Revolution Pro Wrestling is set to honor one of NJPW’s greatest-ever legends during Forbidden Door weekend.
The British indie promotion announced today that it will induct Jushin Thunder Liger into the RevPro Hall of Fame on Friday, August 22. Liger will be appearing in person at the induction, which is happening at RevPro’s Global Wars UK show at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London.
🚨Friday August 22nd Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
A man who could be in any Hall of Fame for his contributions to wrestling.
But to RevPro Specifically:
⚡️He was the first NJPW wrestler to be showcased on a RevPro event opening the door to a great relationship… pic.twitter.com/VAkmR6Lqn9
Liger made several trips to RevPro during his career and was the winner of the promotion’s inaugural British J-Cup tournament in 2017. In today’s announcement, RevPro credited Liger for opening the door to the strong working relationship the company has with NJPW.
“He was the first NJPW wrestler to be showcased on a RevPro event opening the door to a great relationship,” RevPro wrote.
Liger retired from the ring with his last NJPW match taking place in 2020. His last time competing in the UK was for RevPro in 2020.
Following his retirement, Liger was also honored with an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
The RevPro Hall of Fame was established in 2021 with the late Ryan Smile being selected as the first inductee.
RevPro, NJPW, ROH, and CMLL wrestlers will be featured on Global Wars UK, an event that’s happening as part of RevPro’s 13th anniversary weekend. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay Joshua is the latest match to be announced.
Global Wars UK is happening two days before AEW & NJPW Forbidden Door 2025. That pay-per-view is being held at The O2 Arena in London on Sunday, August 24.
Jushin Liger is on his way to attend tomorrow’s Owen Hart Cup Finals on AEW Collision.
Liger posted to Twitter on Friday that he was at the airport and on his way to Calgary, the city he went on excursion to in 1987.
“I am at Haneda Airport now. From now on, I will go to Calgary, Canada via San Francisco. I was invited as a guest at Owen Hart’s memorial tournament ☆ I’m looking forward to Calgary after a long time,” reads a translation of Liger’s Tweet.
— 獣神サンダー・ライガー ☆ Jushin Thunder Liger (@Liger_NJPW) July 14, 2023
Liger, under his real name of Keiichi Yamada, went on an excursion from NJPW to Stampede Wrestling in May 1987. This was when Bruce Hart relaunched the promotion following Stu Hart having sold it to Vince McMahon in 1984.
After a couple of months of teaming with Mr. Hito on shows in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Yamada and Owen Hart began teaming together. They defeated Gerry Morrow and Bad News Allen in their first match together. When it was time for Liger to return to Japan later that summer, Owen went with him. At the time, Owen was The North American Champion in Stampede Wrestling, the most prestigious championship in the promotion. Owen would team with Mark Rocco and lost to Yamada and a young Keiji Mutoh on their first show back for NJPW.
Owen and Liger wrestled 10 singles matches against each other, all in Japan, splitting the series 5 wins apiece. Owen even once successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Liger in 1988. Their final match against one another took place in the Top Of The Super Juniors tournament in 1991 when Liger defeated Owen in a match our own Dave Meltzer rated four-and-a-half stars.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave Meltzer and myself, guest co-host Garrett Gonzales, is back.
This is the second of two Wrestling Observer Radio shows from Dallas. Dave and I talk about the Kota Ibushi interview from the first WOR of the day, specifically the reaction to the question about the Kenny Omega documentary that Kota was in. We talk about a tweet that referenced Dave concerning something he wrote in this week’s Observer. We also look at all the UFC news from today.
Then, Dave interviews Jushin Thunder Liger about his career, why he’s retiring, working for WWE, and much more.
Timestamps:
Start – 11:22: More from the Kota Ibushi interview
11:22 – 14:34: Conrad/Starrcast/Booker T
14:34 – 19:43: New UFC fights set
19:43 – 23:20: UFC Hall of Fame, big earthquake
23:20 – 33:52: UFC this weekend
33:52 – end: Jushin Thunder Liger
Another member of the New Japan Pro Wrestling roster is set for Ring of Honor’s next pay-per-view.
ROH announced today that Jushin Thunder Liger will be wrestling at Death Before Dishonor in Las Vegas on Friday, September 28. Liger last appeared for ROH as part of their War of the Worlds tour with NJPW in May. He also wrestled against Rocky Romero at NJPW’s event with CEO Fighting Game Championships in Orlando this summer.
