Awesome / Tiger Mask

• How about the opening theme, as a start? The beautiful instrumentals by Shinsuke Kikuchi aside, the sheer passion that Hideo Morimoto brings adds to a wonderful fight song that gets the viewer ready for the upcoming in-ring action that's bound to take place. And let's not forget the fluid animation that accompanies it as well.
• The real-world wrestlers such as Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki: they didn't go through the Training from Hell Tiger Mask had, which in theory should make them inferior to him, yet the latter easily recognizes them as equal, if not greater, than he is.
• Tiger Mask's initial Heel gimmick is that of a violent fighter that only loves money and horribly beats up his opponents so that more fans will come to his matches hoping to see him defeated, meaning his purse gets bigger. The awesome part is that the public knows that perfectly, with Tiger Mask even explaining it to the fans after one of his fights - and yet they continue coming to his fights, because knowing that makes them hate him even more and so they want to see him crushed.
  • Immediately after the speech, Jimmy, the child of one of his victims, attacks Tiger Mask but, being a child, can't hurt him and is sent away, much to everyone's relief as they thought he'd hurt the kid. Then an adult rushes Tiger Mask with a knife, and Tiger Mask takes him out with a single slap before announcing that while he's not willing to beat up a child any adult that tries to attack him like Jimmy will end to the hospital.
• Mr. Question is a walking CMOA, and causes others to have them with his mere presence. Before his existence is revealed the mere notice of him taking part to the Pan-Asian Wrestling Tournament makes Baba fear for Tiger Mask's life. Then Baba tells of the one time he saw him, when he sneaked in a Battle Royal for a shot to the heavyweight championship and curbstomped all the wrestlers, and admits he's still utterly terrified of the guy in white pajama and turbant. And that was just the beginning.
  • He decided to test Tiger Mask in his hotel, and fought Kintaro Oki (one of the strongest wrestlers of the time) wearing his mask as a joke: Oki managed to hit him with his super-powerful headbutt, but then got defeated when Mr. Question performed a Nonchalant Dodge (on one of the strongest wrestlers in the world!!!) and let him hit a mirror and the wall. I repeat, Mr. Question defeated one of the strongest wrestlers in the world with a Nonchalant Dodge.
  • During the tournament, Tiger Mask's first opponent is eventually revealed to be a yeti. After the yeti is defeated, Mr. Question arrives, brings him to safety as some scientists wanted to basically kidnap him, and reveals he's his teacher. This guy taught a yeti how to wrestle. And did a good job too, as Tiger Mask at one point was completely overwhelmed by his combination of superhuman strength and great skil while he had already annihilated the much stronger, but far less skilled, Gorilla Man.
    • The moment where the yeti shows just how skilled he is is when Tiger Mask, realizing he's completely outclassed in terms of strength, resorts to dropkicks to try and weaken his opponent before trying anything slower: the first time the yeti is pushed back, the second time he moves his weight and feet and shrugs off the kick, and the third time he grabs Tiger Mask out of the air and slams him on the mat a few times. Tiger Mask was forced to run the clock and avoid being grabbed before he recovered enough to try the Super Tiger Drop, and even then it was a close thing.
  • Oki versus Mr. Question in the tournament: Question dominated Oki and defeated him with a Cobra Twist, a move he had just learned from seeing Oki using it on another wrestler.
  • Mr. Question had announced he had understood how to defeat the Super Tiger Drop after seeing it once. When he fought Tiger Mask, the latter realized he was losing and tried the Super Tiger Drop... Only for Question to defeat it by grabbing the ring ropes. He defeated a move that had killed a bear and made it look easy (to be fair, once you think of it it is easy. But first you have to think about it, something that some of the finest technical fighters of the series had failed to).
