Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask

[7.0] "(3, 75 Stars) I had a good time watching this match, even though it's still not a five-star match. But just watching this match with a young Misawa, you can see the talent."

[9.0] "Close but still really good, Tiger Mask and Kobayashi giving a match with fast pace, taking risks at their time that are normal today, and in general a match that was good but short for 11 minutes. 9/10 [****3/4]"

[9.0] "There are many examples from the last 10 to 20 years, and even right now, that could be similar to this match in terms of artistic effect. Some people might not like it, while others may enjoy it. I am among those who have criticized the wrestling style in the New Era, and my main issue with this type of match booking (purely spot fest) is that it deals a significant blow to the professional wrestling industry. Although this match took place 30 or 40 years ago and was considered something new for that era, the difference between it and all the matches happening today lies in its realism. In every moment of this match, you can see that a wrestler is effectively adhering to psychology in such a way that I, as a viewer, can believe that this match is not illogical! ****.25"

[7.0] "Misawa's first Meltzer rated 5 star match. I don't think it's quite on that level personally but it's still very good. Kobayashi attacks Misawa before the bell, and for the opening few minutes pretty easily dominates him. Misawa is able to fight back on occasion but is never able to fully sustain an advantage as Kobayashi either quickly regains control or rolls to the outside. It's only later in the match when Misawa is able to get in a fair bit of offence on Kobayashi, causing him to panic and hit his fisherman suplex finishing move too close to the ropes, allowing Misawa an easy escape. The rest of the match is basically just both guys fighting for the advantage before Misawa suplexes Kobayashi to the outside, leading to both men getting counted out. This was super fast paced and action packed, like all of the Tiger Mask matches that I've seen so far have been, only here Misawa's performance is much more complete. Here we get a glimpse into the all time super babyface performer he would become later in his career, as he puts in his best performance yet in the face of his toughest opponent so far. Really good match, although the double count out finish did leave me wanting more. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Match starts out hot, Tiger Mask comes in the ring and Kobayashi immediately hits him with a lariat and Tiger Mask heads to the outside before the match even starts, crowd is going crazy for Kobayashi. Bell rings and the guys circle one another. Kobayashi immediately hits a great spinning heel kick and both guys go back to circling one another, then get a collar blow tie up into a headlock, Kobayashi runs the rope and gets hit with a huge dropkick. Super high workrate between the two guys. Kobayashi hits a big tombstone piledriver, first pin attempt really early. Kobayashi hits a sling blade and then puts Tiger Mask in a rest hold stretching him out. Kobayashi has some pretty good martial arts inspired strikes, Tiger mask fights back and hits a lariat and then a sit out piledriver, pin attempt but kickout. Kobayashi hits a big back drop suplex, Tiger mask hits a good arm drag, Kobayashi hits a spinning heel kick, both guys just kinda trade momentum. Kobayashi gets him in an arm triangle and holds it in the middle of the ring as they reset. Whatever momentum they had is slowing down a little bit, and then Tiger Mask reverses the submission and starts to work over Kobayashi. Tiger mask hits an awesome backwards somersault dropkick that is a definite wow. It sends Kobayashi out of the ring, Kobayashi comes back in and Tiger mask does some awesome lucha shit that kinda frustrates Kobayashi. Fun stuff there. Kobayashi gets Tiger Mask in a Boston crab. Tiger Mask hits a tiger suplex on Kobayashi. Tiger mask sends Kobayashi into the ropes to hit the dropkick but Kobayashi stops his momentum and lets Tiger mask fall on his back. Tiger Mask does a flip off Kobayashi in the corner and then gets clotheslined by Kobayashi. Tiger Mask heads to ringside and Kobayashi attempts a suicide dive, thwarted by Tiger Mask, who does a cool leap into the ring and then hits a suicide dive of his own on Kobayashi. Tiger Mask suplexes Kobayashi from the ring apron back into the ring, Kobayashi reverses the double hooked arms and hits a suplex on Tiger Mask, then a bodyslam, heads up to the top rope, Tiger Mask cuts him off, and suplexes him (actually from the second rope), pin kick out. Tiger Mask heads to the second rope and hits a nice elbow drop, kickout again. As Tiger Mask goes for a moonsault, Kobayashi gets under him and elevator drops him onto the mat below, kickout on the ensuing pin attempt. Kobayashi hits the bridge suplex but Tiger Masks legs are into the ropes, so Kobayashi goes for another, backwards roll up by Tiger mask, they roll into the ropes. Its messy but in a way that seems intentional. Then Tiger Mask suplexes Kobayashi to the outside, and then all of a sudden the match ends in a draw. Abrupt ending. Really good technical stuff, but didnt get much out of it in spectacle. Both guys have incredible crisp stuff and its easy to see why Tiger Mask II goes on to have one of the most legendary careers of all time, but this match just doesnt have a satisfying enough ending to be a great match. There were definitely a few "woah" moments for me though, so I get it, and this is some really good shit for 1985. So grading on that curve and because of those wild ass moves, i'm going to give it an 8."

