Ring name(s)	Tiger Mask IV
Billed height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Billed weight	190 lb (86 kg; 14 st)
Born	October 20, 1970 (1970-10-20) (age 39) Urayasu, Chiba
Trained by	Tiger Mask The Great Sasuke
Debut	July 15, 1995

Yoshihiro Yamazaki (born October 20, 1970), best known by his ring name Tiger Mask (IV) (タイガーマスク), is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Yamazaki is the fourth wrestler to portray the Tiger Mask image / persona; having used it since 1995. This makes him the person to have used the "Tiger Mask" gimmick the longest time.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Michinoku Pro 1.2 New Japan Pro Wrestling 1.3 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 2 Other media 3 Personal life 4 In wrestling 5 Championships and accomplishments 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Career

The young Yamazaki was originally trained by the original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) and The Great Sasuke and unlike Tiger Mask II and Tiger Mask III, Yamazaki has been endorsed by Sayama himself. He also traveled to Mexico where he trained in lucha libre.^[1]

[edit] Michinoku Pro

He made his professional wrestling debut in 1995 for Michinoku Pro and became the fourth Tiger Mask, succeeding Koji Kanemoto. While working for Michioku Pro Tiger Mask IV won the “APEX OF TRIANGLE” Six Man Tag Team Championship with his trainer the Great Sasuke and Gran Hamada. Just over a year into his wrestling career Tiger Mask IV won the UWA World Middleweight Championship and held it for 3 months before being forced to vacate the title due to an injury. ^[2] After returning from his injury Tiger Mask IV 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 new British Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Champion in London, England. Despite it being called "British Commonwealth", the title was mainly promoted in Japan. Tiger Mask IV 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 IV left Michinoku Pro. ^[3]

[edit] New Japan Pro Wrestling

Tiger Mask IV 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 IV was booked to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from then champion Koji Kanemoto. ^[4] Tiger Mask IV’s first IWGP reign came to an end in December of 2003 when he had to vacate the title due to an injury. ^[5] Tiger Mask IV returned with renewed strength and won the 2004 Best of the Super Juniors tournament where he beat the then IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Heat in the semi finals and Koji Kanemoto in the finals to win the annual tournament. It wouldn’t be until 2005 that Tiger Mask IV was able to recreate his semi final victory to defeat Heat for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. ^[5] Tiger Mask IV also won the 2005 Best of the Super Juniors making him the first and to date only wrestler to win the tournament 2 years in a row. In October of 2005 Tiger Mask IV lost the title to the latest incarnation of the Black Tiger gimmick – Black Tiger IV (Rocky Romero).^[5] Tiger Mask IV defeated Black Tiger in a rematch on February 19, 2006, in a match where Black Tiger put both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship making Tiger Mask IV a double champion. ^[5][6] 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. ^[5] the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title would reside around Tiger Mask IV’s waist for over a year until he lost it to Mike Quackenbush on a National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) sanctioned show in Portage, Indiana. ^[6] When New Japan decided to create several "Brands", Tiger Mask was appointed as an 'ace' of WRESTLE LAND alongside Hiroshi Tanahashi but ended up wrestling 2 matches under the WRESTLE LAND Brand. In July of 2008, Tiger Mask IV defeated Prince Devitt in a tournament final to become a 4 time IWGP World Jr. Heavyweight champion. On the "Circuit 2008 New Japan Generation" tour Low Ki ended Tiger Mask’s reign. On January 4, 2009 during NJPW's annual Tokyo Dome show Wrestle Kingdom III, he regained the title and became only the third 5 time IWGP World Junior Heavyweight champion in the title's history. ^[5] Tiger Mask made his first successful title defense Jushin 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 Black Tiger IV (Rocky Romero) at Resolution '09 in a title vs. mask match, Black Tiger V once again attacked Tiger Mask, gave him a Death Valley driver and then unmasked him. On June 20, 2009, at Dominion Tiger Mask defeated Black Tiger V in a mask vs. mask match. Afterwards Black Tiger removed his mask to reveal Tatsuhito Takaiwa, the first native under the Black Tiger mask. On August 15, 2009, at G1 Climax 2009 Tour Tiger Mask lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title to Místico. He regained the title on November 8, 2009, at NJPW's Destruction '09 show when he defeated Místico.^[7]

[edit] Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Tiger Mask IV has made several appearances for the American based wrestling company Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) through the working relationship between NJPW and TNA. He appeared on TNA Sacrifice 2007 in a four way bout featuring Alex Shelley, Jerry Lynn, and Senshi. ^[8] He also made a couple of appearances on TNA Impact!, TNA's weekly show. Tiger Mask IV was booked as a Special Appearance and never given any long term storylines.

[edit] Other media

Outside of wrestling, Yamazaki appeared on the second SASUKE competition in 1998 although he failed to make it past the first obstacle of the First Stage.

[edit] Personal life

On July 22, 2006, Yamazaki married a then 32-year-old woman whose given name is unknown, though her former last name was Nishimura.

[edit] In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Diving headbutt
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Destroy Suplex / Tiger Suplex '09 (Pumphandle tiger)
    • Millennium Suplex (Crossface chickenwing) – innovated
    • Tiger

• Signature moves
  • Crossface chickenwing
  • Double underhook suplex, sometimes from the top rope
  • High–angle German suplex
  • Kneeling belly to belly piledriver
  • Multiple kick variations
    • Rolling sole
    • Shoot
    • Tiger feint
    • Tiger Wall Flip (Corner back flip)
  • Rear naked choke
  • Rolling moonsault
  • Sitout double underhook powerbomb

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

• Michinoku Pro Wrestling
  • APEX OF TRIANGLE Six–Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Great Sasuke and Gran Hamada
  • British Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[3]

• National Wrestling Alliance
  • NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[6]

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (6 times, current)^[5][7]
  • Best of the Super Juniors (2004, 2005)

• Universal Wrestling Association
  • UWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Profile at Puroresufan.com
• Official profile at NJPW.co.jp (In Japanese)