The timing could not have worked out better for this show as, just the day before, Jushin Liger was announced as participating in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s annual Battle of Los Angeles tournament.
The tournament this year looks to be one of the most loaded in history with some incredible matches possible.
Karl Stern was a huge fan of Jushin Liger from the start. With his futuristic sci-fi themed outfit to his spectacular and revolutionary highflying, Liger captured the audience’s imagination from day one.
The man who would become Liger, Keiichi Yamada, was a stand-out wrestler in high school. He lost the national championship to another future legend in Toshiaki Kawada.
As many of the Japanese stars over the years have done, Yamada then traveled world learning to work a variety of styles.
Yamada worked in Canada and Europe, including the legendary Stampede promotion where fingerprints of his time there learning from masters like the Harts and the British Bulldogs influenced the Jushin Liger character.
When Liger returned to Japan he debuted the futuristic, manga inspired Jushin “Thunder” Liger character. In 1987 he also debuted a revolutionary move that would be copied by many wrestlers over the coming years, the Shooting Star Press.
In 1999 he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
Today’s edition of the July Classic Wrestling Marathon takes a look at Jushin Thunder Liger, one of the greatest junior heavyweights of all time,
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