NJPW Spotlight is a series by Walter Yeates that highlights past and present members of the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster. This article highlights Jushin Liger. The previous article in the series on Hiroshi Tanahashi is available here.
The now–retired Jushin Liger (also spelled as Jyushin Liger) had an extremely decorated career during his time in the ring being a WCW Light Heavyweight Champion, GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, 6x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, Open The Dream Gate Champion, CMLL World Middleweight Champion, NWA World Welterweight Champion, J Crown Champion, 2x NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and a record 11x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
Thank you, Liger 👏👏👏👏👏#NJWK14 pic.twitter.com/GS5XCS3LSR
— Arby's (@Arbys) January 3, 2020
Liger is also famous for inspiring a slew of wrestlers from the current generation who drew inspiration from his multi-faceted in-ring style during his prime. Jushin Thunder Liger is also known for being an innovator, most famously of the Shooting Star press.
Jushin Liger began his wrestling training in Mexico after being initially rejected by NJPW due to his height. Liger was a fan of NJPW pro wrestling due to Tatsumi Fujinami and would be admitted to the NJPW Noge Dojo when he was spotted in Mexico by NJPW officials in a dilapidated state. He would become a 2nd Generation dojo graduate, making his debut on March 3, 1984. He would go on an excursion to All Star Wrestling in England and Stampede Wrestling in Canada between 1986 – 1987.
On April 24, 1989, he would debut as Jushin Liger and would quickly become the ace of the junior heavyweight division, helping show the world the value of wrestlers who aren’t six foot or over 230 pounds. In his career within NJPW, Liger would wrestle nearly every ‘name’ junior heavyweight from around the world. Including the likes of Negro Casas, Ultimo Dragon, Great Sasuke, Owen Hart, Naomichi Marufuji, Shinjiro Otani, CIMA, Marty Scurll, Eddie Guerrero, Koji Kanemoto, Will Ospreay, Rey Mysterio Jr (also spelled as Rey Misterio Jr), and a plethora of others.
During his height, many thought Liger could have been IWGP Heavyweight Champion, but that clashed with Shinya Hashimoto being at the height of his drawing potential. A failed heavyweight run for Liger during the later days of ‘Inoki-ism’ ended hope of that ever occurring, thanks to flawed creative direction by Riki Choshu.
Liger’s final reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion would come to an end on July 20, 2000 — however, he would go on to win an array of championships over his final 20 years as an in-ring competitor.
In retirement, Liger continues to do commentary and work at the NJPW Noge Dojo, positions he held for several years before his in-ring retirement. Despite never being the biggest draw for NJPW, Liger remains one of the most recognizable figures in company history on the international level even during the current ‘Golden International Expansion’ era.
With his continued presence in wrestling, Liger’s legacy will only continue to grow as even more are introduced to his work around the world.
