Jushin Thunder Liger

Jushin Thunder Liger

Birthdate: December 23rd, 1962
Height: 5'7''
Weight: 210 lbs.
Liger Debut: April 24th, 1989
Background: New Japan Dojo
Promotion History: New Japan (1989 to present)
Alliances: Legend-gun
Ring Attire: Black costume (see picture above)
Card Position: Mid-Card/Upper Mid-Card
Major Tournaments Won: Top of the Super Jr. (1992, 1994, and 2001), Super J Cup (1995 and 2000) and the G1 Jr. Tag League (2001)
Current Title Held: None

Championship History:

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship (Held 11 Times):
- Defeated Hiroshi Hase on 5/25/89 and lost to Naoki Sano on 8/10/89
- Defeated Naoki Sano on 1/31/90 and lost to Pegasus Kid on 8/19/90
- Defeated Pegasus Kid on 11/1/90 and Vacated on 4/15/91
- Defeated Norio Honaga on 6/12/91 and lost to Akira Nogami on 8/9/91
- Defeated Norio Honaga on 2/8/92 and lost to El Samurai on 6/26/92
- Defeated Ultimo Dragon on 1/4/93 and Vacated on 9/24/94
- Defeated Koji Kanemoto on 1/4/96 and lost to Great Sasuke on 4/29/96
- Defeated Ultimo Dragon on 1/4/97 and lost to El Samurai on 7/6/97
- Defeated Shinjiro Otani on 2/7/98 and lost to Koji Kanemoto on 3/17/99
- Defeated Kendo Kashin on 10/11/99 and lost to Juventud Guerrera on 11/29/99
- Defeated Psicosis on 12/6/99 and lost to Tatsuhito Takaiwa on 7/20/00

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Great Sasuke:
- Defeated Kashin and Dr. Wagner Jr. on 4/10/99 and lost to Otani and Takaiwa on 7/13/99

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with El Samurai:
- Defeated Tanaka and Koji Kanemoto on 3/6/01 and lost to Jado and Gedo on 7/20/01

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Minoru Tanaka:
- Defeated Jado and Gedo on 5/2/02 and lost to Kanemaru and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi on 8/29/02

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Koji Kanemoto:
- Defeated Kanemaru and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi on 1/26/03 and Vacated on 11/4/03

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with AKIRA:
- Defeated Minoru and Prince Devitt on 2/17/08 and lost to Devitt and Minoru on 7/21/08

GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship:
- Defeated Takashi Sugiura on 1/4/04 and lost to Yoshinobu Kanemaru on 7/10/04

Osaka Pro Tag Team Championship with Takehiro Murahama:
- Defeated Tsubasa and Black Buffalo on 2/1/03 and lost to Ken Kid and Tigers Mask on 12/6/03

J-Crown (Eight Championships from Around the World):
- Defeated Ultimo Dragon on 1/4/97 and lost to El Samurai on 7/6/97

Open the Triangle Gate Championship:
- Defeated Don Fujii on 3/25/07 and lost to CIMA on 7/1/07

Biggest Matches:
- January 31st, 1990 vs. Naoki Sano (title win)
- January 4th, 1993 vs. Ultimo Dragon (title win)
- January 4th, 1997 vs. Ultimo Dragon (J Crown title win)
- April 10th, 1999 with Great Sasuke vs. Kendo Kashin and Dr. Wagner Jr. (title win)
- January 4th, 2004 vs. Takashi Sugiura (title win)

Pictures:
- Liger poses in the corner
- Liger with a Brainbuster to Ken Kid
- A Shotei by Liger
- Liger in his original mask, 1989
- Liger in his heavyweight attire, 2005

Signature Moves:
- Brainbuster
- CTB (HQ)
- Frankensteiner
- Liger Bomb
- Moonsault
- Powerbomb
- Romero Special
- Running Liger Bomb
- Shotei
- Tope Con Hilo

Super Signature Moves:
- Avalanche-Style Brainbuster
- Avalanche-Style DDT
- Avalanche-Style Fisherman Buster
- Brainbuster on the Floor

No Longer Uses:
- Liger Suplex
- Rounding Tope
- Shooting Star Press

Pre-Liger (Keichi Yamada) Moves:
- Shooting Star Press
- Tombstone Piledriver

Special High Quality Videos:
- Jushin Liger Debuts! Highlights from his match on 4/24/89 against Kobayashi, 4 minutes, 24 MB

Career History:

Jushin "Thunder" Liger was born April 24th, 1989. Upon his transformation, Liger would go on to become one of the most popular and revolutionary wrestlers of the 1990s. Liger would defeat Hiroshi Hase on May 25, 1989 to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. In the next two years, Liger would defeat Black Tiger, Naoki Sano, Villano V, and Pegasus Kid and would hold the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship on multiple occasions, dominating the Japanese scene.

