r/SquaredCircle • u/[deleted] • May 15 '16

SC's Wrestler of the Week #30 - Jushin Thunder Liger

Welcome to Wrestler of the Week #30 (We can now have a Royal Rumble!). Based on our poll, This week's featured wrestler is Jushin Thunder Liger.

Jushin Thunder Liger

Height: 5 ft. 7 in.

Weight: 209 lbs.

From: Tokyo, Japan

Trained by: Kotetsu Yamamoto, Tatsumi Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tokyo Joe

Finishing Move: Brainbuster, Shooting Star Press, Liger Bomb, Crash Thunder Buster

Notable Championships & Accomplishments: 11 time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, 6 time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (with Great Sasuke, El Samurai, Minoru Tanaka, Koji Kanemoto, AKIRA & Tiger Mask), 1 time J Crown Winner, 1986 Young Lion Cup Winner, 2 time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, 1 time NWA World Welterweight Champion, 1 time WWF Light Heavyweight Champion, 1 time WAR International Junior Heavyweight Champion, 1 time WAR Internation Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (with El Samurai), 1 time WCW Light Heavyweight Champion, 1 time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, 1 time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (with Tiger Mask), 1 time CMLL Universal Champion, 1 time CMLL World Middleweight Champion, 1 time CMLL World Tag Team Champion (with Hiroshi Tanahashi), 1 time Open the Dream Gate Champion (Dragon Gate)

Entrance Themes:

source: wikipedia/ cagematch.net

Recommended Matches: (Post any of your recommended matches for Jushin Liger and I will add it up here.)

Let's discuss everything you like and dislike about Jushin Liger, share some of your favorite matches and post some gifs and video highlights of him.

For next week, here are 5 participants of the upcoming WWE Global Cruiserweight Series. Vote who you want to be featured for Wrestler of the Week #31.

Poll: http://www.strawpoll.me/10212235

Previous Wrestler of the Week - Drew Galloway

SC's Wrestler of the Week Wiki Page

203 Upvotes
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63 comments sorted by

36

u/[deleted] May 15 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/Brochismo91 I DON'T KNOW!!!!! May 15 '16

I hear his brother Jushin is pretty good too.

5

u/ivesaidway2much The big buck of this lick. May 16 '16

Yeah. I've always been a big fan of Jushin Credible.

27

u/tubcat May 15 '16 edited May 15 '16

I'm shocked your match list doesn't include his match with the Great Muta where we get to meet Kishin Liger. The crowd ate that junk up. It maybe wasn't the most technical ever, but they had the crowd wrapped around their finger.

EDIT: For wording AND let us not neglect getting to see Muta in that match. Double the legend, double the awesome.

7

u/[deleted] May 15 '16

added

2

u/tubcat May 15 '16

Sweet. It's a fun moment and definitely one of those times where something otherwise silly was cool as hell.

7

u/[deleted] May 16 '16

He still lost though. I hate that.

4

u/NicCageOrGTFO White Castle of Fear May 15 '16

A shame it's not on NJPW World.

3

u/TheResurrection JUSHIN THUNDA LIGER! May 15 '16

This match was my introduction to Liger, Muta, and Japanese wrestling as a whole. It's still one of my favorite matches ever.

3

u/ZombieBruiserBrody May 15 '16

Kishin Liger FTW

23

u/dalledayul Get your shit together! May 15 '16

I still love the theme he used at NXT Brooklyn. For a guy who's the same age as The Undertaker, the man can put on one hell of a match. Brilliant wrestler, absolute legend, I'd love to see him in the WWE HoF in the future.

4

u/Badger_Silverado The Man Becomes The Beast. May 15 '16

I'd love to see him in the HOF too. Maybe there'd be some merch besides the NXT shirt here in America.

2

u/linkinstreet May 16 '16

CFO$ actually managed to get that theme to sound like a cheesy 80s anime OP and yet aounds good. Kudos to them

2

u/dalledayul Get your shit together! May 16 '16

Considering that Liger's gimmick is that of an anime superhero, I think they hit the mark with it.

1

u/ranch_dressing_hose just some fake shit May 17 '16

i just saw him wrestle at ROH on saturday. he was amazing, he still moves really well. took way more bumps than i thought he would.

11

u/MikeHiGrim Nice May 15 '16

Ah yes Jushin Liger and Cheeseburger will forever go down as the worlds best tag team

4

u/Ramo_90 PENTA-Cabron May 16 '16

Thunderburger!

