, better known as and later , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a trainer. He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having worked for the company since his professional wrestling debut in 1984. Throughout his career, which spanned three-and-a-half decades, he wrestled over 4,000 matches and performed in major events for various promotions across the globe.
Debuting under his real name for NJPW in 1984, he was given the gimmick of Jushin Liger in 1989, based on the anime series of the same name. Becoming Jushin "Thunder" Liger the following year, he saw unprecedented success in the junior heavyweight division when he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship a record 11 times and set the record for its longest reign during his sixth reign, which lasted for 628 days. Liger was the first three-time Best of the Super Juniors tournament winner (a record eventually tied by Koji Kanemoto and Hiromu Takahashi), is a former six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, won the Super J Cup twice (in 1995 and 2000), and was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1999. Liger also wrestled the opening match for the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in 1992. He is frequently cited as one of the greatest junior heavyweight wrestlers of all time. He was also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Yamada had his retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5, 2020, 35 years after his career began, and has since been working as a trainer in the New Japan Dojo and as a commentator.
Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1984–1986) Keiichi Yamada was born in Hiroshima on November 10, 1964. He was an amateur wrestler during his high school years. In his senior year, he lost to Toshiaki Kawada in the finals of a national championship tournament. After graduating high school in the early 1980s, he would apply to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) dojo in the hope of becoming a professional wrestler. He was not accepted because he did not meet the height requirements the dojo had at that time. Yamada, determined not to give up his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, left for Mexico and began his training there. By his own account, he was almost starving while studying in Mexico, due to this NJPW officials who were visiting took pity on him and asked him to come back to Japan to train in their dojo. In the NJPW dojo, he trained alongside the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto. While continuing his training, he had his debut match in March 1984 at the age of 19, wrestling against Shunji Kosugi. 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 Abisegeri kick. In 1985, Yamada participated in the Young Lion Cup and got to the final of the tournament before being defeated by Shunji Kosugi. In the beginning of 1986, Yamada participated in the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship League but lost to Black Tiger. Yamada won the 1986 Young Lion Cup by defeating Tatsutoshi Goto in the tournament final on March 26. On July 19, 1986, Yamada faced Nobuhiko Takada in a losing effort in his first of many IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship matches.
All Star Wrestling, BWF (1986–1987, 1989, 2014) After winning the Young Lion Cup in March 1986, he went on an excursion of Europe, where he wrestled for All Star Wrestling in England, under the name "Flying" Fuji Yamada. He won the World Heavy Middleweight Championship twice, once in September 1986 and once in March 1987, both times defeating "Rollerball" Mark Rocco and both times losing it back to him, the last of these four title changes being televised on ITV. Yamada would later visit All Star again in 1989, with tag partner Flying Funaki. During this period, he also worked for Orig Williams' BWF, making appearances on Williams' Reslo wrestling show for Welsh-language TV channel S4C. He returned to Britain in 2014 to work once again for All Star Wrestling, this time under his masked Jushin Liger identity.
Germany CWA (1992–1993) Yamada, as Liger, defeated Franz Schumann at the CWA Euro Catch Festival 1992 edition in Bremen 19 December 1992 in a match held under the full European rounds system. At the December 18, 1993 event, again in Bremen, Liger failed to capture the CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship after going to a ten-round draw with champion Fit Finlay.
Stampede Wrestling (1987, 1989) Yamada went on an excursion in Canada, around May 1987, where he wrestled in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary under his real name. He also trained under Hart in the "Dungeon". His experiences there led him to refer to Hart as a "very, very tough man."
Return to NJPW Return and character change (1987–1989)
Yamada returned to NJPW on August 19, 1987, against Nobuhiko Takada in a losing effort. Yamada debuted his Shooting Star Press in a match against Masakatsu Funaki, for which he had gotten the idea from reading the manga Fist of the North Star. Throughout 1987 and 1988, Yamada improved with each match, occasionally getting shots at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, most notably against Owen Hart on June 10, 1988, and against Shiro Koshinaka on December 9, 1988. He would also take part in the first Top of the Super Juniors tournament where he earned 31 points, not enough to progress to the final. Within months of his second Canadian excursion, NJPW called him back, as they needed him for a gimmick based on an extremely popular anime superhero, Jushin Liger, created by manga artist 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, resembling the superhero type featured in tokusatsu and anime programs.
