 Tiger Mask in August 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Yoshihiro Yamazaki[3] (1970-10-20)October 20, 1970 (age 55)[3] Urayasu, Chiba, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Tiger Mask[1] |
| Billed height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 85 kg (187 lb)[1] |
| Trained by | Satoru Sayama[1][2] The Great Sasuke[3] |
| Debut | July 15, 1995[1] |
Yoshihiro Yamazaki (山崎 佳宏,Yamazaki Yoshihiro; born October 20, 1970)[3] is a Japaneseluchadorenmascarado (or maskedprofessional wrestler), best known for being the fourth man to portrayTiger Mask (タイガーマスク,Taigā Masuku). He primarily works forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he is a former 6-timeIWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and 2-timeIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Having competed as Tiger Mask since 1995, he is the longest tenured incarnation of the character.
The young Yamazaki was originally trained by the originalTiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) andThe Great Sasuke and unlike thesecond andthird Tiger Masks, Yamazaki has been endorsed by Sayama himself. He also traveled to Mexico where he trained inlucha libre.[4]
He made his professional wrestling debut in 1995 forMichinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro/MPW) and became the fourth Tiger Mask, succeedingKoji Kanemoto. While working for Michinoku Pro Tiger Mask won the "APEX OF TRIANGLE" Six Man Tag Team Championship with his trainer the Great Sasuke andGran Hamada. Just over a year into his wrestling career Tiger Mask won theUWA World Middleweight Championship and held it for 3 months before being forced to vacate the title due to an injury.[5] After returning from his injury Tiger Mask spent a couple of years working mid card and lower main event matches until he was finally given another run with a singles title when he won a tournament to crown a newBritish Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Champion inLondon,England. Despite it being called "British Commonwealth", the title was mainly promoted in Japan. Tiger Mask would later vacate the title due to an injury but was given a second reign with the title in 2000 that would last exactly one year shortly before Tiger Mask left Michinoku Pro.[6]
After leaving M-Pro, Yamazaki trained withmixed martial artist and fellow Sayama traineeEnson Inoue. Management ofPride Fighting Championships proposed him to compete in mixed martial arts with his mask on, but he declined after receiving a better offer to wrestle forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling. The same year, there was a suggestion of makingGuy Mezger fight at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye replacing Yamazaki under the Mask, but he similarly refused.[7]
Tiger Mask made his NJPW debut on January 20, 2002, and at first wrestled as a Michinoku Pro star and not a full-time worker. In December 2002, he officially joined NJPW, and quickly rose in the contenders ranks in the Junior Heavyweight division. On April 23, 2003, Tiger Mask was booked to win theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from then championKoji Kanemoto.[8] Tiger Mask's first IWGP reign came to an end in December 2003, when he had to vacate the title due to an injury.[9] Tiger Mask returned with renewed strength and won the2004 Best of the Super Juniors tournament where he beat the then IWGP Junior Heavyweight ChampionHeat in the semi-finals and Koji Kanemoto in the finals to win the annual tournament.[2] It wouldn't be until 2005 that Tiger Mask was able to recreate his semi final victory to defeat Heat for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title.[9] Tiger Mask also won the2005 Best of the Super Juniors making him the first and only wrestler to win the tournament two years in a row until the record would be shared byHiromu Takahashi in 2021. In October 2005 Tiger Mask lost the title to the fourth incarnation of theBlack Tiger gimmick (Rocky Romero).[9] Tiger Mask defeated Black Tiger in a rematch on February 19, 2006, in a match where Black Tiger put both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and theNWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship on the line, making Tiger Mask a double champion.[9][10]Tiger Mask's reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion ended on May 3, 2006, by the man he won the title from the first time, Koji Kanemoto.[9] the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title would reside around Tiger Mask's waist for over a year until he lost it toMike Quackenbush on aNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) sanctioned show in Portage, Indiana.[10]
