Naoto is first seen hanging from his feet. A bear comes by, Naoto complains he's sick of bears... And then kills it with one hit. And then, alongside Ken and Haruna, eats it.
The reason he's sick of bears: he has done the same multiple times. He was hoping for a deer or something else, this time...
Takuma takes Tiger's Den's classic Training from Hell, the exercise we're shown being climbing up a snowy cliff while wearing wrestling shorts and boots only. He also has to deal with another recruit trying to throw him down... And so casually throws him down, with the other recruits stating the attacker was just Too Dumb to Live.
Takuma's debut match as Tiger the Dark, inflicting a Curb-Stomp Battle on his opponent.
Tiger Mask's debut match:
He absolutely steals the show just by being there.
Tiger Mask's opponent is Odin, an experienced fighter from Tiger's Den. Tiger Mask annihilates him.
Bonus point for this being payback for the punch Odin gave Naoto during the fight between Yellow Devil and Takuma's father for daring to encourage what at the time was his trainer.
Tiger Mask's whole style, a perfect mix of Naoto Date and Satoru Sayama:
He enters the ring by running to it in the crowd's awe (Date), then jumping in by holding the upper ropes (Sayama).
During the fight he mostly fights as a rather agile power wrestler with high school moves (Date)-and then whips out a Chicken Wing Suplex (Date and Sayama), and finishes his opponent with Rolling Savate kick (Sayama's Signature Move).
Tiger and Lion
Continuing Tiger Mask's awesomeness by mere existance: Tiger's Den decides to deal with him... And sends Black Python, one of their big names, for the job. And have an even bigger name ready in reserve just in case...
Miss X makes a press conference to demand Tiger Mask apologizes to GWM for ruining their show and challenge him to fight Black Python. Haruna replies by demanding they thank them for saving the show after Odin's original opponent had to leave, and then starts to fight her for the rights of the fight.
Yuji Nagata, here as a New Japan Pro Wrestling higher-up, manouvering Miss X and Haruna into having the Black Python-Tiger Mask match on their ring, with all the TV rights going to his promotion. He then tricks them into agreeing in having a tag match as a prelude, and when Haruna can't name a wrestler to team up with Tiger Mask against Black Python and Tiger the Dark he gets her to agree to have Ryu Wakamatsu, a NJPW fighter, as the partner.
During the tag match, Black Python overpowering Wakamatsu with his old-school catch wrestling.
When he first faces him, Tiger Mask has trouble against Black Python's holds, and is even thrown on a ring post. He uses the ring post to jump back and hit his opponent with a double kick and start his comeback.
Like in the first series, Tiger Mask executing a powerful German Suplex on Black Python. But this Black Python won't go down so easily... So Tiger Mask goes Locomotion: repeated suplexes. Four of them, before Black Tiger cuts in... And by then, Black Python is completely knocked out, allowing Wakamatsu to tag in and pin him down.
With Black Python down, Tiger Mask dares GWM to bring a stronger wrestler to fight him. Miss X's reply is one that sends shivers to anyone who read the first manga or watched its anime: they're bringing in the new Red Death Mask.
The Mask of Red Death.
The fight with Ryu Wakamatsu quickly shows that this new Red Death Mask is worthy of the original, with him getting an elbow to the face-and not noticing at all. After three others fail, Ryu realizes he's in trouble, so he tries a punch running after bouncing on the ropes for more strength... And Red Death Mask applies his Red Death Claw, a brain claw in the purest Von Erich Family style... Only, he squeezes so hard that the victim's face bleeds as the skull is cracked, before throwing him on the ground, and then, when he doesn't surrender, lift him up. It's the only move he needs to win the fight.
