The end of another era in New Japan came today as Tiger Mask 4, the promotion’s longest-serving incarnation of the iconic comic book-based masked wrestler, called it a career today, retiring just 8 days before what would have been his 31st anniversary in the ring.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 1490, a legit advance sellout.
Match 1: Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Shota Umino beat Taisei Nakahara, Toru Yano & Togo Makabe. Umino pinned Nakahara.
Match 2: Zane Jay, Francesco Akira, Jacob Austin Young, Great-O-Khan & Jake Lee beat Tatsuya Matsumoto, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Lee pinned Matsunoto after Giant Killing.
Match 3: Jado, Boltin Oleg & Aaron Wolf beat Gedo, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby). Wolf beat Gedo with a triangle choke.
Match 4: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, DOUKI, SANADA & Ren Narita beat Masatora Tasuda, Master Wato, El Desperado, Taichi & Yuya Uenura Sho pinned Yasuda after a crossarm piledriver.
Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Daiki Nagai, Taiji Ishimori, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji. Fujita pinned Nagai with a German suplex hold.
Match 6: Tiger Mask 4 Retirement Match 1: Tiger Mask 4 vs. Tom Billington went to a 5 minute time limit draw.
Main Event: Tiger Mask 4 Retirement Match 2: Tiger Mask 4 vs. Black Tiger 4 (Rocky Romero) went to a 5 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Main Event (continued): Tiger Mask 4 beat Black Tiger 4 in 18 seconds.
The retirement ceremony that followed included a surprise appearance by the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama. After the traditional 10 Bell Salute signifying his retirement, he was carried off by the main roster, a legend of the Junior Heavyweight division leaving as he should-a winner. Now we can wonder if there will be what would/should be a Tiger Mask 7 to fill the void in the promotion. (TM 5 is/was Ikuhisa Minowa in independents, TM 6 is an unknown who primarily does special appearances)
The next event is the G1 CLIMAX 36 Tournament, the biggest tournament of the year, starting Saturday at Now Arena in Chicago, IL. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET.