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'98 FINAL SUMMER FANTASY: Tiger Dream vs. Hiromi Yagi (Free) |
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This was Candy Okutsu's debut as Tiger Dream. I'm probably going to be in the minority here, but I thought this was the best match on the show. Fittingly, this was a junior style match. It was the most exciting match on the card, and had the best work and high spots. The downfall was that Candy blew a few of the Sayama spots the match was intended to showcase, and the finish came out of nowhere. "I wasn't too surprised that Candy blew the Sayama spots. In the small video package just before the match, you could see that Candy was having some difficulty executing Sayama's spots, particularly the rope climbing. In the more complex spots, it seemed like Candy hesistated because she was unsure if she could execute them. In turn, that led to her fall in confidence and the spots looked somewhat blown," wrote Keith. In a Black Tigerish move, Yagi attacked before the bell, but Tiger warded her off, so for once it made sense that they still had the ring announcements. The match got off to a fast start, and turned into a very good match once they got over a couple flaws in Candy's execution. The best spot was early on where Yagi tried a huracanana, but Tiger Dream pushed her off, so it was like Yagi did an assisted backflip off Tiger's shoulders and landed on her feet. "I disagree with this point because I remember seeing TD land uneasily and do a roll out onto her feet. It wasn't done that well even though TD tried hard. I thought that the best Tiger Sayama spot was TD doing the go behind into the drop toe hold. That Tiger Sayama spot was hit perfectly and the crowd, in recognizing that Tiger Sayama spot, popped for Candy's efforts. Also, in the match, there seemed to be one or two times that Candy looked to be going for the space flying Tiger drop, but it's questionable whether she had ever learned this spot before," wrote Keith. A lot of people have tried to duplicate Sayama's drop toe hold, but no one has ever come close to matching it. The speed and fluidity Sayama did this spot with when he was in his prime was awe inspiring. Candy did the move, but to me it's like a cover song, I'm not going to be impressed unless you do it better than the original artist or bring a good deal of originality to it. As far as the space flying Tiger drop goes, I don't buy that lil' Candy can clear the top rope out of a handstand, so I don't expect to see anything more than an occassional tease of it. Like Sayama's protégé Tiger Mask IV, Candy mainly did Sayama's spots from 1981-83. However, she also incorporated some more modern moves like the Merosault. Tiger eventually pinned Yagi with her Tiger suplex. "This match made me feel uneasy in a way because I think it was another instance where ARSION was pushing their girls too hard. In this case, I think you could see, even under the mask, the amount of pressure on Candy for doing the Tiger Mask gimmick. Her hesistation at a few points in the match seemed to be the reasons why she couldn't execute the Tiger Mask moves. The match seemed very rehearsed at some points because they wanted Candy to look her best. It didn't come off as naturally as when Candy was wrestling her JWP style against say Fukawa on their debut show. That said, she did a great performance considering she was debuting the gimmick," wrote Keith. I'd hardly call it a great performance by Candy. I wouldn't even call it a great performance by Yagi, even though she was the better of the two. It was more that Candy's actual ability is good enough, and her opponent was one she was so familiar with, that it was a very good match in spite of not really accomplishing what it set out to do. There is no way you can justify calling this great when Tiger had problems with the Tiger spots this match was designed to showcase. Luckily, those were the only ones she had problems with. In a move that was definitely right out of Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger, Yagi attacked Tiger after the match, and they had a pull apart. This was necessary because Sayama never ever lost, so they needed to create reasons for him to have rematches with the top guys that he always downed nonetheless. "I think Yagi was a great (but not perfect) choice as an opponent for Candy and she did her role very well, to the point of attacking Candy before and after the bell, as well as assisting Candy in some of the Tiger Mask moves (like when Candy ran above her in the corner). Unfortunately, I don't think the gimmick really has worked for Candy, if anything, possibly leading her to her back injury that landed her in the hospital during the month of January 1999. Candy's an incredible worker, but I don't think she has the level of athleticism to handle the TM gimmick, especially with her previous injuries. Hikari might've been a better choice for this style and gimmick with Candy acting as Black Tiger instead, but we all know the story with Hikari," wrote Keith. I think Yagi was a great choice for this match. First of all, there is no one that works better with Candy. Secondly, the focus of the Black Tiger role against Tiger is being the base that helps showcase the flashy Tiger spots and being dickish enough that you make people want to see rematches even though you always lose. Yagi typically shows heelish tendencies even though she isn't a heel per say, while Candy just doesn't have that mean streak (she is a punk now, but isn't very convincing and comes of rather pathetic because she steals the lame US mannerisms and then keeps begging the crowd to react to them and her moves). Plus, with Hikari & Candy, you'd have two Lucha technicos, meaning you have no base for the flying moves. We know that those two would do a weak beginning and then turn it into a spotfest, which isn't what Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger is supposed to be. Most of the reason this match was as good as it was had to do with Yagi, but Tiger Mask was also carried in his best matches by the likes of Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi, yet he still came out looking like the star because he won and everyone was in awe of his spots. Jerome: Very good match that was a change of pace from the tournament. Both were really good, but Candy sometimes seemed somewhat hesitant. The Sayama drop toe hold was not that good, but the crowd recognized it so it came off pretty well. Yagi acted quite heelish during the match to enforce Candy in her role of babyface Tiger. This time I really thought that the finish came out of nowhere, and it was a little disappointing. Still, it was an exciting match. Special thanks to: Jerome Denis & Keith Watanabe - Manami Toyota Rules! 11:03 (10:04 shown)
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