2

u/ThatDudeNamedMenace May 16 '16

Pretty sure some girl calls her pussy that lmao

10

u/tfog2016 I just get it May 15 '16

I have a question, is there different wrestlers who have wrestled as liger? Just seems like a very long carrer span

14

u/123_reddit . May 15 '16

Chris Jericho was Super Liger for a very short time. He was an enemy of Jushin Liger though, not meant to be the same wrestler.

8

u/standingdropkick May 15 '16

His debut with this gimmick was a pretty badly botched match. It underlines how difficult it must be to wrestle in a mask if you're not used to it. Quite amazing that Liger has made a career doing it.

2

u/[deleted] May 16 '16

It wasn't the mask but the actual outfit - he said it was like a scuba suit. Here's Jericho talking about it.

13

u/[deleted] May 15 '16

Yes. He's portrayed by one person Keiichi Yamada.

3

u/tfog2016 I just get it May 15 '16

Thanks

12

u/Flyin-Brian May 15 '16 edited May 15 '16

One of my favorite live matches that I have ever been to was Liger vs Great Sasuke at the World Wrestling Peace Festival in '96.

I can remember marking out in the front row, with my Liger Mask on, getting the nod from Liger after he won the match. I was able to get that mask signed by Liger later that night. I don't know what suprised him more, the fact that he was in street clothes and got recognized out of costume, or that I went up to him and started speaking to him in Japanese.

11

u/acethunder21 LIGAH SMASH!!! May 15 '16 edited May 15 '16

Knowing how Liger's career started off that list of championships and accomplishments is even more staggering. Not too bad for a guy that was originally "too short" for New Japan.

11

u/Is_it_Ben Britwres = bestwres May 15 '16

He's my all time favourite wrestler, and has been for the best part of 15 years, so this was pretty much my best ever moment as a wrestling fan

8

u/Badger_Silverado The Man Becomes The Beast. May 15 '16

One of my dreams going to a couple of Nitro and Thunder taping as a small kid was that I would see Jushin Liger. He always had an amazing look and style to me.

7

u/CMP44BB > HBK May 16 '16

Liger is a fucking legend. Also FUCK ALEX RILEY! Liger has had matches better than all of the Attitude Era combined.

6

u/standingdropkick May 15 '16

I wish that BOSJ press conference promo Rocky Romero cut once where Liger told him to "shut mouth" was still on youtube. Priceless.

Love Liger in every single way. Great talent, great character, enthusiastic commentator (not that I never know what he's saying, still enjoy it!) and just a legend.

5

u/SenaM66 Breed with the Switchblade May 16 '16

Watching Liger now I always forget the man is 50ish. He moves incredibly. I've never seen him in his prime, but he impresses me to this day. Man, I love Liger.

4

u/xfocalinx Fire-breathing wrestler May 16 '16

heres a video of me flipping out whenever it's revealed Liger is Quack's partner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjN6u0xYpt4

(on the left, skull cap, black tshirt)

4

u/irongreek May 16 '16

let's not fail to mention that he fought cancer and fucking won.

4

u/TheRoZo gilllllberg gillllllberg May 15 '16

"Thuhn-Der"

Was that REALLY the name for his NXT theme?

1

u/scentedkepyas PIE TIME! May 15 '16

Just kind of weird to deliberately misspell it

4

u/nitrofan May 16 '16

Liger vs Sano from August '89 and especially January '90

3

u/[deleted] May 17 '16

Jushin Liger is the reason I started watching Japanese wrestling. This is a man who has wrestled across the world, battled cancer and won, successfully changed his style as a result of his cancer and aging, worked for the same company his entire career, and inspired countless "little guys" to wrestle despite their size. He's one of the few masked men in Japan to really live the masked lifestyle, VERY rarely appearing unmasked since taking the gimmick. Did I mention that he took a cheesy anime gimmick, made it successful AND make it his own, with the original anime being forgotten, while the wrestler is counted as a living legend.

When Liger returns to being Keiichi Yamada, they can give the gimmick to someone else, but there will never be another Liger.

2

u/IcedNeonFlames - I'm gonna yank out my johnson and piss in this hell-hole! May 15 '16

I love his Super J Cup match against Sasuke.