As was announced yesterday, Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Romero, Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) will be teaming against the Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page) in a 10-man tag match at Death Before Dishonor. That’s the first match to be confirmed for the PPV.
While Death Before Dishonor was held at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas in 2016 and 2017, this year’s show will take place at the Orleans Arena.
The first match for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s return to the United States appears to be confirmed, and it’s one that involves a big name from outside of the promotion.
A video where Rey Mysterio challenged Jushin Thunder Liger to face him at Strong Style Evolved in Long Beach aired on this morning’s New Beginning in Osaka show. Mysterio introduced himself, announced that he’d be wrestling in NJPW for the first time ever, and then issued the challenge to Liger.
Liger, who was doing commentary for the New Beginning show, accepted Mysterio’s challenge.
Mysterio called Liger one of the greatest junior heavyweight wrestlers ever, and Kevin Kelly and Don Callis hyped it up as a dream match. In their only other singles meeting, Liger defeated Mysterio at Starrcade 1996.
After making a surprise appearance in last month’s Royal Rumble, Mysterio spoke optimistically about returning to WWE. Dave Meltzer noted that Mysterio doesn’t have a contract with anyone, but he wrote Mysterio has commitments “all over the world” right now.
Strong Style Evolved will take place at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach on March 25th.
I attended last night’s New Japan Pro Wrestling Fan Festival to promote Wrestle Kingdom 11 and here are some various thoughts.
– I haven’t been to a WWE Axcess yet so I can’t compare the two but this was well organized. There were plenty of long lines for talent doing autographs and pictures, especially for Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. Due to those lines, time was very short for people to spend with them, leading to a very quick in and out situation. Nobody seemed disappointed or upset however.
– Gedo beating Kazuchika Okada at Tekken following the official reveal of the NJPW content in the upcoming Tekken 7 game was a sight to behold. Many popped when he won while some playfully booed.
– Cody received a pretty big ovation when he made his entrance and cut a promo on Juice Robinson.
– All three matches held featured veterans against young lions which included the anticipated debut of Tomoyuki Oka:
> Yuji Nagata defeated Tomoyuki Oka via submission with a crossface
I thought this was a great debut for Oka. He has plenty of room for improvement but he showed great poise and looked comfortable as could be out there. Nagata took him down right away but he countered into an armlock which got an audible gasp from the crowd. Oka kept attempting a kimura which Nagata prevented with stiff slaps to the face, laying them in any chance he got. Oka tried standing with him only to be lit up with kicks everywhere imaginable.
Midway through, Oka won the crowd over and you could see Kidani going nuts over him as he watched from the floor. Oka hit a belly to belly suplex and locked in the young lion’s crab. Crowd went crazy thinking he would actually pull off the upset. A mid-ring exchange of forearms saw Oka drop Nagata for a close nearfall. Eventually, Nagata powered up and gained a nearfall with vicious body kicks. Nagata delivered an Xploder transitioned into the crossface and Oka was forced to submit.
> Manabu Nakanishi defeated Henare
This was a battle of World Tag League partners. Just from the tournament to this match, Henare showed nice improvement. Manabu was in molasses mode but they still had a decent match.
Story was Nakanishi being too powerful for Henare to get an advantage on. He hit a shoulder tackle out of the gate and beat Henare down with headbutts and chops galore. Henare took over when Nakanishi missed a kneedrop following a corner clothesline. Henare went after the knee with several kicks but Nakanishi refused to go down.
After several failed attempts, Henare finally suplexed Nakanishi to a good pop. A shoulder block was followed by the crab but Nakanishi powered out. Henare escaped the Torture Rack and got a nearfall off a rollup. Nakanishi delivered an ax handle that was nicely executed. He followed up with the Hercules Cutter out of the Rack for the pinfall.
> Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask IV defeated Hirai Kawato and Rysuke Taguchi
Solid match as Liger and Tiger were great as the grizzled, cranky vets that Kawato annoyed and gave many fits. Kawato worked the majority of the match and is still very, very green. I was more impressed with him here though than his World Tag League tour outings. Kawato worked over Liger in the corner until Jushin had enough and nearly caved in his face with a palm strike.
Taguchi tagged in as did Tiger and they had a nice series. Taguchi went into ass attack mode but Tiger avoided it and delivered a backbreaker. Liger threw Taguchi onto the floor, hit a baseball slide, and then locked in the Romero Special.
