Jushin Liger
Keiichi Yamada (Japanese山田 恵 一, Keiichi Yamada; born November 10, 1964 in Hiroshima, Japan), known under the ring name Jushin "Thunder" Liger (獣 神 サンダー·ライガー, Jushin Sanda Raiga ) is a Japanese professional wrestler. He entered America in the leagues WCW and TNA, in Japan among others AJPW and NJPW, as well as in Mexico at the AAA. Yamada is 1,68 m tall and weighs 94 kg. He is deaf in one ear.
Biography and career
Yamada began in the mid -80s with the pro-wrestling. As is customary in Japan, he spent his early years as a jobber, ie as a scheduled loser who lost to better-known wrestlers. In England he went to, there as Flying Fuji Yamada. In 1989, he was then at Japan's largest annual wrestling event at the Tokyo Dome finally the gimmick of Jushin "Thunder" Liger. Liger is a fusion of the words Lion and Tiger. Liger occurs almost always masked to his gimmick was at first interpreted as a comedy gimmick, but Liger could soon establish itself as a serious wrestler. Liger won on 25 May first time in 1989 the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, which he should achieve a total of eleven times. Once he was even allowed, however, unmasked, a victory against Antonio Inoki, who has a similar Invincibility status in Japan and Hulk Hogan in the United States.
In 1991, he signed a contract with WCW, where he feuded with Brian Pillman. The two also opened the very first broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro. In between, he also appeared in Mexico in the AAA, which collaborated in this time with WCW. There and in WCW he feuded after Pillman against Rey Mysterio, which he could then defeat at the event World War III. During this time he also won the J- CROWN Octuple Unified Title, a combination of 8 titles of lightweight Divisonen different leagues, including the then WWF and the NWA. He defended this title seven months before he lost it again.
In 1999 he joined again in WCW, where he feuded with Juventud Guererra. After this feud, he went back to Japan, where he umänderte his gimmick in Black Liger and for the first time in the heavyweight division took.
After two years long had a feud with a group of young wrestlers in Japan, he made his debut in the promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2005 at TNA Bound for Glory against Samoa Joe. Since then he has sporadically in the United States and Japan in various minor leagues.