Tiger Mask beating Red Death Mask. He had suffered a beating much worse that Wakamatsu had, including the Red Death Drop-that is, the Red Death Claw followed by jumping from the ring post while still holding the victim in the claw and making them land on their back-, his mask was soaked in blood, and when Red Death Mask executed another Red Death Drop Tiger Mask got the strength to fight back from thinking about his friends and reversed it in a flying Ippon Zeoi before unleashing a righteous beating. Nagata is estatic... And Miss X can't believe it, because she and Tiger's Den thought that nobody could defeat Red Death Mask.
Tiger Mask finished the fight with a Tiger Driver, a move that Mitsuharu Misawa came up with during his tenure as the second real life Tiger Mask.
At the start of the fight Red Death Mask attacked before the bell, and the referee, another wrestler and Nagata tried to stop him. Red Death Mask threw them out with ease.
Early on, after suffering the Red Death Claw and a stomach claw, Tiger Mask managed to block another Red Death Claw-and promptly went with a cross arm bar and then a shoulder arm breaker, disabling Red Death Claw's right arm. Then Red Death Mask showed he was the true heir of the original, who continued his fight with a broken knee, by using the Red Death Claw with his left-and then coming close to kill Tiger Mask with the Red Death Claw.
The Mystery of Fukuwara Mask
Tiger Mask, so used to one-on-one fights, gets in a battle royal with various other wrestlers-and comes out on top, especially avoiding a close call when Fukuwara Mask takes advantage of his inexperience to try and pin him down with another wrestler on top.
Tiger the Dark gets in a Royal Rumble in New York, with his GWM seniors, including their US champion, deciding to give him a lesson by making him come in first out of twenty and ganging up on him. He wins.
Idol vs. Heel
Gorilla Jeet Singh is a Foreign Wrestling Heel, and not exactly a sane one, so he should be booed by default... But the two idols in the episode were so bratty that him suddenly appearing with his scimitar and terrifying them left the fans (both in and out of universe) almost willing to cheer on him.
And then, Tiger Mask saving the brats. Also, beating his opponent in spite of the scimitar.
Props to Singh for actually gaining the upper hand for a moment by grabbing Tiger Mask's legs while falling from the drop kick Tiger Mask had just inflicted on him and taking advantage of getting up faster.
Naoto and Naoto
Tiger the Dark fighting Bosman, the GWM US champion, for the title, and winning. And getting the respect of the senior wrestlers as a bonus.
Tiger Mask's match in the episode, shown and compared to one of the original. With a fan of the old one aknowledging the new one as the worthy heir.
The Stormy Opening Match
Fukuwara Mask coming close to beating Tiger the Dark... While still being comedic and not bothering getting serious.
The scene is being prepared for the match between Tiger Mask and Tiger's Den wrestler, and alleged WGM European champion, Wagner... And then, out of nowhere to challenge Tiger Mask and pointing out that nobody had ever heard of Wagner, a new Legacy Character:
"Representing India, Mister Question!"
Wagner of course takes offense, so he runs in and kicks Question from behind... And gets annihilated. At which point Miss X has to allow him to take Wagner's place.
The Mysterious Mister Question
Mister Question's style: wonderful technique, speed greater than Tiger Mask... And immunity to submission moves thanks to Yoga. Note that the original was not immune to those moves (and indeed lost to a Boston Crab). And when Tiger Mask nails him with a Figure 4 Leglock and it works, he gets a rope break by dislocating his joints to stretch the arm. And then fixes it. Then he starts the Speed Blitz.
Seeing him at advantage, Miss X offers Mister Question a great reward if he beats Tiger Mask. Question stops the beatdown to tell her he's not there for money or status, and he wouldn't take GWM's dirty money anyway.
And then, after getting a Heroic Second Wind at the sight of Yellow Devil, Tiger Mask turning the tide against Mister Question, ultimately winning with a Locomotion Suplex.
Mister Question's real identity: a pupil of the Great Zuma, the original Mister Question, who came to test the new Tiger Mask's strength for his battle against Tiger's Den... And was ten when he saw the fight between the original Mister Question and the original Tiger Mask. Yes, the new Mister Question is almost in his seventies, just like the original.
