Jushin Liger

Keichi Yamada (山田恵一 Yamada Keichi) (born November 30, 1964), better known as Jushin Liger (獣神ライガー - Jūshin Raigā) and later, Jushin "Thunder" Liger (獣神サンダーライガー - Jūshin Sandā Raigā) is a Japanese professional wrestler.

Career

Yamada wrestled as an amateur wrestler while studying in high school. He applied to New Japan Pro Wrestling to become a professional wrestler in the early 1980's. He was not accepted because he did not meet the height requirements they had at that time. Yamada was determined not to give up his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, so he left for Mexico and began his training there. By his own account, he was almost starving while studying there, so visiting NJPW officials took pity on him and asked him to come back to Japan. While continuing his studies, he had his debut match in December 1984 at the age of 20. He began studying various martial arts styles because he wanted to add something new and different to his wrestling style, which is how he learned his Rolling Koppou Kick.

He left for England in 1986 where he wrestled for All-Star Promotions as "Flying" Fuji Yamada. After returning to Japan, he debuted his Shooting Star Press in 1987, for which he had gotten the idea from reading a manga. He left for Canada early 1989, where he wrestled in Stu Hart's Calgary Stampede Wrestling under his real name. He also trained under Hart in Hart's legendary Dungeon. His experiences there led him to refer to Hart as a "very, very tough man". NJPW called him back to Japan, as they needed him for a gimmick based on an extremely popular anime superhero, Jushin Liger, created by celebrated mangaka Go Nagai. NJPW had done this previously with Tiger Mask, which had become a huge success. Yamada was given a superhero-like full body costume & demonic looking mask, resembling the superhero type featured in tokusatsu and anime programs.

Jushin Liger debuted in April 24, 1989 in NJPW. In his debut match, he defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi. The "Thunder" moniker was later added to distinguish him from the anime character. He quickly became one of NJPW's top Junior Heavyweights, eventually capturing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title eleven times among numerous other titles and accolades while wrestling around the world. When appearing without his mask on, Yamada blocks his appearance by covering his face with one hand. Early on, Yamada's style mostly consisted of high flying. Later on, he started adapting more power moves and started focusing more on grappling and telling a story in the ring.

Jushin Liger also made appearances with WCW during the 90's. He made his debut in 1991 against Brian Pillman, and would later face many other opponents such as Chris Benoit, Ricky Steamboat, Rey Mysterio, Jr., and Juventud Guerrera.

In 1996, Yamada was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Weeks later, he recovered and returned to action. He adapted his wrestling style to help reduce the strain it was putting on his body. He adopted more of a ground-based style and to his credit, he was able to keep up an intensity that other wrestlers who have made a similar change were unable to maintain.

Liger has won two Super J Cup tournaments - the 1995 and 2000 events.

Currently, Liger is the leader of the NJPW heel stable Control Terrorism Unit (CTU) along with Hirooki Goto, Minoru Tanaka, Black Tiger IV, Gedo, Jado and briefly James Gibson.

On June 28th 2006, Lyger was announced as a participant in the 2006 G-1 Climax, the third time he has appeared in the tournament.

Ring of Honor

In October 2004, Liger debuted in ROH, headlining their back-to-back "Weekend of Thunder" shows to huge acclaim. ROH selected Bryan Danielson as Liger's special opponent for that weekend. For Night 1, the two faced each other in a singles match, with Liger winning the highly competitive bout after a super brainbuster.

Night 2 would see a "dream tag-team" match in the main event. Liger chose then-ROH Champion Samoa Joe as his partner out of respect for Joe's accomplishments as ROH World Champion, and Danielson selected Low Ki to negate Joe. Liger again came out on top, pinning Danielson with a Liger Bomb to win the match.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Liger debuted in the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion on October 23, 2005 as part of their Bound For Glory pay-per-view, losing to Samoa Joe in a rare international appearance.

He was scheduled to face off against Christopher Daniels at TNA Lockdown 2006 on April 23, 2006. He had been unaware that the match was to be held in a steel cage, something in which he had never participated before. When he heard of this he cancelled the match. One of TNA's bookers Scott D'Amore has speculated that he didn't want to participate in the match due to it being in a new environment, fearing it would have hampered his performance. According to D'Amore, Liger had been unhappy with his previous TNA match against Joe which was cut short due to communication problems, and wanted his next TNA match to be better. D'Amore has also disproved the rumor that communication issues between TNA and NJPW had caused the match to be cancelled. Liger was not double booked to two events at the same time, like had been publicly speculated.

Liger is the captain of the New Japan team in the TNA 2006 World X Cup Tournament and defeated Team Canada's Captain Petey Williams at TNA Sacrifice on May 14, 2006 using a Crash Thunder Buster after Williams was distracted by the rest of Team Japan who draped the flag over Williams after Liger's victory. Liger was eliminated in the X-Cup Gauntlet later that night and Team Japan was unable to gain any points in the match as it was won by Team Canada with Team Mexico as runners up.