[7.0] "a decent match that falls short of being amazing. It is well wrestled and has some good sequences but never quite hits top gear."

[7.0] "Loved the dueling attempts at offense on the outside of the ring, even if Tiger Mask II doesn't have the dazzling athleticism as Tiger Mask I. This is about as satisfying as a double count out finish can be. A 7 on cagematch in 2024 feels about equivalent as 5* in 1985."

[7.0] "5 stars for this is insane to me. This is still a good match. Both of these guys' offensive repertoires are wonderful at this point in time. But this is an 11 minute match for no title that has no finish. Are Kobayashi and Misawa the two best in the world at this point? Absolutely not. I would say in the top 10% of workers at the time but the month before this alone saw better matches from Flair, Race, Kerry Von Erich, Riki Choshu, Genichiro Tenryu, The Midnight Express, The Fantastics, Jerry Lawler, Eddie Gilbert, Nick Bockwinkel, Masa Saito, Greg Gagne, F***ING JIM BRUNZELL. The reason I take so long is to beg you to watch matches you wanna watch and don't take what Dave rates as gospel. There's so much better stuff out there. I've been watching through matches I've wanted to see from 1972 on and if I just followed his recs I would've missed out on so many hours of joy that this sport gave me."

[9.0] "great pacing, great display of offense by both individuals here; match length was perfect here for me; really enjoyed. Some great offense agile offense from TM. For its time, I can 100% this being a 5* match, by more modern standards, I dont personally think it would be worthy of 5 but still holds up nicely and was a great watch."

[7.0] "Nice. Tiger Mask is great when he lunges at his opponent and follows up. The crowd is rooting for Kobayashi throughout the match. (3*1/2)"

[7.0] "There is a lot to like here, but even if I attempt to view this within the context of the era (where a lot of these moves would have undoubtedly been spectacular), it's hard for me to agree with this getting a five star rating. In terms of move execution, I don't believe that it's controversial to say that Tiger Mask II does not really have the same spark as the original. That aside, while the match is certainly exciting and they packed quite a lot of action in to a short run time, the selling is very patchy. People seem to be up and running again very quickly after taking moves, and it does come across as a mid-80s equivalent of a 'spotfest' in this sense. They did still have my interest, though, and I was very curious to say how things would unfold... When it abruptly ended in very underwhelming fashion. It's a fun match, but I don't think it holds up as a classic at all."

[10.0] "Watching a Misawa playlist on YouTube courtesy of ClassicPuro83 which i definitely recommend. This match was my first time watching Kuniaki Kobayashi and wow what a match to introduce me to him. Also, I hadn't watched much of Misawa as Tiger Mask and I was shocked how agile and high-flying he was here. Kobayashi's fiery attack before the bell rings was an incredibly hot way to start and got the fans firmly on the side of Tiger Mask. The nonstop pace made it an insanely fun match which was way ahead of its time. Totally understand why in 1985 Meltzer would give this 5 stars."

"8.5/10 is my rating for this match.It was such an amazing match for its time, but it is not a 5 star match like meltzer rated it."

"Great match for its time, I don't mind the draw as it felt like a race to the finish in which neither man could out do the other. The only negative worth mentioning is the amount of poor selling. Rating: [**** 3/4]"

[9.0] "I'd agree with Meltzer that this is the best Misawa match from his Tiger Mask days that I've seen, but it's definitely not 5-star by his standards. There are some sloppy moments and Misawa has yet to learn the fine art of pacing as he never stops once this match is started. That said, the nonstop pace is exhilarating and fun to watch, but the psychology isn't quite there yet. For its time, though, this was a classic. ****1/2"

[8.0] "This match was a good precursor to what the light heavyweight division would become for New Japan. Fast paced match that to me was just hitting its stride before ending."

[6.0] "When it comes to the execution of the high-flying moves, Misawa was no Sayama. He hits some nice dives and counters here, it makes you wonder if fans at the time were less impressed by Misawa's version of Tiger Mask even if Misawa was by far the better worker. Kobayashi acts like a heel by attacking Misawa before the match, but the crowd was firmly behind him on this night. He has a lot of swagger about him and you can see why the crowd was rooting for him. He's able to cut Misawa off with a variety of spin kicks and work him down with some holds that start to outwear their welcome. The only part of this match that I straight-up didn't like was when Misawa crashes and burns to the outside after a failed corkscrew body press to the outside. My gripe wasn't with the dive itself, but how Misawa brushes it off. The crowd was clearly concerned by Misawa's fall and his no-selling wasted a good opportunity to create some drama. Kobayashi nearly wins this after landing both a Fisherman's suplex and a rolling clutch pin, but his opponent is too close to the ropes. This was a good way to make Kobayashi look strong, even if he isn't victorious on this night. This being the 80's in Japan, this ends in a no contest when both guys are unable to make the count after a spill to the outside. Overall, this was a fun juniors match with a hot crowd."