Ryu Wakamatsu as Dragon Young versus fake Yellow Devil. Devil's victory is a complete Curb-Stomp Battle.
Tiger Mask willingly taking multiple finishing moves from Tahanashi and Kazuchika Okada... And still having the strength to fight Okada when he dares him.
The above was training to come up with his own Finishing Move. How does he come up with it? While Tanahashi is attacking him with a fire staff.
Both Takuma and false Yellow Devil successfully completing training in conditions equivalent to being at 4,500m over the sea level.
A bonus one for Yellow Devil: He wasn't even sweating. A training exercise that knocked out 2 other Tiger's Den wrestlers, and It's not even a warm-up.
When It's-the-Ace, alias Tanahashi fought Yellow Devil he was unable to use his favorite combo to not give away his identity and injured due to a training accident earlier that day. Had it not been for the injury aggravating at the wrong moment, he would have won. There's a reason if he choose to call himself The Ace in his masked identity...
Tiger Mask vs. Tiger the Dark. All of it, but a few highlights are:
Tiger the Dark is about to win with his Darkness Driver (a variation of the Tombstone Piledriver)... And Tiger Mask not only escapes, but nails Tiger the Dark with his own Tombstone.
The incomplete version of Tiger Mask's new Finishing Move. A knee drop to the head from a somersault kick. Fully in Naoto Date's style of awesome and potentially lethal killer moves.
A False Victory
The diva match between Queen Elizabeth and Payne Fox.
When Miss X comes to warn him about Tiger Mask's finisher, false Yellow Devil replies that the scariest thing for a wrestler is an unknown move, but he has already seen his opponent's move, and the second scariest is an unexpected move the opponent isn't known for... And demonstrates what he means by cratering the wall with a headbutt, something Yellow Devil isn't known for.
During the match he proves it again when he easily defends against Tiger Mask's German suplex and piledriver and almost defeats him with a hangman crush (first he lifts and strangles the opponent, then lets him fall and hits him with a headbutt)-and then Tiger Mask proves it even more when he escapes a second hangman crush and wins with the complete finisher-the double knee drop hits the chest, then he grabs the victim and moves the knees to the belly (effectively a variant of Chris Jericho's Code Breaker move in WWE), resulting in another powerful doublee knee strike when he lands on his back.
Crossroads
All wrestlers defeated by Tiger Mask (and Kevin, who as Wagner ran afoul of Mister Question) have been sentenced to the Tiger's Execution-that is, being forced to be a training dummy for the rookies. What is the first thing Takuma does upon arriving where the Execution is held? Get out of it by volunteering for Hell in the Hole-an even worse fate (enough the coach actually tries to dissuade him) that will end in certain death if he fails or let him get back on the ring if he wins.
Kevin promptly volunteers too to help Takuma. Odin, who saw the scene, breaks through his terror of the Hell in the Hole and volunteers too out of sheer rage at them getting out of serving in the Tiger's Execution for even a second.
The contract for GWM's Masked World Tournament specified (in a corner and in tiny writing) that the champion would have to fight in various matches designated by GWM. Even when expecting false Yellow Devil to win, she had already roped Tiger Mask to fight for them if he won.
Fierce Fight - Bigfoot Match
GWM's challenger is Bigfoot, a 240 kilos monster who trained himself to overcome two of his Logical Weaknesses-that is, poor ground fighting technique due his bulk (he has learned to use it to his own advantage without being hampered by it) and low stamina due his fights being all short (it's not seen, but Miss X smugly declares his stamina is top notch in the same breath as she proclaims the ground fighting abilities he's showing). After barely escaping in the ground fight and being caught in his bear hug (that can crush a tree), Tiger Mask wins by taking advantage of his charge to throw him on a metal pilon with a suplex throw.
A Capable Promoter
For most of the episode, Saboten has proven himself an utter moron. Then comes the match-and he gives Tiger Mask a run for his money.