Trivia

"Jushin" means "Beast God."
Liger's name is also spelled "Jyushin Lyger".
His theme song is "Ikari no Jushin" ("Raging Jushin"), performed by Yumi Hiroki, which was also the theme song for the original anime series.
Liger is credited as the innovator of the shooting star press.
Liger appeared on the very first WCW Monday Nitro, facing Brian Pillman.
His infamous IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship loss to Juventud Guerrera by being hit in the head with a tequila bottle (scripted by Vince Russo) was never reported in any Japanese sport or wrestling publication, for fear that he would lose face among fans in his native Japan due to the booking of the match. It was reported, however, that he defended the title against the man he regained the title from: Psicosis. He substituted for Guerrera because he was unable to compete due to a broken arm. Liger's 11th reign, as well as Guerrera's win are not recognized by NJPW and as of May 2006, he is still only referred to as a 10 time champion.

Finishing and signature moves

Brainbuster
Top rope Brainbuster
CTB - Crash Thunder Buster (Feint backdrop wheelbarrow facebuster)
Running Liger Bomb (Running sitout powerbomb)
Liger Bomb (High angle sitout powerbomb)
Shotei (Thrust palm strike)
Rolling Koppou Kick (Rolling wheel kick)
Shooting Star Press
Fisherman buster
Top rope fisherman buster
Frog splash
Romero Special (Surfboard)
Pescado

Championships and accomplishments

Michinoku Pro Wrestling

British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship

Won from Dick Togo on June 16 1996 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to Último Dragón on August 2 1996 in Tokyo, Japan

British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship (2) (part of the J-Crown)

Won from Último Dragón on January 4 1997 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to El Samurai on July 7 1997 in Sapporo, Japan

New Japan Pro Wrestling

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Won from Hiroshi Hase on May 25 1989 in Osaka, Japan

Lost to Naoki Sano on August 10 1989 in Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (2)

Won from Naoki Sano on January 31 1990 in Osaka, Japan

Lost to Pegasus Kid on August 19 1990 in Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (3)

Won from Pegasus Kid on November 1 1990 in Tokyo, Japan

Vacated on April 15 1991 for 1991 Top of the Super Jr. Tournament

1991 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Contender League winner

Won on January 31 1991

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (4)

Won from Norio Honaga on June 12 1991 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to Akira Nogami on August 9 1991 in Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (5)

Won from Norio Honaga on February 8 1992 in Nakajima, Japan

Lost to El Samurai on June 26 1992 in Tokyo, Japan

1992 Top of the Super Junior winner

Won on April 30 1992

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (6)

Won from Último Dragón on January 4 1993 in Tokyo, Japan

Vacated on September 24 1994 due to a broken leg

1994 Best of the Super Junior winner

Won on June 13 1994

1995 Super J Cup Tournament winner

Won on December 13 1995

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (7)

Won from Koji Kanemoto on January 4 1996 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to The Great Sasuke on April 29 1996 in Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (8) (part of the J-Crown)

Won from Último Dragón on January 4 1997 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to El Samurai on July 7 1997 in Sapporo, Japan

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (part of the J-Crown)

Won from Último Dragón on January 4 1997 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to El Samurai on July 7 1997 in Sapporo, Japan

NWA World Welterweight Championship (part of the J-Crown)

Won from Último Dragón on January 4 1997 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to El Samurai on July 7 1997 in Sapporo, Japan

WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (part of the J-Crown)

Won from Último Dragón on January 4 1997 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to El Samurai on July 7 1997 in Sapporo, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (9)

Won from Shinjiro Otani on February 7 1998 in Nakajima, Japan

Lost to Koji Kanemoto on March 17 1999 in Hiroshima, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (with The Great Sasuke)

Won from Kendo Kashin and Dr. Wagner, Jr. on April 10 1999 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to Shinjiro Ohtani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa on July 13 1999 in Morioka, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (10)

Won from Kendo Kashin on October 11 1999 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to Juventud Guerrera on November 29 1999 in Denver, Colorado, USA

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (11)

Defeated Psicosis (Guerrera was injured) on December 6 1999 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Lost to Tatsuhito Takaiwa on July 20 2000 in Hokkaido, Japan

2000 Super J Cup winner

Won on April 9 2000

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2) (with El Samurai)

Won from Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka on March 6 2001 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to Gedo and Jado on July 20 2001 in Sapporo, Japan

2001 Best of the Super Junior winner

Won on June 4 2001

2001 G1 Junior Tag League winner (with El Samurai)

Won on November 25 2001

2001 Naeba Cup Tag Tournament winner (with Yuji Nagata)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3) (with Minoru Tanaka)

Won from Gedo and Jado on May 2 2002 in Tokyo, Japan

Lost to Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi on August 29 2002 in Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (4) (with Koji Kanemoto)

Won from Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi on January 26 2003 in Kobe, Japan

Vacated on November 4 2003 after Kanemoto is injured

Osaka Pro Wrestling

Osaka Pro Tag Team Championship (with Takehiro Murahama)

Won from Tsubasa and Black Buffalo on February 1 2003 in Osaka, Japan

Lost to Billy Ken Kid and Tiger Mask IV on December 6 2003 in Osaka, Japan

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him # 12 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
PWI ranked him # 47 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with El Samurai.