Jushin Liger - The Wrestler
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.
