion to visit Daisuke in the hospital.
- In "Showdown With the Arashi Juken Style", Lady is in Kyoto on "personal business", apparently on vacation.
- Wham Episode:
- Episode 13: Tiger Mask finally defeats Yellow Devil and unmasks him...only to reveal that he's Billy the Kidman, and not the Yellow Devil who had crippled his mentor three years ago.
- Episode 24: The War Games tournament. Tiger the Dark counters Tiger Mask's finishing move and, with help from Kevin, gives Tiger Mask his first onscreen defeat since the series begins.
- Episode 25: Tiger Mask and Tiger the Dark both learn that the GWM champion The Third is actually the real Yellow Devil. Tiger the Dark fights the Third in the championship match and not only loses, but has both his legs (and other bones) broken by the Third's finishing move, and is subsequently unmasked on live television. Miss X confronts the Third over crippling Tiger the Dark, but backs down when the Third reveals that he's the grandson of Tiger the Great and the true leader of Tiger's Den.
- Episode 27: to have his fight against Tiger the Third, Tiger Mask joins GMW's stable The Miracles in their war against NJPW.
- Episode 29: the Miracles betray Tiger Mask during their final showdown against NJPW. Then, as the fight is about to end with a NJPW victory, Tiger the Great III and Miss X come in, publicily reveal the Miracles work for them, and declare war on NJPW.
- Episode 33: Big Tiger the Second and Tiger the Black come to Japan; also, Lady is in fact Mr. X's niece and has been working for him, not Miss X, all along.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Tiger Mask gets called out when he joins The Miracles to have a shot at Tiger the Third.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Episode 3 details how both Naoto and Takuma started their paths on to becoming Tiger Mask and Tiger the Dark, respectively.
- Wide Eyesand Shrunken Irises: A common expression on both tigers, particularly when they're about to be hit by a move they can't no-sell.
- World's Strongest Man: Bigfoot is said to be the largest and strongest masked wrestler in the world.
- The Worf Effect: He's of course used to establish the strength of Tiger the Great the Third when he overcomes him with apparent ease.
- You Have Failed Me: The Tiger's Den hasn't changed much from the original series, and still hangs this over the head of those who fail to win certain matches.
- Failed the Tiger's Den? Enjoy being the training dummy to test their new moves on, without a break!
- Every GWM wrestler who lost to Tiger Mask (excepting Bigfoot, but including Odin) is entered into Hell in the Hole.
