Sasuke the great? sasuke? masked tiger?

[Guest Ace309]

On my Best of Great Sasuke tape I've got a match between Great Sasuke and Sasuke the Great. I've also seen references to a tag team of Sasuke the Great and SASUKE, and a tag match between Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask and Sasuke the Great & Masked Tiger.

 

What's the story behind this? Is it just another case of gimmick infringement, or what?

[Guest ElLocoTas]

Okay, everybody knows Great Sasuke. SASUKE is Great Sasukes heel gimmick.

 

Sasuke the Great is a Great Sasuke impersonator. Masao Orihara does that gimmick.

 

Masked Tiger is Takeshi Ono of Battlarts fame.

[Guest Robert S]

After Kaientai Deluxe left MPro in 97 a imposter army (Sasuke the Great and Masked Tiger) entered M-Pro. In fall of 98 The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask (4) defeated Sasuke the Great & Masked Tiger in a double mask vs. double mask match, however Sasuke claimed that the heels didn't have to remove their masks. Super Delfin wanted to force the mask removal, this led to a confrontation between Sasuke and Delfin which ended in a heel turn of Sasuke. Great Sasuke changed his name to SASUKE. Sasuke turned back after he became popular even as a heel.

[Guest Black Tiger]

Sasuke the Great, Mask Tiger and NANIWA were a group of heel counterparts for The Great Sasuke, Gran Naniwa, and Tiger Mask IV.