Volleyball Attack

The Volleyball Attack is pure showmanship wrapped in genuine martial arts skill. Tien strikes a pose, slides under his airborne opponent, bumps them back into the air with one hand, sets them with both hands, and then spikes them down into the ground with a devastating right fist. The technique follows actual volleyball mechanics: receive, set, attack. What makes it unforgettable is Tien's performance during the execution. He raises his voice to a comically high pitch and pulls a ditzy face while doing it, which is wildly out of character for the normally stoic three-eyed warrior.

Tien debuts the Volleyball Attack during the finals of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament against Goku. The comedic timing is perfect: in the middle of a serious fight between two powerful martial artists, Tien suddenly starts acting like an overly enthusiastic volleyball player. The crowd loves it, and Goku is caught completely off guard by the absurdity of being treated like a sports ball. The technique works not just because of physical force but because no rational fighter would expect to be bumped, set, and spiked during a tournament match.

Gotenks Picks It Up

In Dragon Ball: The Return of Son Goku and Friends!, Gotenks uses the Volleyball Attack while fighting Aka. This makes sense; Gotenks collects techniques like trading cards and has no shame about using silly moves in serious fights. He combines it with the Wolf Fang Fist in an entertaining combo that captures the spirit of both original users.

The Volleyball Attack represents a side of Dragon Ball that sometimes gets lost in discussions about power levels and transformations: the series is supposed to be funny. Toriyama designed fights to be entertaining before they were dramatic, and techniques like the Volleyball Attack exist to remind audiences that these characters have personality beyond their power. Tien's willingness to look ridiculous while executing a genuinely effective combat technique makes it one of the most memorable moves from the original Dragon Ball.

The combination variant, Wolf Fang Volleyball Fist, merges Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist with the Volleyball Attack and is used by Tiencha (the Tien/Yamcha fusion) in Budokai 2. It is exactly as absurd as it sounds.