Yamada as "Jushin Liger" returned to NJPW on April 24, 1989, at the Tokyo Dome. In the character's debut match, he defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi at Battle Satellite in Tokyo Dome. He has also wrestled all the Black Tigers to date (from Mark Rocco in 1989 to Tatsuhito Takaiwa in 2009). The Liger character underwent changes in conjunction with the Go Nagai anime progressing and its hero powering up. In January 1990, Liger was renamed "Jushin Thunder Liger", a name he continues to use to this day. Early in his career, Yamada's style mostly consisted of high flying. Years later, he started adapting more power moves and started focusing more on grappling and telling a story in the ring; part of this change was due to the fact that Liger had to reduce the stress he was putting on his body after undergoing brain tumor surgery in August 1996, which explained why he lost his match to Último Dragón in the first round of the J-Crown tournament.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion (1989–2000)
Upon debuting the Liger character, Yamada quickly became one of NJPW's top junior heavyweights, soon capturing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Hiroshi Hase on May 25, 1989, at Battle Satellite in Osaka. Liger successfully defended the title against Mark Rocco in his first title defense in the fifth round of a European Rounds match on July 12. He retained the title against Naoki Sano in his second title defense on July 13, which ended in a double knockout. This set up a rematch between the two on August 10, where Liger lost the title. At Super Power Battle in Osaka, Liger unsuccessfully challenged Sano for the title in a rematch.
In January 1990, Liger participated in a tournament to determine the #1 contender for the Junior Heavyweight Championship, which he won by defeating Owen Hart in the final on January 30. Liger received his title shot the following day against Naoki Sano, which Liger won to gain his second Junior Heavyweight Championship. Liger successfully defended the title against Pegasus Kid on March 19 before losing the title to Pegasus Kid in a rematch on August 19. At the Antonio Inoki 30th Anniversary Memorial Festival in Yokohama Arena event, Liger defeated Villano V to earn a Junior Heavyweight Championship shot against Pegasus Kid on November 1, which Liger won, thus winning his third Junior Heavyweight Championship in the process. During this time, Liger formed a faction called "Dragon Bombers" along with Tatsumi Fujinami, Shiro Koshinaka, Takayuki Iizuka and Black Cat and feuded with the Blond Outlaws group. Liger successfully defended the title against Negro Casas at King of Kings and Akira at Starrcade in Tokyo Dome before vacating the title in order for new champion to be crowned in the 1991 Top of the Super Juniors. He advanced to the semifinals by scoring eight points and defeated Negro Casas in the semifinals but lost to Norio Honaga in the final. Liger unsuccessfully challenged Honaga for the title at Tatsumi Fujinami's 20th Anniversary event, before defeating Honaga in a rematch to win his record-breaking fourth Junior Heavyweight Championship at Fighting Connection – Ultra-High And Mighty Declaration II. On July 4, Liger defeated Pegasus Kid in a mask versus mask match forcing the latter to unmask. Liger lost the title to Akira Nogami on August 9.
At Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome, Liger teamed with Masashi Aoyagi and Akira Nogami to defeat the team of Hiro Saito, Super Strong Machine and Norio Honaga in a six-man tag team match. On February 8, 1992, Liger defeated Norio Honaga in a title versus title match with Liger's WCW Light Heavyweight Championship and Honaga's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on the line. Liger claimed his record-setting fifth IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in the process and successfully defended both titles against Pegasus Kid on February 10. Liger continued his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship reign with a successful title defense against Mad Bull Rex on March 9. He followed the success by winning the 1992 Top of the Super Juniors tournament in April, thus becoming the first competitor to win the tournament while holding the Junior Heavyweight Championship. Liger successfully defended the title against El Samurai at Over Heat Night before losing the title to Samurai on June 26. Liger failed to win the title in a rematch against Samurai on October 21.
At Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome, Liger defeated Último Dragón to capture his record setting sixth Junior Heavyweight Championship. Liger successfully defended the title against Dean Malenko on March 21. He participated in the 1993 Top of the Super Juniors in June, in which he scored twelve points but failed to advance to the quarterfinals. Liger successfully defended the title against Wild Pegasus, Masao Orihara and Black Tiger throughout the remainder of the year. Liger formed a partnership with Wild Pegasus to participate in the 1993 Super Grade Tag League but scored only four points in the tournament.