Int Region, St. Louis Region, First Round: (6) Ricky Steamboat vs. (27) Tiger Mask #1

[Tastycles]

This is a first round match in the International Region, St Louis Subregion. It is a standard one on one match. It will be held at the Scottrade Center, St Louis, Missouri

#6. Ricky Steamboat

Vs.

#27. Tiger Mask #1

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[IHW]

Ricky Steamboat will win here. "The Dragon" had it all during his prime. Tiger Mask knows his ring, but Steamboat will steamroll through him.

 

[pumpkinking8987]

In My Book you can forget about Rude, Piper, or Mr. Perfect. Ricky Steamboat is hands down the best wrestler to never win the WWE championship. His In-Ring skills are almost unmatched.

There is a reason that in almost every shoot interview almost every wrestler says that the greatest match they have been in involves The Steamboat

 

[PsychoBlack]

Ricky Steamboat goes over here because he was one of the best wrestlers to ever step through WCW. Tiger Mask was great but I dont think he would have been able to put Steamboat away. He;s seen the best of the best and defeated them as well.

 

[The Brain]

What a great first round match. This would be a thrilling one to watch. Both these men are considered to be among the innovative greats of their generation. This is really an intriguing matchup as their styles would make for a fun match. Steamboat will probably get the win here but Tiger Mask shouldn't be taken lightly. I'll give Steamboat the home field advantage. If this were in Japan I might predict a different outcome.

 

[Bernkastel]

This would be a fantastic match; Tiger Mask had epic clinics with Dynamite Kid, Kenta Kobashi, and Mil Mascaras. Steamboat has had awesome matches with Randy Savage and Rick Flair.

Even in the US, Tiger Mask would have been treated with respect, but he was never the type of draw in Japan that Steamboat was in the US. I've got to give this to The Dragon. Flair, who has wrestled in Japan against some of their biggest stars, still named Steamboat his favorite opponent he's ever faced in his career. That speaks volumes.

 

[DWFJT]

Steamboat is more over with the crowd here and leads him to a victory

 

[Hbkfan4eva]

i believe that steamboat will win this one he is one of the greatest wrestlers who never won the wwe championship although could wrestle with anybody and make it entertaining

 

[Don1978]

Ricky "the dragon" Steamboat is gonna win this one no doubt! Together with the late "macho man" Randy Savage the most complete wrestler of all time who can do it all! 1 of a kind, absolute brilliance and a class act in and out of the ring!

 

[syxxeffect]

Steamboat. Great in ring performer and could make a classic with anyone given the time.

 

[Davi323]

This one follows my general principle that anything you can do, Steamboat can do better. I admit that I know very little about Tiger Mask, other than I won the championship with his doppleganger "El Tigre" in Tecmo World Wrestling on the NES...El Tigre was pretty much a straight clone of Tiger Mask. But, does the fact that I won with him in a video game make him a better choice than Ricky the Dragon Steamboat? NOPE. I have never hid the fact that I am a big time Steamboat mark, and I have to stay true to myself here. Steamboat gets the win.

 

[NSL]

As everyone has basically said, Steamboat wins this. Tiger Mask would give him one hell of a 5-star match, but it still goes to the Dragon. With this being in WCW, Tiger Mask would get the respect all Japanese wrestlers get, but this is where Steamboat was the champ.

 

[Tastycles]

This match would quite possibly be one of the best ever, as both are superb workers. It's hard to pick a winner, really. Tiger Mask's legacy - there's been loads since- is probably greater, but Steamboat has arguably competed at a higher level.

Being in the USA, it helps Steamboat, but at the same time, this is WCW, where foreigners have been prosperous in the past. I honestly don't know who'd win, but I do know it would end in a roll up. Purely because I've been marginally more entertained by him, I'm going Tiger Mask, but either deserves your vote.

 

[ShreddedWheat]

In My Book you can forget about Rude, Piper, or Mr. Perfect. Ricky Steamboat is hands down the best wrestler to never win the WWE championship. His In-Ring skills are almost unmatched.

There is a reason that in almost every shoot interview almost every wrestler says that the greatest match they have been in involves The Steamboat

I read the same book. Steamboat had it all: the body, the skills, the athleticism. Tiger Mask was obviously no slouch, but if The Dragon didn't exceed Tiger Mask in every noteworthy category, I'd say it was damn near a push. And it goes without saying that WrestleMania II and the trio of matches with Flair would make a hell of a highlight reel to argue Steamboat's case. He did it on some of the grandest stages of them all in 80s.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

This would be strange territory for Steamboat as he would outweigh Mask by 75lbs, but this lack of experience would be the only kayfabe advantage I could see for the Tiger. Steamboat has beaten every calibre of wrestler from Ric Flair to Randy Savage to Rick Rude to Tiger Mask II, Tiger Mask I was a great cruiserwight wrestler but it appears that his ego was simply too great for us ever to know just how great he could have been.

Meltzer awards Steamboat with another five star match after a technical masterpiece and win.

 

[klunderbunker]

I'll go with Steamboat here for a very simple reason: he's Ricky Steamboat. I've hardly ever seen a bad Steamboat match and while Tiger Mask is great, it takes some of the absolute best ever to hang with the Dragon. He's better, and there aren't many that he won't be better than. Tiger Mask is awesome, but he got a bad draw here. Steamboat moves on.