  • Oki's moment came in the fight between Tiger Mask and Mr. Question. When it looked like Tiger Mask was completely defeated, Oki told him his secret strategy to win: faking an headbutt, then when he covered in fear of being headbutted he'd have to grabb his legs and throw him on the ring's poles before using the unescapable submission move Boston Crab. Tiger Mask didn't expect Mr. Question to fall for it but tried it anyway out of respect... And worked like a charm. Oki then smugly told Tiger Mask that he did hit Mr. Question with his headbutt once when he was wearing his mask, and never used it in the tournament to let him believe that Tiger Mask's headbutts were obscenely powerful and make this entire strategy possible.
  • After being defeated, Mr. Question unmasks himself and gets three Moments of Awesome in one instant, and makes all of his previous Awesomeness even more Awesome: taking off the mask he not only reveals that he's over seventy years old (he wore the mask and his long-sleeved outfit specifically to hide his age), but that his true identity is The Great Zuma, in-universe the greatest wrestler of all times that could defeat the reigning world champion in ten seconds in his thirties and had remained undefeated until that day - and sends the referee to his knees at the realization he's on the same ring as his childhood hero. Tiger Mask then realized that yes, he had just defeated an undefeatable wrestler, but if that undefeatable wrestler had been any younger he would have been defeated.
    • Also: Oki had successfully outsmarted the greatest wrestler of all times, who had decades of experience in the ring and as a teacher in his bag. Nobody else, either before or after him, was ever able to brag about something like this.
  • Final awesomeness: he had returned in the ring to teach a lesson to the Heel wrestlers that didn't know how to actually fight, and, before about one hundred thousands people, brags that they had fallen like children when faced with the strikes of a seventy-years old man.
• Tiger Mask versus Dick the Bruiser at the World Heel Tournament. Bruiser tried some of the worst fouls in the story (including setting the opponent on fire), and Tiger Mask not only neutralized them but actually won by perfecting them on the spot and using them on Bruiser.
• The final fight of the series was Tiger Mask versus then reigning NWA World Champion Dory Funk Jr.. The best fight in the series by a long shot.
• Tiger Mask's on ring Heel–Face Turn. Asked by Ruriko to give a good example to Kenta, he decided to fight fairly in spite of facing Black Python, Tiger's Cave first assassin. Then, when insulted by the public and mocked by Python for it, shut everyone up by performing perfectly the German suplex, a very powerful and very difficult move that won him the match and literally left everyone speechless.
• The very first of the story is when Naoto pays the debts of the orphanage with the money he was supposed to give to Tiger's Cave. He knows he'll die for it, and is terrified of what will happen to him, but he does it anyway. And took the chance of insulting and mocking a Yakuza boss, who didn't react because he was scared of him (and likened the experience to facing a dangerous and desperate tiger).
• At the Maskmen World League Lionman has a moment of pure awesomeness when Mr. X makes him show off his strength, and he crushes a completely filled case of cokes and wins a tug of war with twenty people lured by the promise of tickets near the ring if they won. Then the moment of awesome is hijacked by Giant Baba, who, masked as Great Zebra, yanked the chain of the tug of war and matched Lionman's strength with one arm.
  • Generally, Great Zebra's performance at the Maskmen World League: where even Tiger Mask had to use fouls to keep up with Tiger's Cave wrestlers, he knocked down Egyptian Mummy with a single chop and utterly owned Lionman by choking him with his legs as Lionman tried to use a backbreaker on him. Made even more awesome because of Lionman's reaction to Great Zebra arriving to kick his ass was a terrified Big "NO!", while he considered fighting Tiger Mask (who was the best pupil in Tiger's Cave history, hence why Lionman himself had given him the mask of the tiger) as easy, if a little tricky.
  • Earlier in the tournament, Mr. Shadow and Skull Star had used a Mr.X-caused black out to attack Tiger Mask together, but their tactic had been exposed by Kenta, who Mr. Shadow punched for the trouble, hitting our hero's greatest Berserk Button. What followed was the single most terrifying attack ever used by Tiger mask, showing exactly why he was considered Tiger's Cave greatest pupil.
