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GreenTeaFrapp · 02-26-2009, 07:59 AM

With it's fourth pick, Team Kayfabe selects, in the 1991-2000 category, Jushin Thunder Liger.

Keiichi Yamada (山田恵一 ,Yamada Keiichi?, 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 who works primarily for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Career

Early career

Yamada was an amateur wrestler while studying in high school. He applied to New Japan Pro Wrestling to become a professional wrestler in the early 1980s. 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 NJPW officials who were visiting 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 the manga Fist of the North Star. He left for Canada early 1989, where he wrestled in Stu Hart's 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.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Jushin Liger debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling on April 24, 1989. In his debut match, he defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi. Afer using the Jushin Liger gimmick the anime progressed, and as the Go Nagai anime progressed, the hero powered up and changed three times. As the hero changed so did Liger. First to Fire Liger then to the character gimmick he goes by today, Jushin Thunder Liger. 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, part this change was due to fact that Liger had to reduce the stress he was putting on his body after brain tumor surgery.
Liger has won two Super J Cup tournaments – the 1995 and 2000 events.
During 2000, as booker Riki Chōshū decided to de-emphasize the junior heavyweight division (a costly decision that diminished its credibility), Liger wrestled heavyweights without wearing the upper part of his bodysuit or his mask horns.
From 2001-2007, Liger was the leader of the NJPW heel stable Control Terrorism Unit (CTU) along with Hirooki Goto, Minoru Tanaka, Black Tiger IV, Gedo, Jado, Prince Devitt and briefly James Gibson. CTU was disbanded in August 2007, when Liger decided CTU would disband while at the top of NJPW, Liger would then join Masahiro Chono's Legend stable.
On June 28, 2006, Liger was announced as a participant in the 2006 G-1 Climax, the third time he has appeared in the tournament.

WCW

Jushin Liger also made appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the 1990s. He made his debut in late 1991. He feuded with Brian Pillman, whom he would go on to face at SuperBrawl later that year, where Pillman defeated him.[1] Liger left WCW in 1993 for NJPW, but he returned in late 1995. He would later face many other opponents such as Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Jr., and Juventud Guerrera.
He met with controversy in 1999 while wrestling a short tour in WCW as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion when he lost the title on WCW Monday Nitro to Juventud Guerrera via a blow to the head from a tequila bottle. Liger regained the title the next week from Psicosis, who was substituting for Guerrera because he broke his arm. However, the scripting of the title loss was very embarassing to New Japan Wrestling, so embarrassing that none of the Japanese sporting outlets reported the two title changes, and New Japan didn't recognize Guerrera's reign until 2007 [2]. Liger was also referred to as a 10 time champion until this time. [3]

02-26-2009, 07:59 AM	#167
GreenTeaFrapp Lifetime Suspension Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: CP House of Ill Repute Exp:	With it's fourth pick, Team Kayfabe selects, in the 1991-2000 category, Jushin Thunder Liger. Keiichi Yamada (山田恵一 ,Yamada Keiichi?, 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 who works primarily for New Japan Pro Wrestling. YouTube Video Career Early career Yamada was an amateur wrestler while studying in high school. He applied to New Japan Pro Wrestling to become a professional wrestler in the early 1980s. 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 NJPW officials who were visiting 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 the manga Fist of the North Star. He left for Canada early 1989, where he wrestled in Stu Hart's 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. New Japan Pro Wrestling Jushin Liger debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling on April 24, 1989. In his debut match, he defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi. Afer using the Jushin Liger gimmick the anime progressed, and as the Go Nagai anime progressed, the hero powered up and changed three times. As the hero changed so did Liger. First to Fire Liger then to the character gimmick he goes by today, Jushin Thunder Liger. 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, part this change was due to fact that Liger had to reduce the stress he was putting on his body after brain tumor surgery. Liger has won two Super J Cup tournaments – the 1995 and 2000 events. During 2000, as booker Riki Chōshū decided to de-emphasize the junior heavyweight division (a costly decision that diminished its credibility), Liger wrestled heavyweights without wearing the upper part of his bodysuit or his mask horns. From 2001-2007, Liger was the leader of the NJPW heel stable Control Terrorism Unit (CTU) along with Hirooki Goto, Minoru Tanaka, Black Tiger IV, Gedo, Jado, Prince Devitt and briefly James Gibson. CTU was disbanded in August 2007, when Liger decided CTU would disband while at the top of NJPW, Liger would then join Masahiro Chono's Legend stable. On June 28, 2006, Liger was announced as a participant in the 2006 G-1 Climax, the third time he has appeared in the tournament. WCW Jushin Liger also made appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the 1990s. He made his debut in late 1991. He feuded with Brian Pillman, whom he would go on to face at SuperBrawl later that year, where Pillman defeated him.[1] Liger left WCW in 1993 for NJPW, but he returned in late 1995. He would later face many other opponents such as Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, Jr., and Juventud Guerrera. He met with controversy in 1999 while wrestling a short tour in WCW as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion when he lost the title on WCW Monday Nitro to Juventud Guerrera via a blow to the head from a tequila bottle. Liger regained the title the next week from Psicosis, who was substituting for Guerrera because he broke his arm. However, the scripting of the title loss was very embarassing to New Japan Wrestling, so embarrassing that none of the Japanese sporting outlets reported the two title changes, and New Japan didn't recognize Guerrera's reign until 2007 [2]. Liger was also referred to as a 10 time champion until this time. [3]