Don't Be a Softy
Knowing Honma, that they would have to face that night in a six-man tag match, really loves sweets and makes a point of eating the best ones in every location of a tour, the Bullet Club ate all the sweets he was aiming for in that place to demoralize him. The righteous beating Makabe and his partners Tiger Mask and Honma unleash on the Bullet Club (after the local TV channel accidentally thwarts their plan by buying some sweets for Makabe, of which they are a fan) is as awesome and satisfying as any victory against GWM.
Spring Tiger Is Born
When Milk of the Candy Pair is hospitalized right before a tag match against two GWM fighters, Haruna dons a tiger mask (originally made for merchandising) and substitutes for her as Spring Tiger. And, in spite of being completely self-trained and without any sparring partner, she holds her own against the more experienced Queen Elizabeth-and annihilates Queen's partner, who was noone but Miss X, who had jumped in the ring in the place of Queen's usual partner specifically to give Haruna a lesson. And Haruna is by far the smallest of the four to boot.
Also, the way Haruna took Miss X down: the old school method of attacking the opponent's legs until they aren't usable anymore, devastating enough that Miss X misses her one chance to win when her right leg fails. Poor Miss X couldn't walk for days...
The Escape From Hell
After so much time as the victim of The Worf Effect, Henry Odin reminds everyone that he's still a Tiger's Den wrestler, and had been one of GWM's star wrestlers, by easily taking down the larger Phantom.
At the end of the episode, Odin and his friend Billy the Kidman encounter Takuma and Kevin. Takuma and Kevin are stronger... And get immediately overwhelmed by the two more experienced wrestlers, who manage to turn it into a sequence of two-on-one fights thanks to their amazing teamwork.
When Odin gets knocked out and left for dead early when his plan to trick Red Death Mask fails, the others joins forces-and quickly kill Red Death Mask.
How is Blackout ultimately stopped? Tiger the Third, Tiger's Den latest tiger-masked wrestler, had taken offense to a comment about a Killer Robot being superior to Tiger's Den wrestlers, so crushed it with a flying suplex.
Reunion
Tiger the Third, whose costume is a dead ringer for the old series' Big Bad Tiger the Great, is the GWM World Heavyweight Champion. Here we see him defending his title against Bigfoot. We see the end of the match, where, after a moment of trouble, he wins with a German Suplex from standing still.
Fukuwara Mask's Ambition
Fukuwara Mask's hometown is dying out. Fukuwara's solution: an immense wrestling revitalization event including various NJPW stars, Tiger Mask, the Candy Pair and Spring Tiger. And he convinces everyone to take part into it after printing the posters and pissing them off.
The Candy Pair winning their tag match (also Milk's comeback match)... With their opponents including Spring Tiger.
For a single moment, Fukuwara Mask gets serious in the main event. Evil of Los Ingobernables de Japon is promptly defeated.
War Games Open
The ring for the namesake wrestling event: it's a five levels ring on top of a pyramid. Or rather, a six-levels ring, as the base of the pyramid counts as one.
The rules are just as awesome: the wrestlers start divided randomly in four groups, but can move freely as soon as the bell rings, and can rise a level every time they take down an opponent (by count of three or forfeit). When two wrestlers get on the top ring everybody else is out, and the two top wrestlers will then fight each other for the right of challenging Tiger the Third for his title. Except Tiger the Third is taking part in the War Games too, so he needs to be defeated if someone wants to challenge him. At least until he announces that if someone can defeat him in the War Games they'll immediately get his belt...
The partecipants have all held a championship at least once. Their numbers include Tiger the Dark, Bosman, Bigfoot... And another Yellow Devil.
Fukuwara Mask defeating two opponents from behind... With a double kancho. Also doubles as Funny Moment.
The whole tournament is one for Miss X and GWM, as they're getting a huge chunk of the tv share worldwide.
Tiger the Dark ended the last episode in a bad spot, surprised by Bosman and his friends about to beat him up. Cue Kevin helping him escape and then taking on the three of them alone.