• Tiger Mask versus Mil Mascaras. It's not seen, but sport journals say that it was one for both: in the first round, Mil Mascaras dished out a Curb-Stomp Battle through sheer speed, technique and strength (it's noted he unleashed a very long series of dropkicks), showing us why his Real Life counterpart is hailed as one of greatest wrestlers in history; in the second round, Tiger Mask successfully executed the still unnamed Fujiyama Tiger Breaker, winning the round and weakening Mil Mascaras to such a point that only the weakness from recently surviving Tiger's Cave illegal fighting ring prevented Tiger Mask from slapping him down and winning.
  • Speaking of Mil Mascaras, there's Tiger Mask match against his younger and bigger brother El Sicodelico in the World Heel Championship. El Sicodelico is just as capable as Mil Mascaras... And yet, this time, Tiger Mask is holding his own, and it's not until Tiger Mask fails the Tiger V due a wound in his previous match that Sicodelico gets the upper hand. Then Sicodelico starts committing fouls... At which point Tiger Mask feels free to show what Tiger's Cave had taught him. Curb-Stomp Battle barely describes how easily Tiger Mask won.
• Tiger Mask's original legal Finishing Moves, with their immense strength and the skill it takes to pull them off:
  • The Super Tiger Drop consists in Tiger Mask getting his head between the legs of the opponent (preferably when they're rushing), lift him on his shoulders, walk backwards to the ring ropes and on them, and then jump and slam the victim on the ring. As said above, when used out of the ring this move killed a bear... And on the ring it knocked out a yeti.
  • The Fujiyama Tiger Breaker, so named because one of the victims likened it to being thrown from the top of Mount Fuji. First he executes a Tomoe Nage, then, before the opponent can fly away, he starts kicking his opponent on the back multiple times, before kicking him much higher, rise up, letting the victim land on his head, and complete the victory with a modified Argentine Backbreaker.
    • The birth of the move: during his second fight in Tiger's Cave underground fighting ring, Tiger Mask was losing due having had to fight both his opponent and his trained snake, so he used a Tomoe Nage to gain some breathing room and kicked up to make it more effective... And got his opponent in the nuts. And continued for a while before kicking the now emasculated opponent on the ring post, winning the match. But knowing he'd now have to face the much stronger and more skilled Mr. Kamikaze, he wondered how to face said monster... And then perfected said improvised sequence.
    • The Super Tiger Drop had a difficult life, with Star Apollon almost defeating it through his sheer skills at dodging even with his legs closed and then Mr. Question revealing to the world the perfect counter... So this time Tiger Mask thought about multiple variations to deal with whatever counter the opponent could come up with: Bobo Brazil decided to land head first and smash his head, so Tiger Mask dodged and turned it in the mother of all piledrivers; Black V was immune to submission holds and could shrug off the most dangerous part, so Tiger Mask had the ringside mattresses removed, executed the move, and then jumped out head first, using Black V as a cushion and smashing him between his head and concrete; The Convict challenged Tiger Mask to a chain death match where their hands would be cuffed, so Tiger Mask just jumped with The Convict and used the ring post for the backbreaker.
    • Eventually Miracle 3 does the miracle and thinks up of a counter that can work: landing arms first, and then using pommel horse routines to tire Tiger Mask's legs first and be able to land without being caught in the backbreaker (as otherwise there's a chance of the countering wrestler's arms tiring out first and getting caught in the backbreaker). Even this is awesome for Tiger Mask, as it requires enormous strength and resilience to land without hurting or breaking one's arms, said arms being longer than Tiger Mask's (as otherwise he can just go for the backbreaker), and the agility and skills to perform those routines. In fact, only Miracle 3 could pull it off.
