The Tiger Mask W cartoon continues to present young Ryu Wakamatsu, the cute up-and-coming rookie, in preliminary matches on nearly every episode.
And just like real life pro wrestling shows, the rookies on the undercard are often more enticing and fun to watch than the Main Event.
This match is joined in progress, Wakamatsu working on his opponent’s arm. Both young wrestlers are dressed in plain, basic black trunks and boots — apparently the uniform for rookie wrestlers until they get a gimmick and graduate into fancier gear.
I dig those tall knee-high boots on these wrestlers. Here we see Wakamatsu clamping on an awesome Keylock, using his legs to scissor his opponent’s trapped arm. This is another example of this cartoon’s usage of the hottest wrestling holds, many of which we haven’t seen since the Golden Age.
That’s hot — Wakamatsu begins rolling and flipping, tossing his trapped opponent while maintaining his relentless Keylock.
Again and again Wakamatsu rolls his opponent — over 60 times!
The repetition has the feel of a sexual act, or gives us the sense of masturbation.
After performing so many rolls, Wakamatsu collapses flat on his back, utterly spent as the ref counts him out and he loses the match. What a strange scene! What an odd way to lose a wrestling match! Seeing the cute rookie panting and exhausted, we almost get the sense that he is feeling post-coital fatigue, like he just nutted and now he needs a nap after rolling around repeatedly with his buff opponent.
In Episode 7, we again saw Ryu Wakamatsu in a warm-up match, presented as Eye Candy to whet the appetite of the audience.
I love when Japanese cartoonists draw cute young guys — damn he is adorable, gritting his teeth and scowling, trying to look intimidating (but you just want to hug him,)
A nice Flying Drop-kick by Wakamatsu begins the match. Again both wrestlers are wearing plain black trunks and boots.
I wonder if Wakamatsu’s opponent is meant to be the same man he Key-locked in Episode 6, or is this a new playmate? They didn’t bother naming these obscure jobbers, so I’m not sure.
There is sure a lot of teeth gritting in this sweaty match. Our heroic rookie applies the dreaded Boston Crab to force a submission. Wakamatsu actually won a match — WOW!
And just like wrestling shows in real life, the preliminary bouts are over with far too quickly!