When New Japan decided to create several "Brands", Tiger Mask was appointed as an 'ace' of Wrestle Land alongsideHiroshi Tanahashi but ended up wrestling 2 matches under the WRESTLE LAND Brand. In July 2008, Tiger Mask defeatedPrince Devitt in a tournament final to become a four-time IWGP World Jr. Heavyweight champion. On the "Circuit 2008 New Japan Generation" tourLow Ki ended Tiger Mask's reign. On January 4, 2009, during NJPW's annual Tokyo Dome showWrestle Kingdom III, he regained the title and became only the third five-time IWGP World Junior Heavyweight champion in the title's history.[9] Tiger Mask made his first successful title defenseJushin Thunder Liger after which he was presented with a third-generation IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship belt. While being presented with the belt he was attacked by new version of Black Tiger, the fifth version of his storyline arch enemy. After defeating and unmasking the fourth Black Tiger (Rocky Romero) at Resolution '09 in a title vs. mask match, the fifth Black Tiger once again attacked Tiger Mask, gave him aDeath Valley driver and then unmasked him.[11] On June 20, 2009, atDominion 6.20, Tiger Mask defeated Black Tiger V in a mask vs. mask match. Afterwards Black Tiger removed his mask to revealTatsuhito Takaiwa, the first native under the Black Tiger mask.[12] On August 15, 2009, atG1 Climax 2009 Tour Tiger Mask lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title toMístico. He regained the title on November 8, 2009, at NJPW'sDestruction '09 show when he defeated Místico.[13] On January 4, 2010, atWrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome Tiger Mask lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship toNaomichi Marufuji.[14] After losing a rematch to Marufuji on May 8, 2010, Tiger Mask began showing signs of aheel turn as he attacked the champion after the match.[15] Tiger then entered the2010 Best of the Super Juniors tournament in an attempt to win his third BOSJ and on May 30 continued his heelish behaviour by refusing to shake hands withLa Sombra after losing his opening match to him.[16] The following day it was announced that Tiger had suffered a neck injury and would be sidelined for two months, forcing him to forfeit the rest of his matches in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament.[17]
He made his return on August 14, 2010, in a six-man tag team match, where he, Koji Kanemoto andRyusuke Taguchi wrestledPro Wrestling Noah representativesAtsushi Aoki,Ricky Marvin andTaiji Ishimori to a fifteen-minute time limit draw.[18] On August 22 Tiger and Kanemoto defeated Marvin and Ishimori at a Pro Wrestling Noah event to win the promotion'sGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[19] They would lose the title to Atsushi Aoki and Naomichi Marufuji on December 24, 2010.[20] On January 23, 2011, Tiger Mask put his mask on the line in a Mask vs. Hair match atFantastica Mania 2011, a New Japan andConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre co–promoted event in Tokyo, and defeatedTomohiro Ishii to win his thirdLucha de Apuesta. After the match Ishii attacked and unmasked Tiger Mask.[21][22] On February 20 atThe New Beginning, Tiger Mask defeated Ishii, who had begun wearing a Black Tiger mask, in a Mask vs. Mask match.[23] On June 16, 2012, atDominion 6.16, Tiger Mask won his firstIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, when he and Jushin Thunder Liger defeatedTaichi andTaka Michinoku for the vacant title.[24] On July 22, the team lost the title toForever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero).[25] On September 23, 2015, atDestruction in Okayama, Tiger Mask defeated Steve Anthony to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time.[26] He lost the title back to Anthony on March 19, 2016.[27] On October 25, 2021, Tiger Mask became IWGP Junior Tag Team Champion with his Flying Tigers teammate Robbie Eagles. The pair later lost the championships to Six or Nine (Ryusuke Taguchi andMaster Wato) on February 19, 2022.[28]
On July 6, 2025, Tiger Mask officially announced that he will retire from in-ring competition in July of 2026.[29]
Tiger Mask made several appearances for the American-based wrestling companyTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) through the working relationship between NJPW and TNA. He appeared onTNA Sacrifice 2007 in a four-way bout featuringAlex Shelley,Jerry Lynn, andSenshi.[30] He also made a couple of appearances onTNA Impact!, TNA's weekly show in early 2008.
Outside of wrestling, Yamazaki appeared on the secondSASUKE competition in 1998 although he failed to make it past the first obstacle of the First Stage.
On July 22, 2006, Yamazaki married a then 32-year-old woman whose given name is unknown, though her former surname was Nishimura. He was previously married to a daughter of wrestlerGran Hamada.[31]
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiger Mask IV (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship) | Black Tiger (IV) (mask) | Tokyo, Japan | Resolution '09 | April 5, 2009 | [11] |
| Tiger Mask (mask) | Black Tiger (V) (mask) | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 6.20 | June 20, 2009 | [12] |
| Tiger Mask (mask) | Tomohiro Ishii (hair) | Tokyo, Japan | Fantastica Mania | January 23, 2011 | [21][22] |
| Tiger Mask (mask) | Black Tiger (VI) (mask) | Sendai, Japan | The New Beginning | February 20, 2011 | [23] |
Media related toTiger Mask IV at Wikimedia Commons