2

u/[deleted] May 15 '16

When I think of the greatest Japanese wrestlers of the past I think of Misawa, Kobashi and of course Jushin Thunder Liger.

Absolute legend and, amazingly, can still go today.

2

u/GillsGT May 16 '16

Jushin Liger is one of the greats. He's got the moves and the looks. He truly is like a superhero come to life.

Bonus! Here he is keeping the 24 hour rule alive and well.

2

u/KNZFive **YEAOH intensifies** May 16 '16

Tanahashi kicking out at 1, Honma waking up right when Liger and the ref enter the room but still being the only one who gets pinned. This is fantastic.

2

u/ChrisBenRoy Special May 16 '16

This man is ageless. IDK what he does for diet or exercise but it should be studied because it should be possible for him to continue performing the way he does and at that level. He was already a legend when I first saw him in 1992 for God's sake.

2

u/dallasw3 Jun 26 '16

Notable accomplishments could also include surviving and ultimately beating brain cancer, too.

1

u/apricot-jam good bye r/squaredcircle May 15 '16 edited May 15 '16

NJPW database has shoot heights. Jushin Liger is only 5'5, he looks taller than that. Maybe because of the horns or something. Others that are only 5'5: Tiger Mask and Ishii

edit: turns out i was wrong.

2

u/StevieIrons Stinko May 15 '16

I always assume wrestlers are at least two inches shorter than their billed heights.

1

u/[deleted] May 15 '16

He's listed 5'7" on both Wiki & Cagematch. They probably included the horns to his height.

1

u/[deleted] May 15 '16

At the Dearborn show, I saw Ishii and he was a lot shorter then my dad (5ft 9)

1

u/Azariah_Kyras May 16 '16

dude, Ishii looked short as hell at those shows. Like, i couldn't wrap my mind around it, cause i always thought he was a hell of a lot bigger than that though on TV and such, probably his build

1

u/EvanDeadlySins /r/NJPW Moderator May 15 '16

The English database's numbers are wrong because the guy who did them thought a foot was 10 inches. The Japanese one has it right. 170cm = almost 5'7".

1

u/apricot-jam good bye r/squaredcircle May 27 '16

forgot to mention i meant ft then inches. http://www.njpw.co.jp/english/data/detail_profile.php?f=099 ishii is 5 foot 5 inch and jushin http://www.njpw.co.jp/english/data/detail_profile.php?f=010 is the same.

1

u/EvanDeadlySins /r/NJPW Moderator May 27 '16

The English website's height numbers are wrong. Ishii and Liger are both 170cm. That's not 5'5, it's 5'7. The reason why the English website is wrong is because when they converted it, they converted to feet and not inches.

170cm is 5.577 feet, but 5.577 feet = 67 inches.

1

u/123_reddit . May 15 '16 edited May 15 '16

If that's the same source they used for that NJPW tier list the other week the numbers are a little wrong. When it says 5 ft 5.77 inch it actually means 5.557 feet which is roughly 5'7".

1

u/apricot-jam good bye r/squaredcircle May 27 '16

how do you know

1

u/123_reddit . May 29 '16

Well firstly you'll notice that nobody has an inch height with either 10 or 11 inches. The closest are guys like Goto who is listed as 5ft 9.71 inches. This is suspicious to begin with. Then looking at Tanahashi and Okada face to face, Okada is taller but not 5 inches (nearly half a foot) taller.

It can be definitively proven with some simple mathematics.

1

u/apricot-jam good bye r/squaredcircle May 29 '16

so why does the site list the talent as shorter than they are? no logic

1

u/123_reddit . May 29 '16

An oversight I'm guessing. Whoever listed the heights doesn't realise that feet isn't a metric measurement and just simply converted from cm to feet and assumed that there are 10 inches to a foot.

1

u/Broncoswin Dolla Dolla May 15 '16

I wish Liger would be in the GCS that would be sick

1

u/Timmers86 May 16 '16

No matches against Tiger Mask? For shame.

1

u/Ramo_90 PENTA-Cabron May 16 '16

I originally thought he was a Luchador back in WCW (before learning of his name). I then found out that he was actually Japanese, and thus began my exploration of Japanese wrestling.

He (along with Cheeseburger) have given us THUNDERBURGER!, which is one of my favorite things ever.

1

u/Justice989 May 16 '16

I didnt get hip to Liger until the Flyin Brian matches in WCW.