Jushin Thunder Liger | |
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Liger in November 2015
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Birth name | Keiichi Yamada |
Born |
Hiroshima, Japan |
November 30, 1964
Residence | Fukuoka, Japan |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | C.T.U Ranger Yellow Fuji Yamada Jushin Liger Jushin Thunder Liger Keiichi Yamada Kishin Liger |
Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Billed weight | 95 kg (209 lb) |
Billed from | Tokyo, Japan |
Trained by | Kotetsu Yamamoto Tatsumi Fujinami Yoshiaki Fujiwara Stu Hart |
Debut | March 3, 1984 vs. Shunji Kosugi |
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 primarily works for New Japan Pro Wrestling. He has wrestled and beaten many of the top smaller wrestlers in both Japan and the United States, and is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most revolutionary junior heavyweights during the 1990s.
Keiichi Yamada was an amateur wrestler while studying in high school, where in his senior year, he lost to Toshiaki Kawada in the finals of a national championship. After high school, he applied to New Japan Pro Wrestling's (NJPW) dojo 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 to train in their dojo, where he was trained alongside the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono and Shinya Hashimoto.