Wrestling Move of the Week: Tiger Suplex
Tiger Mask IV hitting Black Tiger IV with a Tiger Suplex.
Move Name: Tiger Suplex
Created/innovated by: Alfonso Dantés
Notable users of move: Satoru Sayama, Mitsuharu Misawa; Bryan Danielson; Zack Sabre, Jr.
Notable variations of the move: Tiger Suplex ‘85 - Mitsuharu Misawa (Tiger Suplex with the opponent’s left arm locked in a chickenwing and their left arm and neck locked in a half nelson); Millenium Suplex - Tiger Mask IV (Bridging Tiger Suplex with a crossface chickenwing instead of a dual chickenwing)
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I’m a huge fan of a well-executed suplex.
A suplex, for the uninitiated, is an offensive move used in both professional and amateur wrestling. A suplex is a throw that involves a wrestler lifting their opponent and bridging or rolling their hips and lower body to slam their opponent onto their back, upper back, or neck. In all honesty, it is the one carryover item from amateur, freestyle, and Greco-Roman wrestling that has maintained its relevance in the wild and crazy world of professional wrestling. This relevance can be more than likely attributed to the suplex being the most recognizable bridge between the disciplines of pro and amateur wrestling to diehard and casual fans of either sport. In amateur wrestling, a suplex is a tool of dominating a contest. It’s a means of pinning your opponent and using their weight against them to score points and maintain control. In professional wrestling, however, the concept of the suplex is a mixing bowl of style and variations, mainly because the idea of using your inherent strength and pairing it with using your opponent’s own body as a weapon against them is just too damn hard to pass up. Because of this, the suplex is truly a primary item in the toolkit of every professional wrestler.
Let’s see…you have the “standard” Vertical Suplex…
The amateur wrestling-inspired Gutwrench Suplex, the signature move of arguably the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, Aleksandr Karelin (also known as the Karelin Lift)…
The freestyle wrestling-inspired Capture Suplex…
The freestyle wrestling-inspired Belly-to-Belly Suplex…
The bridging Northern Lights Suplex…
I could go on and on. The fact of the matter is there are a whole lot of suplex variations out there. Some are hard-hitting; some are graceful yet impactful; some are the personification of power or leverage. There’s a suplex variation out there for everybody! Today, however, I want to place the onus on one of my all-time favorite suplex variations, the Tiger Suplex.
Created and innovated by Alfonso Dantés, a legend in Lucha libre and a former multi-time Mexican National Heavyweight Champion and multi-time National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Light Heavyweight Champion, and originally known as the Toque Tapatio, the Tiger Suplex is a suplex variation that leaves its recipient defenseless against its impact by capturing their arms! To execute a Tiger Suplex a wrestler gets behind their opponent, hooking both of the opponent's arms from the sides in a chickenwing position. The attacking wrestler then places their hands palm down flat against their opponent's upper back. Once locked in, the attacking wrestler then lifts their opponent up and falls backward, arching their back and legs and slamming their opponent down to the mat shoulder and neck first. To fully illustrate that word salad, I give you a glimpse at a picture-perfect Tiger Suplex courtesy of Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask and the person responsible for the Tiger Suplex moniker as well as popularizing the maneuver outside of Mexico. The end result of the Tiger Suplex?
A move that is hard-to-counter once an opponent is locked in and a great impact depending on the intent. What do I mean by intent? Well, the Tiger Suplex can either end in a bridging pin or be released upon execution, similar to a plethora of pro wrestling suplexes. The arm trap aspect of the Tiger Suplex, however, ensures that the impact of the move will be distributed across an opponent’s neck, back, and/or shoulders. Here is a dangerous release Tiger Suplex, courtesy of the late great pro wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa:
If the Tiger Suplex has one flaw, one hindrance that many other suplexes do not it’s simply that it doesn’t allow for much versatility and innovation. Due to the way the move is set up and executed the wiggle room for exploring variations and innovating new ways to hit an opponent with the Tiger Suplex is somewhat limited. Limited, but not non-existent, as there are two notable variations of the Tiger Suplex that add a bit of a twist to the move via the method in which they go about trapping an opponent’s arms. What’s interesting to note is that both of these variations were innovated by men who took on the mantle of Tiger Mask after Satoru Sayama: Mitsuharu Misawa, who was the second person to be known as Tiger Mask after All Japan Pro Wrestling brought the rights to the character, and Tiger Mask IV, who is currently wrestling in New Japan Pro Wrestling. It makes sense though, seeing how the Tiger Suplex is the primary finishing maneuver of the Tiger Mask persona!
Misawa added an extra flair to the Tiger Suplex maneuver by creating the Tiger Suplex ‘85, a Tiger Suplex variation that is very similar to the standard Tiger Suplex except that instead of a double chickenwing, the attacker uses a single chickenwing and a half nelson. Misawa would only use the Tiger Suplex ‘85 when all of his other high-impact finishing maneuvers had failed to seal the deal. It is a truly painful snap variation of the Tiger Suplex that offers no safety to the recipient.
Tiger Mask IV utilizes a variation of the Tiger Suplex he has dubbed the Millennium Suplex. This is a Tiger Suplex variation that sees Tiger Mask IV lock in a single chickenwing on his opponent’s left arm before ensnaring his opponent in a crossface chickenwing submission hold. Tiger Mask IV then throws his opponent in the same manner as a Tiger Suplex, dropping them on their head. He more often than not uses a release version of this move, but he has added a pinning bridge to the maneuver on a few occasions.
The Tiger Suplex may not be viewed by many as the most devastating suplex in professional wrestling. And it isn’t a suplex that is an homage to amateur wrestling by any stretch of the imagination. But when executed well? It is a thing of beauty and the kind of maneuver that can disorient and deliver a deadly blow when used at the right time. And, at the end of the day, that is the dual purpose of many suplexes, is it not?