Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask

[10.0] "One of the best short-matches of all time. They are sooo smooth here, and distill their rivalry, their chemistry and their tecnique perfectly encapsulated in 7-or-so minutes. My favourite of the series that I've seen. Poetry."

[9.0] "Thought this was fantastic and, while it wouldn't be as good as many other matches they ever had, I rate it with a 9 since I believe it might be one of the best 7 minutes matches I've ever seen, if not the best."

[8.0] "I wonder who watched this live at MSG in '82, even 40+ years later, even I with half the age of this match, thought this was fantastic, Tiger Mask seems to float in the ring. Incredible [****]."

[7.0] "Maybe it's not the best match they had, but it's certainly not the worst like I hear some people say. Plus, here you have the added element of the WWF crowd, who were famously blown away by what was unfolding in front of them. They run through the same formula of their previous matches, nailing almost every sequence. This match series undeniably popularised the choreographed style of pre-planned exchanges and "high spots" that is now commonplace.. (though there is still an semblance of a physical contest unlike most "spot fests" of today). There's a particular flurry from Sayama towards the end (rolling solebutt, tiger flip, tiger feint kick) that sends the crowd into hysterics and serves as one of the best moments from their entire rivalry. Perhaps this was deserving of a perfect rating in 1982, but even today I think it is really good. (3.75*)"

[8.0] "4 stars wow this best 7 minute man i have ever watched & probably is the best 7 minute pro wrestling match every minute was awesome never boring 2 have superb chemistry together and there are people who consider this to be one the greatest wrestling bouts ever and it's easy to see why this should have been given double or triple the length just incredible recommend watch this you can see it freely on facebook or dailymotion and this considered the weakest of the matches these 2 had those other bouts must be perfection I guess."

[7.0] "The crowd quickly learned who Tiger Mask was as they were introduced en masse to his style for the first time. This is a small highlight reel of his NJPW work but MSG ate it up. A really good sprint with a super hot crowd."

[7.0] "Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask wow the audience with stuff they would have never seen before and wouldn't see anything for at least another decade in a mainstream US promotion. This sub-ten minute match features a fraction of the stuff they would bust out in their NJPW matches and it serves as an excellent exhibition to the style they work. Although this is far from their best match together, I'd say stick this one on first if you want a quick taste of their legendary rivalry. I can't imagine taking some of those high-impact moves would be fun to take on the WWF's infamously hard rings."

[8.0] "This is, for my money, probably one of the single greatest short matches of all time. As someone who was unfamiliar with either of these guys work as well as their feud, this blew me away. It seriously looked like they were wrestling in 1.5x speed. It was so fast and fun to watch and I was hooked the whole time. Definitely going to have to watch the rest of this feud at some point."

[6.0] "Interesting to compare how these two worked together in a WWF ring vs their more popular matches in New Japan. More methodical, but still some really cool spots showcasing their athleticism."

[10.0] "This might not be the best match out of this two as everyone is quick to point out. But dammit! This is the first match I've seen from them and I'm extremely surprised. I'm amazed but the athletic ability of this two and their chemistry is clear coming from their previous 5-star matches. This style of wrestling and coordination would be impressive by today standards, let alone 40 years ago."

[6.0] "Really wanted a longer match here after seeing what sort of amazing show these two could put on in previous matches - but the importance of it happening at MSG still makes this one worth watching if you're really into the history side of things. Even when they're a little more quiet, you can still see everyone in the crowd glued to the match and trying to get a view around the people sitting in front of them. At one point Tiger Mask flips Dynamite over his head and I'm pretty sure if he'd gone any higher he would've landed in the Hudson River."

[8.0] "This wasn't their best match against each other, but it certainly was cool to see how they got the crowd in Madison Square Garden go nuts for their display of revolutionizing junior heavyweight wrestling. Their fast-paced sequences, amazing agility and exciting moves truly made them stand out as arguably the two best wrestlers in the world at the time."