Follows up with an amazing performance from the NJPW fighters, with Okada, Tanahashi and Naito (who had been slacking off on the side until then) getting to the next stage in quick succession-and Nagata and two others sending Bigfoot running.
Thirty minutes in, Tiger Mask, Tiger the Dark, Fukuwara Mask, Okada, Tanahashi, Bigfoot, Naito and El Caracas have climbed to the second stage of the special ring. Where is Tiger the Third? Already in the third stage, after having annihilated someone else.
Fukuwara Mask cutting loose against Tiger the Third. He gets defeated, but he's the first one who actually forces the monster to fight seriously, something that only Bigfoot had achieved so far-and deducing his real identity in the process.
Okada defeating Bigfoot.
The fierce tigers clash again: Tiger Mask versus Tiger the Dark. Tiger the Dark counters Tiger Mask's finisher and then, with Kevin's help, wins.
Naito fights Tiger the Third - and actually has the upper hand for a while.
The Tiger's Identity
The match between Tiger the Dark and Tiger the Third is for the GWM Heavyweight Championship, with the challenger chosen through the fearsome War Games tournament. How to make it more awesome? Tiger the Dark dares the champion to bet his mask, and Tiger the Third accepts.
The terrifying grudge match between Tiger the Dark and the man who crippled his father, with Tiger the Dark successfully countering the Devil Crush and coming close to actually winning. Had he not decided to go for a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown instead of pinning him down after the counter, he would have won.
Tiger the Third's comeback from that, making clear that, as strong as Dark was, the moment he was about to win was a fluke. And destroying his legs.
The titular match against the Mixed Martial Arts expert King Tiger, fought under a slight variation of the MMA unified rules (the main differences from standard wrestling rules are: ten five-minutes rounds, every fighter will have a second, victory will be by knock out, TKO, and surrender only, and fists are allowed). All of it.
Tiger Mask, a wrestler, defeated King Tiger, a striker, with strikes. That, and a single move that proved the usual superiority of grapplers against strikers: taking out his opponent's ankle with a simple hold, something that seriously weakened him for the rest of the match.
One for Miss X comes out after the match, when Tiger Mask demands a fight against The Third. She gives him one, but in exchange Tiger Mask has to join GWM's Miracles in their assault against NJPW]]. With this one act, Miss X proved herself a Superior Successor to the original Mr. X, doing what he had never been able to do: pit a Tiger Mask against his True Companions.
The Yellow Demon
Takuma starting physical therapy just to come back to the ring and force Naoto to listen to reason.
And in the next episode he's seen making progress at immense speed.
Also, the rules of the match: it's an elimination match between five-men teams with the "Over the Top Rope" rule, meaning it ends only when all the opponents are defeated and they can be defeated by being thrown out of the ring over the top rope.
As the bell rings, Nagata follows that up by quickly taking down Miracle I-with nothing but legal moves. Had Tiger Mask not cut in, Miracle I would have got an arm broken.
After Nagata is defeated, Okada comes in and is double-teamed by Miracle II and III. Too bad Okada is not a higher-up but the IGWP Heavyweight champion-cue Miracle III being taken down by his own teammate when Okada moves and Miracle II being defeated and disqualified.
After Miracle II is taken care of, Tiger Mask comes in-and Okada immediately throws him over the third rope. Tiger Mask remains in-game when he grabs the rope at the last moment, but Okada does not relent-and was about to take him out with a series of headbutts before Miracle I drop-kicks him from behind, leading to Okada and Tiger Mask being both eliminated.
Tanahashi, Makabe and Yoshi-Hashi all but winning the match:
After Tiger Mask and Okada are eliminated, the match goes to Tanahashi and Miracle III. Tanahashi wins with ease.
Yoshi-Hashi beats up Miracle I. As Tanahashi goes on the ring post to finish him, Miracle IV tries to cut in-and Makabe drags him out over the top rope, leaving Tanahashi free to finish Miracle I off and Yoshi-Hashi to pin him down. That's when Tiger the Third comes in.