[8.0] "MELTZER'S 5 STAR QUEST #4: Kuniaki Kobayashi Vs. Tiger Mask; In my opinion this match hasn't really aged very well, but I still feel like it's fun to watch. The athleticism and mix of styles is extremely fun to watch and honestly, I felt Tiger Mask should've won that one. Good match though. (****)"

[10.0] "Well, this one surely didn't age well. But back in 1985, this was unreal. Here I'm rating it in context of the times this match took place. Both guys gave it their all. It's also notable for being the first 5* match in Mitsuharu Misawa's legendary career. *** in 2020. But for 1985? ***** Certified!"

[9.0] "This was awesome. They cut a pretty quick pace that had a ton of intensity to match it. Tiger Mask had some cool flips to get out of tough positions. He uses his athleticism well to offset the striking style of Kobayashi all of it down in a very sprint way. A hot crowd that was behind Kobayashi all the way was helpful too. Great match. ****1/4"

[8.0] "Good match, though it doesn't quite seem like a 5 star affair even compared to other matches of the same period. Very fast paced though, and a lot of obvious talent on display."

[8.0] "I think it would be unfair for me to give this match a bad rating because I? m grading with a modern curve. But the finish is not great. The match simply hasn? t aged well. But because it was a good match at the time I? ll give it a good rating. ****1/2"

[7.0] "This match hasn't lived up to the expectations that the high praise of some have given it. I'd give it a 7. 75."

[7.0] "As some of these people have stated, this was a complete bollocks and crazy styled match for 1985, but it hasn't aged as well as other 5-Star rated matches. There is some sloppy chemistry between Misawa and Kobayashi and the finish was a sour ending that didn't feel as sport-like as it should now because the match was fairly short. There is some creative spots that still are amazing like the tower in the top ropes, the suplex to outside reversal and the bumps of failed dives, so there is good wrestling to watch here."

[9.0] "Definitely a great match but I wouldn't stick with the WON 5 star rating I'd give it ****1/2 great stuff nonetheless"

[7.0] "This is an five stars match to 1985, but nowadays, this is something very common, especially in a Junior Heavyweight match from NJPW or NOAH. But still, this is a cool match with some hot action, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good. ****"

[7.0] "This is a pretty damn wild match for 1985. I mean wild as in it's fast paced, high energy action from start to finish - something that wasn't very common back then. A really enjoyable sprint'ish bout with good atmosphere to boot."

[6.0] "The kind of match that was probably revolutionary for the time, but because of what we've all seen since it fails to live up to ***** status. There IS some hot action here, and some cool spots, but the pace is too brisk for much to develop, and the ending just... happens, and frankly is a big let down. With a few more minutes of ring time and a satisfactory ending I could see this match living up to classic status, but ultimately this is merely an okay bout."

[8.0] "Misawa's first WON 5 Star Match. Until the finish I was loving this. Then i saw the finish and I didn't love it so much. Still a great match. ****1/4."

[10.0] "This. Was. Awesome! These guys hit 100km/h from the get go and never let up the throttle. I am absolutely amazed that this kind of match happened in 1985. If this took place in the late 90's it would of still been great but in 1985 it was the match of the year."

[7.0] "A lot of fun spots and moves for such a short match, but nothing especially great and certainly nothing deserving of 5 stars as WON seems to believe. ***1/2"

[6.0] "I watched this match because of the rating given by Meltzer (full 5) . I expected an all time classic here, but what I saw was just a good match. Some nice maneuvers, but nothing special and. Come on, that was just an decent 11 minutes match which enden by a Double Count out. I know it was 30 years ago and it is hard to rate it on today's standards, but still nothing more than *** for me."

[5.0] "I went into this match thinking that I was going to witness a classic. (Thanks to the 5 Star rating from the WON) Instead, I witnessed Tiger Mask II (Misawa) no selling a missed high flying spot to the outside after Kobayashi moved out of the way. (I mean, he literally just got up and ran right back into the ring) Too many missed high flying spots, lots of good strikes, lots of good slams and suplexes but not enough technical wrestling and bad selling. The crowd was really hot for it, but I just couldn't get into it. I found it mediocre at best. ** 1/2"

[8.0] "Very good match, but certainly not 5 stars. The psychology is all over the pace (a great example is the finish- Tiger Mask takes tons of punishment, but somehow is the first one who attempts to re-enter the ring). The match showcases great athleticism by both guys, but the logic too often flies out of the window."