[7.0] "This is a solid, if short, showcase that doesn't really offer anything new if you've seen their previous matches. That said, the crowd is great, having clearly never seen anything like this before. Could have been so much more, but still a very good and influential performance."

[7.0] "This might be the weakest of their matches and it still gets the MSG crowd on their feet several times. It's clear this audience has never seen anything quite like this. Yes, the match leaves you wanting more, and that's exactly what wrestling has been doing for the past 40 years: giving you more action like this. These two are to wrestling what Plato is to Western Philosophy. ***3/4"

[7.0] "Not the best match these legends had, but one of the most important. This was a new style of wrestling for a vast majority of American wrestling fans to experience. It was only a fraction of what they did in their other classics, but still fun to watch and revisit."

[6.0] "This match could of been another good match to the series but they were ust not given enough time. I just didn't see the intensity there and it just didn't click for me."

[6.0] "Not their best match together, I put that down to them being in a WWF ring and probably being told to tone things down. Then again, this is still a Tiger Mask/Dynamite Kid match so it's going to be good almost by default. For the standards these two set it's disappointing, but it's still unlike anything you'd see in a WWF ring around this time, so it's worth a look for that reason if nothing else."

[10.0] "Way too short, that said, this was almost the perfect length of time for Dynamite and Tiger Mask/Sayama. They got all their spots in and not a single mistake, you could audibly hear fans in the audience gasping by what they were seeing. I know most fans now will watch this and not see what's such a big deal, but when you watch this match in context to what matches typically looked like, you'll appreciate it far more."

[7.0] "YOU'RE ALL INSANE. For a 7-minute match, and given the era, this is a great match. I have NO idea how people can possibly say this is the 'worst' match these two have had. It was incredibly action packed in all 7 of those minutes. Oh, and this most certainly was NOT a quiet audience. They were constantly applauding the interactions between both wrestlers, especially when Tiger Mask pulled off his insane series of attacks that ended with a feint dive through the ropes. People gave that a standing ovation FFS! "No noise".... pfft as if. The crowd was confused yet intrigued by Tiger Mask's style right from the start as he essentially danced around the ring. They almost thought he was a joke character, until he let loose that fantastic spinning roundhouse kick. From there the interactions between these 2 were incredibly fluid and very technical, and the crowd (and I myself) loved it. It was a total joy to watch. Dynamite did a great job at building Tiger Mask up here, making sure to play the aggressive yet cowardly heel role perfectly in order to get over Tiger Mask's immense talent and make his sudden ingenious displays feel much more striking. Dynamite himself deserves a lot of praise for his own great moments, as there really is NO Tiger Mask without Dynamite Kid, but at the end of the day the star of the match was undoubtedly still Tiger Mask. It's a cliche (heck, it's a cliche to call it a cliche at this point), but damn, these 2 wrestlers were so far ahead of the game, especially Sayama. These guys are the pioneers that propped up the transition from wrestling as an entertainment-form only respected because of its supposed authenticity to an art that is respected for its athleticism and in-ring storytelling. Ignore the naysayers. For only 7 minutes this is an absolute must-see. ***3/4"

[5.0] "This wasn't really a bad match, nice and quick. There's not much to go off, Tiger Mask got his stuff in, Dynamite Kid did his stuff, crowd made pretty much no noise, wasn't horrible, wasn't very good, it was alright. The rounding moonsault at the end was probably the best part of the match so that says a lot about the rest of it. I can 100% see how this was one of their worst matches. (**3/4)"

[5.0] "Easily the worst match in their series. Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid did nothing special here, nothing that really overtopped their matches in New Japan. I'd fairly call this match a little above adequate."

[4.0] "I gave this match **. Some decent in ring action, but nothing spectacular. This match is also way too short, clocking in at around 6-7 minutes which made it feel like it was over before it had been properly build up."

[8.0] "For that time the match was simply - fantastic, and the match was in the MSG, which at that time have seen anything like it. Techniques have shown just unreal at the time. Match was perfect, but short."