Tiger Mask IV Opens Up About 2020 ‘Life-Threatening’ Diverticulitis Diagnosis
Tiger Mask kept the diagnosis in-house.
There’s an extensive interview with Tiger Mask IV on NJPW1972.com ahead of his retirement show on July 7th.
During the chat, Tiger Mask opened up about why he’s stepping away from the ring. He shared that a major factor was the operation after he was diagnosed with ‘life-threatening’ diverticulitis. After that, he began to struggle with abdominal strength.
“Obviously, the mileage comes with the career I’ve had, but a major factor was the operation I had when I had diverticulitis in 2020. After that, I really struggled with my abdominal strength and I started to feel the end getting closer, and with all the young talent in NJPW, there were fewer and fewer matches for me, so it just felt like the time was right.” Tiger Mask continued speaking about the diverticulitis diagnosis, “Completely out of the blue. The day before, I was with the family doing home workouts while we watched TV. That was during the pandemic.” He continued, “Huge (shock learning that I had to get surgery). I had this unbearable stomach pain, went to the hospital and they said, ‘This is life-threatening. We have to get you into surgery’ and then I had the operation the next day. The doctor told me I would need a stoma bag for a while and wouldn’t be able to wrestle, so jumping to conclusions, I thought, oh, that’s it, I’m finished.”
As for the diagnosis and the surgery, he did not tell anyone outside of immediate family. Tiger Mask had the operation, did three weeks of recovery, and then returned to the New Japan Dojo. Although he had a stoma bag when he returned, he simply told people that he had business to handle and that’s why he was away.
“No (I didn’t tell any of the wrestlers about my diagnosis), just my immediate family. Then, I had the operation, spent three weeks in recovery and then was in the Dojo a week after that.” He was asked if he went back to the Dojo with the stoma bag and replied, “Yeah. I was in the Dojo every morning. People asked why I was away, whether I had COVID, but I told them I just had some business to deal with.”
He’ll be wrestling in two singles matches at his retirement show. One of the bouts will be against Black Tiger, who will be portrayed by Rocky Romero, and his other bout is against AEW/ROH talent ‘Dynamite Kid’ Tommy Billington.