The Third one-shotting Makabe and Yoshi-Hashi.
When the teams start an all-out fight on the ring, Miracle I gives Tiger Mask a chair to help against NJPW. What does Tiger Mask do? He jumps on the ring with the chair-and attacks Tiger the Third.
One for Miss X: she set up the Miracles' attack on NJPW and Tiger Mask's Face–Heel Turn just to have the right audience when she walks in and declares war on NJPW.
The Tiger's Sanction
Continuing from the previous episode, GWM's plan: create a situation where they could challenge NJPW to bet all their belts in a five match series. Nagata has to accept even as he realizes they may well lose-and cause the virtual destruction of New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the process.
Also, the plan included expecting Tiger Mask's betrayal, even as she was surprised by how fast it was.
The first three Miracles winning a three-men tag match against Ryu, Tanahashi and Okada through sheer teamwork.
The Tiger Mask-Miracle IV match:
The Snow Globe Stadium: the ring is elevated over extendible ring posts, and then covered by a giant globe that has a mysterious network of metallic pipes hanging from it over the ring.
As soon as the ring is prepared, Miracle IV takes off his "Miracle" outfit and reveals his real identity: he's a Legacy Character for Universal Mask. And for the fans of the old series, the pipes' function is now revealed: allow the gymnast-trained wrestler to overwhelm Tiger Mask through his superior agility and assaults from the pipes. He delivers.
Tiger Mask gets one for how he deals with his opponent's kicks from the pipes: he jumps up to the pipes. Backfires as Universal Mask is still the more agile fighter, but points for trying.
Right as Universal Mask is choking Tiger Mask with his Murderous Thighs while hanging from the pipes, Fukuwara Mask decides to openly defy Tiger's Den with a suggestion on how to win. Being Fukuwara Mask, he doesn't tell him what to do, just a veiled suggestion: "The deer hunter doesn't see the mountain". Or, translated, don't focus so much on the enemy you forget your surroundings.
After freeing himself from Universal Mask thighs (and forcefully bringing him back down on the ring), Tiger Mask goes back up on the pipes-and uses them to move fast and overwhelm Universal Mask, before concluding with a Spider German Suplex (a suplex throw used while hanging from the pipes) followed by a knee drop on the back.
Showdown With the Arashi Juken Style
The Arashi Juken Style, the kenjutsu school whose previous successor helped the original Tiger Mask, has fallen in the hands of Osamu, who uses his place as the new successor to execute scams. Once fellow Arashi student Handa, with the help of Tiger Mask and Fukuwara Mask, expose him to the Arashi council and announces he has replaced him as successor and is expelling him, Osamu attacks with a wakizashi... And Handa, unarmed, shows him why he's been made the new successor by throwing him like ragdoll. You almost pity Osamu by how completely he's been defeated...
Tiger Mask, in his quest for a new finisher, asks Handa to fight him. They prepare, with Handa training his katana on Tiger Mask, then asking him to wait as he has to fix his sandal and throws the sword away... And then, suddenly, he has a tanto knife at Tiger Mask's throat, attacking instinctively the moment Tiger Mask lowered his guard.
Handa: "You just died right now."
Lumberjack
Ryu Wakamatsu is normally used just for The Worf Effect. This time, however, during the tag match between the NJPW team (Nagata, Tanahashi and Ryu) and two Miracles and GWM rookie Mike Rodriguez, he manages to hold his own against Miracle I, a wrestler that had once beaten him.
As usual the Miracles cheat, this time with Miracle III (scheduled for a fight against Tiger Mask later that day) cutting in. Miracle III and I have Nagata ready for the Miracle Rana-Cue Tiger Mask.