  • For the rematch with Miracle 3, Tiger Mask comes up with the Tiger V: when rushed by an opponent, Tiger Mask does a Tomoe Nage to throw him out of the ring and then, using his agility and skills with the bridge position, jumps to follow the victim and makes sure he lands head first while forcing open his legs to form a V (hence the name) and holding on the ring ropes to not drop out alongside his victim. This move was never countered, not even against the extremely skilled El Sicodelico, and the only time it failed was because Tiger Mask had a neck injury and couldn't hold the bridge.
    • The training for the move: Tiger Mask had Teppei try and run him over with a car while he stood in front of a small drop in the ground, and would only dodge by the bridge position. And then, when he grasped the timing, he grabbed the car's back wheels, leaving Teppei flabbergasted and wondering what did Tiger Mask cook up this time. And when he sees it against Miracle 3, he's in complete awe.
• The fight between Tiger Mask and Tiger's Cave own Hero Killer, Red Death Mask. One of the highlights is Tiger Mask breaking Red Death Mask's leg and the latter jumping down of the ring, throwing the journalists on Tiger Mask and then break the bench to use it as makeshift blades. And in spite of fighting one such monster, Tiger Mask won.
• Tiger Mask versus Bobo Brazil. We see just how good Bobo Brazil was, giving Tiger Mask and Baba an harsh beating in the tag match... And then Tiger Mask reverses the course of the match with a Fujiyama Tiger Breaker variation made specifically to counter Bobo Brazil's own counter (namely, landing on his stone-hard head. Had it gone as Brazil expected, Tiger Mask would have died. Tiger Mask transformed it in a piledriver), but managed to hurt his invulnerable head so much he could barely walk.
  • Then Tiger Mask versus Brazil's own (fictional) pupil Black V. Black V bragged he was stronger than his master, and proved it (to be fair, Brazil selected and trained him to be this), even without the whole "invulnerable to submission moves" thing that made him next to invincible. And Tiger Mask not only ridiculed his Missile Headbutt, but then produced a variation of the Fujiyama Tiger Breaker (that, being a submission move, wasn't supposed to be effective on him) that made poor Black V faint. This match was in fact so good that the NWA decided to recognize Tiger Mask's Maskmen World Championship.
• The challenges for the NWA Maskmen World Championship:
  • vs. The Convict in a chain deathmatch, in which not only the far larger Convict had the advantage, but the Fujiyama Tiger Breaker was neutralized by the chain. Tiger Mask still executed the Fujiyama Tiger Breaker and won, using one of the ring posts in place of his own head.
  • vs. Piranha (first of the series of seven challengers) in a pool deathmatch (that is, the ring is fixed in the middle of a pool). With Piranha being a master swimmer and extremely good at holding his breath, having iron teeth and a piranha costume with a pointy crest, and having filled the pool with actual piranha, that he was protected from thanks to using a piranha-repelling lotion. Tiger Mask not only beats him, but removes the lotion and throws him to the piranha.
  • vs. Devil Spider (second of the series of seven challengers and former tightrope walker), in Spider's own invention of the Spider Nest Death Match. Where the ring is actually a series of tightropes at ten meters from the ground... And fellow challenger Golgotha Cross ready to cut the ropes to make Tiger fall when he gained the upper hand. And Tiger Mask still moved after that fall, so Devil Spider used a knee drop... That Tiger Mask dodged, shattering Devil Spider's knee and career .
  • vs. Golgotha Cross (third of the series of seven challengers), in a death match where the ring ropes are replaced with barbed wire and the ring has a large cross full of spikes in the middle and Golgotha Cross had bags of fake blood under his costume to shock his opponent if he gained the upper hand. And Tiger Mask still won even after holding back for a while due the fake blood (once he realized, Golgotha Cross found himself at the wrong end of one of Tiger Mask's infamous No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and a Fujiyama Tiger Breaker).
  • vs. Universal Mask (fourth of the series of seven challengers) in a surprisingly tame wire death match. In which Universal Mask (former olimpionic-level gymnast) fights exclusively with flying techniques in which he's more proficient than anyone (including Mil Mascaras), nearly overwhelming him.
