Black Tiger (professional wrestling)

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Mark Rocco as Black Tiger in 1982.

Black Tiger (ブラック・タイガー, Burakku Taigā) has been the

professional wrestlers in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as opponents of the four incarnations of Tiger Mask. The character is drawn from the original Japanese Tiger Mask anime
. The trademark of the character is to always wear a mask and tights in an almost identical design to that of his perennial rival only with entirely black and silver coloring.

Origins

According to the storyline set forth by the original anime, Black Tiger is a wrestler trained and sent by a Yakuza-like organisation called the Tiger's Cave. The Tiger's Cave desire vengeance upon the wrestler Tiger Mask, a former trainee of theirs, for publicly turning his back on them and no longer paying them monetary tributes. With the anime's protagonist translated by Antonio Inoki to actual NJPW wrestling events (in the form of Satoru Sayama) it was perhaps inevitable that his arch-enemy would also appear in the promotion.

The wrestlers portraying Black Tiger have traditionally been

TNA 2006 World X-Cup Tournament and during his CMLL career Black Tiger III was overtly portrayed as being Japanese. Black Tiger V
was the first time Black Tiger was played by a Japanese wrestler.

Incarnations

Incarnations of Black Tiger
Generation Name
Black Tiger I Mark Rocco
Black Tiger II Eddie Guerrero
Black Tiger III
César Cuauhtémoc González
Black Tiger IV Rocky Romero
Black Tiger V Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Black Tiger VI Tomohiro Ishii
Black Tiger VII
Kazushige Nosawa
Black Tiger VIII Ricky Reyes

Black Tiger I

Mark "Rollerball" Rocco, an established British wrestler, was the first to assume the persona in 1982 to oppose the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama.[1][2] His pinnacle of success was defeating Gran Hamada in a tournament final for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship on May 6, 1982, and was defeated twenty days later by Tiger Mask for the belt. Sayama left NJPW in 1983 and the rights to Tiger Mask were purchased by All Japan Pro Wrestling the following year for the use of Mitsuharu Misawa. AJPW were not to create a Black Tiger counterpart. Rocco continued to portray Black Tiger in NJPW until 1990.

Black Tiger II

In August 1993 Black Tiger made a return, this time portrayed by Eddie Guerrero.[2] His Tiger Mask rival at this time was Koji Kanemoto. Kanemoto unmasked in January 1994, while Guerrero was a finalist in the 1994 Super Grade Junior Heavyweight Tag League with The Great Sasuke, came third in the 1994 and 1995 Best of the Super Juniors tournaments and was victorious in 1996.

Black Tiger III

Following the fall of WCW, alumnus

L.A. Park on February 4, 2006.[3] He briefly wrestled under the persona again in 2017, teaming with Black Tiger VII to take on Dr Wagner Jr. and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

Black Tiger IV

In 2005

TNA Wrestling's World X-Cup. Black Tiger IV returned to New Japan in February 2009, joining GBH
and restarting his feud with Tiger Mask IV. On April 5, 2009, at Resolution '09 Tiger Mask IV defeated Black Tiger IV in a title vs. mask match. After the match Romero removed his mask and then raised the arm of Tiger Mask thus ending his run as Black Tiger.

Black Tiger V

Black Tiger's fifth Generation (V) arrived in NJPW at Tokyo Dome February 15, 2009, attacking Tiger Mask IV. For the next couple of months, the new Black Tiger disappeared and was replaced at shows by Black Tiger IV. On April 5, 2009, at Resolution '09 after Tiger Mask had defeated Black Tiger IV for the last time, he was once again attacked by the fifth Black Tiger, who gave him a

Toryumon Mexico, where he lost the mask for the second time on May 14, 2011, to Último Dragón.[4] Despite losing his mask twice, Takaiwa continues to make appearances as Black Tiger V.[5]

Black Tiger VI

Black Tiger's sixth generation (VI), Tomohiro Ishii, had the shortest run under the mask. In early 2011, Ishii began feuding with Tiger Mask IV and, after losing his hair on January 23,[6] began wearing a Black Tiger mask, despite still going by his real name, which he then lost to Tiger Mask IV on February 20 at The New Beginning.[7]

Black Tiger VII

Black Tiger's seventh generation (VII),

Kazushige Nosawa's May 23 arrest for smuggling cannabis, it was confirmed that he had been portraying Black Tiger.[11] Two days later, New Japan officially pulled Tiger from the Best of the Super Juniors tournament.[12]
Nosawa has continued working as Black Tiger VII, most notably for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Black Tiger VIII

Black Tiger's eight generation (VIII) debuted with Team Filthy on NJPW Strong on episode 68 (November 28, 2021), where he attacked former Black Tiger Rocky Romero causing a DQ finish to a 5 vs 5 tag match, before being revealed to be Romero's former Havana Pitbulls team mate, Ricky Reyes.

Signature moves

Notes

  1. ISBN 0-89689-267-0
    .
  2. ^ a b Guerrero, Eddie. Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story, p. 92.
  3. ^ "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". BLack Tiger III (in Spanish). Mexico. July 2007. p. 34. Tomo I.
  4. ^ Lizárraga, Alfonso (2011-05-15). "Ultimo Dragon gana la mascara Black Tiger V". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved 2011-05-16.
  5. ^ 吉江と黒虎が「ももクロ軍」結成. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
  6. ^ "NJPW Presents CMLL Fantastica Mania 2011". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). 2011-01-23. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  7. ^ "The New Beginning". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  8. ^ "『Super Jr.』参戦選手決定! 全日本から "レンタル移籍"のBushi、ロウ・キー、そしてドラゲーの"超・鳥人"Pacが初参戦!!". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  9. ^ "NEVER．9 ～Road to the Super Jr．2Days Tournament 1st．～". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  10. ^ "NEVER．9 ～Road to the Super Jr．2Days Tournament Final～". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2012-04-15.
  11. ^ "Nosawa論外と紫雷イオ、大麻取締法違反で逮捕". Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. 2012-05-25. Archived from the original on 2012-05-28. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  12. ^ "Nosawa論外と紫雷イオ、大麻取締法違反で逮捕". Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. May 25, 2012. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.

References

External links
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