Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Review of Tiger Jeet Singh Documentary

Last night I watched the documentary Tiger on CBC Newsworld. The film follows veteran wrestler Tiger Jeet Singh on a 2004 tour of Japan and tells his life story as well. At 60 years of age, Tiger Jeet Singh is still causing havoc and selling out shows in the rings of Japan.

His wrestling career started in the office of legendary Toronto wrestling promoter Frank Tunney. Tiger left the slumping wrestling business in the mid-60s but when business picked up, Tunney wanted him back. Clips are shown of Tiger Jeet Singh's 1971 cage match with The Sheik.

Then a funny thing happened. Tiger became a much bigger and more memorable star in Japan than he ever could have become here. It all started when Tiger slapped Antonio Inoki's wife after she insulted the way he dressed and the fued between Tiger & Inoki took off from there. They also showed clips from a 1990 tag team match where Tiger Jeet Singh teamed up with Antonio Inoki.

Meanwhile his wife was at home raising their children and built a business empire that started with a gift shop on Bloor St. West in Toronto and grew from there.

Tiger Jeet Singh is still going strong today. Clips were shown of a 2004 match of Tiger Jeet Singh vs Naoya Ogawa at a Nagoya, Japan Hustle show. Tiger is in tremendous shape for his age. His wife said Tiger has tried to retire but enjoys performing too much. Footage is also shown of Tiger Jeet Singh on the streets of Tokyo with his son (known as Tiger Ali Singh in the WWF), training and psyching himself up for the match and his unorthodox ring entrance. This is interspersed with from Tiger Jeet Singh's 60th birthday party.

The film includes comments from Tiger Jeet Singh's family, pro wrestling journalists Greg Oliver, Dan Lovransky & JImmy Suzuki and wrestlers George King, Steve Corino & Dan Bobish. Tiger is a must see film for any wrestling fan and a lot of those fans have probably never heard of Tiger Jeet Singh. He may be crazy in the ring but Tiger Jeet Singh comes across as a very humble man outside the ring.

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