The main event, the lumberjack match (with the wrestlers' seconds near the ring to keep the wrestlers inside) between Tiger Mask and Miracle III-that is, Tiger's Den coach:
Tiger Mask turning Miracle III's simple style back against him, as he's prevedible and can be anticipated, as shown when he provokes his enemy into charging and he moves to let him crash against the ring post, followed by a German Suplex.
The crowd chanting "NJPW!" at the Max Dome (a GWM stadium, as Miss X angrily remarks) as Tiger Mask officially reconciles with the New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Assassin from the Past
NJPW's winning streak against GWM on their own turf.
How GWM replies to the above and the defeat of two of the Miracles: Mr. X arrives in Tokyo with Big Tiger the Second and the new Tiger the Black.
Big Tiger and Tiger the Black training: the first has a spar with Tiger the Third and they are on par-with Big Tiger actually being smaller than The Third, and the latter has GWM rising star Mike Rodriguez attack him-and barely noticing his attacks.
The tag match between Big Tiger and Tiger the Black against Tiger Mask and Nagata is a Curb-Stomp Battle in favor of the Tiger's Den duo, ending with Tiger Mask kicked out of the ring by Tiger the Black and Nagata completely unconscious with broken ribs courtesy of Big Tiger.
Takuma officially cutting ties with Tiger's Den and joining Naoto.
Grand Melee
At the start of the episode GWM wins the tag match between the Miracles and Tiger the Black against Honma, Yoshi-Hashi and Tiger Mask-but this time Tiger Mask is matching Black elbow for elbow.
The rules of the decisive showdown between NJPW and GWM: each promotion will introduce a team of five wrestlers for five matches, except the matches will be, in order, a single, a tag match, a six-man tag match, another standard tag match, and a final single, with which wrestlers will enter being decided on the moment.
The teams: for GWM we have the surviving Miracles, Tiger the Black, Big Tiger, and Tiger the Great III, while NJPW sends in Tiger Mask, Makabe, Tanahashi, Naito (who Nagata has called back from Mexico) and Okada.
In the first match, Makabe faces Tiger the Black-and not only it's an even fight, he scores a draw by ring-out. And that's after the Tiger's Den wrestler got his hands on a chair.
Even better, it's hinted that this is what Makabe wanted after a while, as he would have been unable to go back on the ring time, at least alone, so he choose to draw-and hurt his opponent as much as possible with everything he could get his hands on down there.
Tiger Fangs Strike
The line-up for the first tag match: Makabe and Tiger the Black return for their grudge match (Makabe due Naito's continued absence, Black Tiger as punishment from Miss X), and to support we have Okada and Tiger the Great III-that is, theirheavyweight champions.
Makabe starts strong, first with an exchange on the same level as Tiger the Black and then completely overwhelming him: after apparently knocking his opponent down, Tiger the Black goes on the ring post for a Moonsault, and that's when Makabe, who had faked being stunned, rises and knocks his legs away, getting his opponent to fall on the turnbuckle with his groin and then hitting the chest on the post, and following up with a Spider Suplexing that completely knocked him out and, with the bad landing, may have heavily injured him. Had Tiger the Great not cut in before he could go for the knee drop and pinning, Makabe would have single-handedly won the tag match then and there.
Tiger the Great's intervention: first he blocks Makabe, then he kicks Okada away, and before Okada can recover, and while shrugging off repeated punches, he goes for the Devil's Crush. And then, as he's not the legitimate fighter, turns the knocked-out Black so the referee has to count it as Black pinning his defeater, while preventing Okada from intervening.
For the six-man tag match GMW sends in the Miracles and Big Tiger II. With Naito unable to arrive in time, what does NJPW does? Send in Nagata? He's still injured. Ryu as Dragon Young? Too weak. No, alongside Tiger Mask and Tanahashi they send in TIGER THE DARK. That's right, Takuma is back, and openly fighting Tiger's Den.