In 1991, Liger would travel to the states to wrestle for WCW. Liger was a breath of fresh air for WCW and quickly became a fan favorite with his high flying style. On December 25th, Liger would defeat Pillman in a **** match for the WCW Lightweight Championship. Unfortunately, the people in charge of WCW did not feel his style was what the promotion needed, so Liger would go back to New Japan and only make occasional stops into the States.

In 1994, Liger united the greatest Light Heavyweights around the world to hold the first ever Super J Cup tournament. As the booker, Liger had himself be defeated by the younger Great Sasuke, proving that he was willing to give the rub to less experienced workers. Unfortunately for Liger, in September of that year he would suffer a horrific ankle injury while simply running under a leapfrog. The injury would keep him out for almost a year, and it would force him to limit the number high flying style in his matches. This did not stop Liger, however, for he became stronger and adjusted his move set to a more grounded and power based style.

In 1995, Liger would participate in the Super J Cup once again, this time defeating Gedo to win the tournament. In 1996, Liger had another scare when a tumor was found in his brain. Luckily, the news was good, for the tumor was benign. After it was removed, Liger quickly returned to the ring to continue his dominance. On January 4th, 1997, Liger would win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship for the 8th time by defeating Ultimo Dragon.

In 2000, Liger showed that he could still wrestle with best of them, as he won the third Super J Cup. In the same year, he would join El Samurai to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Over the next few years Liger would use a variety of costumes, including an all black costume that he used when he was wrestling as a heel. In 2001, Liger would win the Top of the Super Juniors tournament.

2005 Recap:
A true living legend, in 2005 Liger led CTU (in union with Black New Japan) as he continued his heelish ways that had begun in 2004. Liger challenged for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship in 2005 (a shot he earned on 1/4), but would be unsuccessful. At the Best of the Super Jr. Tournament, Liger came in third in his block, barely missing the semi-finals. In October, Liger was left off the Tokyo Dome Show for the first time in his career. Still, he is arguably the most popular junior heavyweight in Japan, and he still can put on entertaining matches even though he is getting older.

2006 Recap:
2006 was a bit of a revival year for Liger as he continued leading CTU. To start the year at the Tokyo Dome Show, CTU fought Masato Tanaka, Kintaro Kanemura, and BADBOY Hido, but CTU would fail to pick up the victory. Liger went nuts at the Best of the Super Jr. Tournament, truly showing his old form. He won his bracket (defeating just about everyone in the process), but lost to Tiger Mask in the semi-finals when Tiger Mask used a sunset flip for a quick pinfall. For the CTU 2nd Anniversary Show, Liger transformed into Kishin Liger for the first time in 10 years to defeat BADBOY Hido. At the 2006 G1 Climax, Liger came in 4th place in his bracket, but he did score a pinfall victory over Manabu Nakanishi. In the G1 Tag League he teamed with Tenzan, but the team's only victory was against Manabu Nakanishi and Naofumi Yamamoto.

2007 Recap:
Still leading CTU, Liger did not have any title matches in New Japan during 2007 but he did wreck havoc in other promotions. On March 25th, Liger would invade Dragon Gate and win the Open The Dream Gate Championship from Don Fujii. He would hold the title for several months before losing it to CIMA on July 1st. Back in New Japan, Liger did participate in the yearly Best of the Super Jr. Tournament. Liger would defeat Ishikari, Inoue, and Yujiro in the tournament but would barely miss the semi-finals. In the summer, Liger made a shocking announcement when he said that CTU, one of the most successful groups in Japan, was disbanding on August 26th. On the Last of CTU event, Liger teamed with AKIRA but lost to Jado and Gedo, who had turned on Liger soon after his announcement. This helped lead to Liger forming a new faction called Legend-gun, joining together many of the veterans of New Japan. Towards the end of the year Liger successfully teamed with Chono in a number of main events, proving that the old guard wasn't prepared to relinquish power just yet.

2008 Recap:
Liger stayed an important part of New Japan in 2008, winning his first IWGP title since 2003. On February 17th, he teamed with AKIRA to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from Minoru and Prince Devitt. They would successfully defend the titles against NO LIMIT in April before losing the titles back to Minoru and Devitt on July 21st. In singles action, Liger did take part in the New Japan Cup but lost to Taguchi in the first round. In the Best of the Super Jr. Tournament Liger would defeat Yujiro and Takaiwa, but came in 4th place in his bracket. Liger did not participate in the G1 Tag League.

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