  • vs. Jekyll & Hyde (fifth of the series of seven challengers)... In a normal ring. The awesome goes to Jekyll & Hyde, who, once they fall down the ring and starts using fouls, matches a Tiger's Cave pupil foul for foul.
  • vs. Viking Kid (sixth of the series of seven challengers). On a ring floating in the ocean outside of the territorial waters. Nothing more needs to be said.
  • vs. Miracle 3 (seventh and last of the series of seven challengers). In a completely normal and regular three rounds-match in spite of being a fight with a Tiger's Cave pupil. It's quite the formidable fight from the start... Then Miracle 3 finally does what nobody else could have done: he counters the Fujiyama Tiger Breaker, in a way nobody else could have done, first by landing on his hands (and with his arms being longer than Tiger Mask he was safe from an attempt to grab him and pull him down anyway) and then, to tire his opponent's legs and have a safe landing while he couldn't grab him, doing pommel routines. And that was after an amazing Badass Boast (and he actually delivers): "Congratulation, Tiger Mask! Worth of the former champion".
    • The fact Miracle 3 can do pommel routines with his size.
  • The rematch between Miracle 3 (now the champion) and Tiger Mask... Whose training included Tiger's Cave-style Training from Hell and, to perfect the Tiger V, having Teppei try and run him over with a car. In the first round Tiger Mask loses but barely, and matches Miracle 3 move for move in an incredible technical fight. In the second round Miracle 3 starts using his immense strength... And gets annihilated by the Tiger V, ending out of the ring out cold with his head on the floor and Tiger Mask using his legs to form the letter "V". Then, somehow, Miracle 3 came back for the third round, and it was later discovered he was actually three guys, two of which Tiger Mask ultimately knocked out. Needless to say, this is Tiger Mask's greatest victory.
• Late in the manga, a group of bouncers from Las Vegas' casinos are trying to intimidate Big Condor into not holding his tournament every day as gamblers don't come to the casinos anymore, and refuse to listen when he explains he has thought it through and both him and their bosses would make more money this way. What does Big Condor do? He has the bouncers deal with Freddie Blassie, Sky Hi Lee, and Dick the Bruiser. Who is pissed because, being a former bouncer, their stupidity is making him look bad. Cue the wrestlers intimidating the bouncers with some of their tricks:
  • The bouncers tried to call for armed reinforcements as soon as they saw the wrestlers. Blassie ate the phone.
  • Being a nice and gentle guy, Dick decided to teach his colleagues a trick on how to stop fights without hitting anyone: ripping a phone book.
  • Sky Hi Lee didn't have any such signature trick, so he had to improvise... And had Blassie take the bouncers' knives and throw them at his own chest. Without drawing blood. After this, the already terrified bouncers were too scared to move... Or even to shit themselves, in spite of the wrestlers trying to help them doing just that as you do with little children.
• From the anime's final battle, between Tiger Mask and Tiger the Great:
  • As it was pointed out many times previously, Tiger the Great possesses immense strength, awesome technique, and formidable skills in fouls, making him effectively invincible (and countering the Fujiyama Tiger Breaker with ease), and in this fight he's finally cutting loose. And yet, Tiger Mask fights back blow for blow until his mask gets ripped off.
  • After Laughing Mad, Naoto snaps... And it's him who cuts loose, with all the skills he learned as a legitimate wrestler and Tiger's Cave fouls. Tiger the Great is overwhelmed in short order.
  • One for Tiger the Great: in spite of being at the receiving end of the worst No-Holds-Barred Beatdown in the series (both manga and anime), he not only manages to fight back for a while until he gets his knee shattered and he's covered by Tiger Mask's cape, proving that Naoto is winning only because he's far more resilient while Tiger the Great doesn't have the pain resistance to take that kind of beating for long, he survives it all until the end, only dying when Tiger Mask drops the ring's lights on him-and he still tries to rise up and fight one last time.