The in-universe reactions are just as awesome: the Combat Commentator is so shocked he needs three takes to announce him, the public immediately cheers on him, Mr X can only gnash his teeth in silent rage, Fukuwara Mask (the secondary commentator) needles Mr. X for not knowing and letting this happen (he had released Takuma from his contract, hence how he could join NJPW in their fight, and Miss X has the same stunned face she had in the first episode at Tiger Mask's debut.
After some initial trouble due Dark being rusty, the NJPW team inflicts a veritable Curb-Stomp Battle on the Miracles.
Tanahashi vs. Big Tiger-and actually having the advantage for a while.
Tiger Mask's new finishing move, Tiger Fang: a flying axe kick on the head immediately followed by a knee on the chin, with the other leg keeeping the victim in place. Instant knockout for Miracle II.
In spite of everything, Big Tiger winning the match-while Miracle I took the chance to beat Dark to a pulp and surprised Tiger Mask to keep him from cutting in.
Four Tigers
The rooster for the second tag match has four tigers in the ring: Tiger Mask II and Tiger the Dark versus Tiger the Great III and Big Tiger II.
The match itself:
Takuma hitting Big Tiger - and, for the first time, making him feel the hit.
Tiger the Great continues the family tradition and counters the Tiger Fang making it seem easy.
Even while tired due the two fights in a row and his old age, Big Tiger successfully keeps Takuma from helping Tiger Mask-and actually knocks him out for a while.
While Tiger the Great has Tiger Mask in trouble and is ripping away his mask, Daisuke Fuji finally manages to stand to get his son back in the ring.
Dark doesn't get back on the ring in time to stop Tiger the Great... But is in time for his new finisher, and one-shots Tiger the Great III and sends Big Tiger II flying in quick succession, with Tiger Mask (who is still the legal fighter of their team) finishing Big Tiger with a suplex.
Starts the last of the five matches, Okada versus Miracle I... And Miracle I, sent in by Mr. X to tire Okada for the extra match but determinated to end Final Wars with his victory, catches Okada with his pants down with an Asian Mist.
Farewell Tiger
Miracle I managed to injure Okada's right arm before the Asian Mist was washed away, and thus kept the upper hand even after it was washed away. Then he puts him into a Triangle Choke on the injured arm... And Okada literallymops the floor with him, using the injured right arm. There's a reason Okada is the IGWP World Champion...
As Okada is injured, the NJPW, with some persuasion from the recently arrived Naito, sends in Tiger Mask for the extra match. But what about the torn mask? Haruna thought about it, and, with Takuma's permission, stitched the right half of his mask with the left half of Takuma's. Her glorious announcement follows:
The epic battle between Tiger the Great III and Tiger Mask W, beyond description, ending with Tiger Mask W's victory by TKO when Tiger the Great III is completely knocked out and the referee stops the match before he gets killed.
The match was one mostly for Tiger the Great III for the sheer amount of punishment he took before going down. He took modified variants of both of Tiger Mask's finishers, suplexes, a piledriver, and, while slowly losing his edge, still came for more until a shoulder injury from the modified Tiger Fang/armbar combo earlier in the fight slowed him just enough to get hit by a full-powered Tiger Fang finally knocks him out... Aftera last defiant declaration he would not lose.
The first thing seen after Final Wars is the giant statue of the Devil God, the symbol of Tiger's Den, completely covered in weeds.
Masked Tiger Springer
Just a month after GWM's retreat from Japan, Miss X is already leading a new promotion: Girls' Wrestling Movement. And has recruited Haruna (as Tiger Springer) for it.
Miss X' sheer audacity at using GWM's logo for her promotion (she has the licence for Japan). Especially because she's calling it GirMov for short.
Somehow, Miss X managed to recruit a few important names for GirMov's inaugural night: old subordinates Payne Fox and Queen Elizabeth, and Japan's (in-universe) female pro-wrestling legends. Including the gigantic Mother Devil, Japan's strongest female fighter.
Milk and Mint have solo-matches with Payne Fox and Queen Elizabeth-and this time not only they hold their own, Mint wins.
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