Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Tiger Mask vs. Steve Wright (NJPW, 4/1/82)

Steve Wright, father of Das Wunderkind, is a swanky dad on the mat, with his sprightly matwork and constant fluidity. Some of the exchanges he had with Tiger Mask impressed in the same way Ospreay/Ricochet impresses kids with low self-esteem. What he lacks in charisma, Steve makes up for in style. I love his shoot shoulderblocks and his dropkick, and while the submissions were meaningless, they were cool to watch as he wrenches on brutal stuff like his abdominal stretch and hanging stretch muffler. At one point, they’re both stalemate in a leglock and after shaking hands, the ref helps untangle them. The selling was meh for most of the match but I thought Tiger kept up for the most part, his strikes sounded great and he had a rad side suplex counter off the ropes that looked seamless. A slick little junior exhibition and a good introduction to the busy world of Steve Wright. 

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