300 is a lot of posts to make. It's a monumental moment in my short little world so it's natural for me to want to celebrate this occasion with a special match(es) review. However, unlike most people, I'm a fan of unconventionality. I’d much prefer to watch a wrestler so widely looked down upon as Tiger Jeet Singh and pick some of his matches apart or what they are rather than a massive almighty show or reviewing a series of the greatest matches of all time is the trend. It was on my mind to follow that trend but here I am.
So.. Tiger Jeet Singh. What an enigma. He was quite a babyface draw for the Tunneys in Toronto, drawing near 20,000 with The Sheik in the late 60s, capitalising on the emerging Indian population growing in Canada at the time. But his bread and butter was being the foreign heel in other territories overseas, working in Australia, the US and, of course, Japan against Antonio Inoki and others. In fact, I'd put him up there as one of Inoki’s biggest rivals alongside Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Seiji Sakaguchi, etc. Insane feat. I'm going to try to explore some of the Inoki feud available .
NWF Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Tiger Jeet Singh - NJPW Golden Fight Series 1974 - Day 27 26/06/1974
I loved Jeet’s entrance. It's magnificent. And by far my favourite thing about him. Firstly, he stands in the entrance way for ages with a half smiley and menacing look upon his face with a sword in his mouth. That's all he does to rile the crowd up to the point where he almost has a fight with a fan coming to the ring. The Young Lions and other assistants have to seperate the fan and move him far away to avoid escalating. If there is one thing that I like, it's entrance fights. Then he walks around the ring stalling and threatening the crowd with his fist. Great character work. Inoki walks out with nothing but business on his mind. He is ready and Jeet Singh isn't having it. The match is rather simple; for example, Inoki would try to attack and Jeet Singh would pound on him, drag Inoki around the ring and throw anything that was in his grasp at Inoki. Whether it be a table, a chair or a sword. Inoki is cut open and does his best to sell the beat down. The match is under ⅔ falls, as it was the norm back then, so the double count out threw me a little. However it makes the structure of the match easier to follow. Both lost/won the fall so it's a simple fight to the finish. Singh tones down his wild brawling for more simple stomach claws and chokes, which do look good on a bloody Inoki, to be fair, but is unable to ramp it back up as Inoki is able to make a great comeback, stomping and punching the shit out of Jeet. Then Inoki tears Jeet’s arm out of its socket with some gruesome arm pulls and that's it. Inoki made the comeback and won the match. Inoki Bombaye. ***
NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Jeet Singh (c) vs. Antonio Inoki - NJPW Big Fight Series 1975 - Day 25 20/03/1975
Yet another awesome entrance for Singh. A lot of mugging and slow walking to a huge, heated response from the crowd. One fan even threw a perfectly good cup of beer (or whatever beverage it was) at Jeet Singh, catching him flush. Singh reactex by kicking some poor fan who likely only laughed along with the rest of the fans. Oh well. Unlike the ‘74 bout, Inoki starts off hot, teeing off on Jeet Singh with punches and stomps in the corner, causing Jeet to run and scatter for a reprieve. Inoki dominated the opening minutes but soon fell victim to the dreaded punch to the stomach and chin lock of doom. Jeet Singh tries his hand at grappling and while it's not very good or engaging, it was *fine* and made for a decent way to neutralise Inoki. They kick into the finishing with a brawl on the outside. Jeet Singh gets his hands on a spike but Inoki catches his attempt and uses it on him, to a big pop from the crowd, transitioning into a double count out result. Damn! The feud has to continue on, so no proper win for Inoki. However Inoki does get the chance to bloody Singh up badly after the match which ruled. Incredible post match brawl that made up for an okay match; it was a rather decent match narrative wise . **1/2
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