Liger worked on the neck and tagged in Tiger. They worked Taguchi over but he mounted a comeback in full ass attack mode. Kawato tagged back in but was immediately drilled with kicks from Tiger. Liger tossed him outside and threw him into a barricade. Just to show how grumpy he was, Liger then wacked Kawato with a chair a few times.
Kawato rallied as he and Taguchi dispatched Liger with an ass attack/dropkick combination. Kawato slammed Tiger for a nearfall. Liger broke up the young lion’s crab on Tiger and the action broke down.
Kawato hit a missile dropkick on Tiger for a nearfall. He went for another dropkick but Tiger moved and he nailed Taguchi. Kawato survived the Tiger Driver but a Tiger Suplex put him away for the pinfall.
The final few minutes of this were excellent. Another match where the crowd bought into the rookie upset win.
Four new members were named to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame after the largest balloting thus far to date.
Three of the four members were Japanese, with the balloting topped by Jushin Liger, in his first year eligible, receiving 95% of the vote. That figure is the most in the short history of our elections and a percentage that will be difficult to impossible to ever top in the future. Also selected from Japan were 80s womens wrestling icon Lioness Asuka of Crush Gals fame, who came just two votes short of making it last year and current IWGP heavyweight champion Keiji Muto, who finished second in last year’s balloting (in which only Dos Caras made it), coming one vote short of inclusion. The lone American entrant this year was seven-time winner of the Observer’s Announcer of the Year award, Jim Ross, who overcame two bouts with Bells Palsy to return as the current voice of Raw.
Submitted by Patrick Tobin from Bethany, CT, at the NEW Arena
– Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil defeated Clutch Adams and Rex Lawless in a three-way via a Michinoku Driver into an armbar on Adams. This was a pre-show match for the “Shot for the Spot” tournament. O’Neil is the former UFC fighter from years ago.
– They did a 10 bell salute for the late Mr. Fuji.
– American Destroyers (Mikey Webb and ROH’s Donovan Dijak) defeated Adrenaline Rush (Daniel Evans and Keith Youngblood)
Dijak pinned Youngblood after a great double team move where Dijak did a sunset flip on both Webb and Youngblood so that it landed with Webb hitting a piledriver.
– Dan De Man (w/ Kenny Bengal) defeated Ron Zombie via RKO.
– The Mac defeated Dexter Lou with a Sky High.
– Vinny Marseglia defeated Caleb Konley with a double underhook backbreaker.
– NEW Tag Team champions So Over (Mark Shurman and Jimmy Preston) defeated the Battle Brothers (Anthony and Chris) with a doomsday dropkick.
– NEW Heavyweight champion War King Hanson (ROH’s Hanson) defeated Kamaitachi in a non title match via roundhouse kick
– Brian Anthony and TK O’Ryan went to a no contest in a match to decide the #1 Contender when Hanson interfered.
– Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Travis “Flip” Gordon with a roll-up after kicking out of a 450 Splash. Gordon had previously kicked out of a Shotei and a Liger Bomb. Liger got a standing ovation after the match, and hugged and put over Gordon to the crowd. It was announced that Gordon will face Ricochet at NEW Destiny on 9/10.
– Cody Rhodes defeated Sami Callihan via submission with the American Nightmare. These two are first round opponents in BOLA and did a toned down kind of PWG match with dives and brawling in the front row.
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,
More Super Junior action took place on 5/30 in Tottori as B Block matches commenced:
Will Ospreay vs. Tiger Mask
This was really good. Ospreay moved around great and Tiger Mask was the good grumpy veteran who kept things grounded. At one point, Ospreay hit what looked like an inverted phoenix splash but Tiger Mask got the knees up, took him to the corner and hit a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Ospreay kicked out of that, but eventually submitted to Tiger Mask’s scissors armbar.
Volador Jr. vs. Bobby Fish
Fish controlled a lot of the match and worked on Volador’s leg near the end. Volador went to do something on the top rope, flipped over to the floor but his leg buckled. That allowed Fish to come in and hit a falcon arrow, but Volador kicked out. Fish followed with an ankle lock and submitted him. Good match.
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ricochet
Pretty good back and forth match. Liger was very competitive and did all of his big moves, including the shotei and the running senton to the floor. Ricochet made a comeback, hit a big time brainbuster but Liger kicked out. Ricochet followed that with his cobra twist submission for the win.
